by S. J. West
Malcolm's arms unfold and fall to his sides as he looks at Levi thoughtfully.
“You would do all that just to have her?” Malcolm asks skeptically.
“Yes,” Levi says, and I know he's telling the truth. I'm not certain Malcolm does though because he still looks dubious. “I'll do all of that to have her and the child for myself. What do you say? Do we have a deal?”
Malcolm is completely silent, and he seems to be seriously considering Levi's proposition.
“Malcolm...” I say, feeling a corner of my heart begin to tear over the real possibility that he will agree to Levi's terms. I can see the wheels of his mind tumbling back and forth between the easy way out Levi is offering and rescuing me.
How much can I really mean to him if he would consider trading me in a bargain with Levi to get what he wants, what he's always wanted?
Jered phases in and touches Malcolm on the shoulder. This seems to bring Malcolm out of his thoughts and back to reality.
“Everything is ready,” Jered says to Malcolm, looking over at me with a worried glance. “You know you can't trust a word that comes out of his mouth.”
Malcolm looks at Jered for a moment before finally nodding his head in agreement.
“I won't let you just take her,” Levi says angrily, pulling me even more tightly against his side.
With his free hand, Levi raps his knuckles three times against the door behind us.
Instantly, Christopher and Clark are standing on either side of us without the flashing light associated with teleportation. I can only assume they phased in.
“I didn't think you would let her go without a fight,” Malcolm answers.
Three men phase in beside Malcolm and Jered.
I take in a sharp breath because all three of them are glowing to my eyes like Jered is. Malcolm is the only one among the five men who doesn’t glow.
“Called in the troops, did we?” Levi says, not sounding as sure of himself as he once was.
Before Malcolm can answer, Levi phases away with me in tow.
Malcolm isn't far behind though because he's right beside us in a matter of seconds. Levi keeps phasing us over and over to new locations in Cirrus so fast I end up having to close my eyes because I start to feel ill.
“You're going to kill her!” Malcolm finally yells at Levi, making the prince of Hell stop phasing.
“I thought she could take it,” Levi says, telling the truth.
“She's still part human, you idiot,” Malcolm says to him trying to be the voice of reason. “You know human bodies can't survive that much phasing.”
Levi pulls me behind him and stands between me and Malcolm.
“I won't let you take her away from me. Not when I'm so close to having what I want,” Levi says with grim determination.
“I won't be asking for your permission,” Malcolm replies before phasing over to us and grabbing Levi by the throat, tossing him off to the side.
Without Levi to prop me up, I fall to the ground on my knees before completely sitting down.
I turn my head and see Malcolm and Levi fighting, but my vision is so blurry by this point that I can't make out much of what is happening. I feel my stomach begin to heave and completely lose what little food is still left inside me. Someone comes to me and lifts me in their arms. When I look at his face, I recognize him as one of the three men who phased into the room before Levi phased me away.
He's tall and has oriental features. The smile on his face is kind, and I know I can trust him.
The stranger doesn't waste any time and quickly phases me away from the fight.
We end up somewhere I've never been before but know of. It's one of the thousands of escape pods on the underside of Cirrus.
The interior is small and completely white. Escape pods were built to only carry four people at a time in case some catastrophic event befell Cirrus and an evacuation was necessary. The man puts me in one of the command chairs at the front of the pod and activates the invisible protective shield which helps hold me upright in the seat.
“I'm sorry you've been placed in the middle of all this, Anna,” he tells me. “I hope we can resolve things quickly and eventually give you a normal life.”
“Who are you?” I'm able to ask through the haze of my thoughts.
“My name is Daniel,” he tells me before turning his attention to the control panel in front of me. He waves his hand over it to make the holographic controls light up. “As soon as Malcolm gets here, he'll launch this pod to the surface. Once it's moving, you won't have to worry about Levi anymore for a while.”
“How are we going to lose him?”
“It's impossible to phase into a moving target,” Daniel tells me. “He won't be able to follow you, and please, remember not to phase once you're on the surface. There’s technology Levi can use to track our phasing. He'll know exactly where you are in an instant if he catches you using it.”
I nod because I simply don't have the energy to do anything else.
Malcolm phases in.
“Go!” He yells to Daniel, quickly sitting in the seat beside me and taking command of the controls.
Daniel takes one quick glance at me the second before he phases. In that one look, I see a multitude of emotions but the most prominent one is worry.
I soon feel the pod's freefall from the magnetic lock holding it to the underside of Cirrus.
I silently watch Malcolm as his hands move quickly over the controls, guiding the pod where he wants it to go. He doesn't say anything to me and seems completely focused on the task at hand.
My heart aches inside my chest, and I feel the wetness of warm tears begin to trickle down my face.
How could he have even considered the offer Levi made? Was he so desperate to be with Lilly again that he would completely ignore the bond between us? I understood the fact that we had only just met and didn't really know each other that well. Yet, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that we are each other’s soul mates. The evidence of our connection is unmistakable to me.
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I won't be able to share Malcolm's heart with Lilly. It seems as though she might have taken it all with her when she died.
The pain in my heart becomes unbearable, and my silent crying turns into an anguished sob.
Malcolm looks over at me in alarm.
“Are you hurt?” He asks in worry.
I turn my head away unable to look at him anymore, but slowly, I shake my head so he knows I'm not hurt, at least not physically.
I force myself to stop crying because I don't want to divert Malcolm's attention from our getaway. I try to remind myself that Malcolm didn't agree to Levi's offer. He actually chose to rescue me instead. Yet, if Jered hadn't shown up when he did, would Malcolm's decision have been the same? Or would he have traded me off in a bargain that assured his quick reunion with Lilly in Heaven?
I had no way of knowing. The moment was gone and now we were on the run.
A few minutes pass and I hear Malcolm say angrily, “We have company.”
Through the front glass of the pod, I see two drone war craft flying on either side of us.
“Please follow us to an approved landing area,” a computer generated female voice says to us inside the pod.
“I'm going to try to lose them,” Malcolm tells me. “The ride from here on out might be a little bumpy.”
I watch as Malcolm increases our speed and begins to maneuver us in an attempt to lose the drones. He tries his best but the drones are just as quick in their adjustments to speed and altitude as Malcolm is.
“Damn it!” Malcolm says, becoming frustrated. “All right, hold on. We're going to have to make a crash landing in the ocean and use the autodestruct to destroy the drones before they can report where we are.”
“I don't like the water,” I say.
Malcolm looks over at me in surprise.
“Then I suppose you can't swim?” he asks, like he already knows the answer to his own question.
I shake my head. “No, I can't.”
Malcolm does something to the controls and then stands up. He turns my protective shield off and lifts me out of my chair.
“You're so drugged,” he says, “I doubt you could swim even if you knew how anyway.”
He holds me against his chest and reaches around to the back of my dress to open the closure there. I hear fabric tear as he rips the back of the skirt in two. He sits me back down and completely removes the wedding gown from me leaving me in only my undergarments.
“Why did you just do that?” I ask.
“The dress is too big,” he answers, “It would have just weighed you like an anchor and sent you directly to the bottom of the ocean.”
Malcolm picks me up in his arms and cradles me to him much like he did the first night he came to my rescue.
“Open hatch,” Malcolm says and the pod door opens.
Cold wind rushes into the interior of the pod, but Malcolm keeps his hold on me with his feet firmly planted. I can see the watery surface of the ocean beneath us rapidly approaching.
“I've got you,” he says, looking down at me. “I won't let you go, Anna.”
I hope his words hold a double meaning because it's not the water that I'm afraid of.
I'm more afraid of losing him to the ghost of Lilly.
Just as the pod is about to crash land in the ocean, Malcolm yells, “Auto-destruct 5 seconds!”
Malcolm jumps out holding me securely to him. As we hit the water, I instantly feel chilled to the bone from its coldness. It's a cold I’ve never felt before and hope to never feel again. I'm faintly aware of the pod exploding but just too drugged and cold to care much about its destruction.
I’ve always hated the water. My father tried to teach me how to swim when I was young, but I didn’t like getting in the pool. I didn’t like the feeling of not being in complete control. There wasn’t anything solid for me to hold onto, and I felt like I was at the mercy of a substance that didn’t seem very reliable and could easily kill me.
Malcolm slips his left arm underneath my breast and begins to swim while pulling me with him through the water. The swim to shore seems to take forever, but eventually my body becomes completely numb to the cold, and I feel myself begin to drift off to sleep.
“Don’t go to sleep, Anna,” Malcolm orders.
“Tired,” I say as my eyelids droop. The sweet release of sleep beckons me to accept her embrace and just let go. Let go of the pain. Let go of the nightmare my life has turned into. Let go of the heartache Malcolm’s caused me because of his lingering feelings for someone who died long ago.
“Stay with me,” Malcolm begs.
“Why?” I ask, seeing no reason good enough to stay.
Malcolm doesn’t answer right away, but finally he says, “Because I need you. Don’t leave me, Anna.”
That…was a good enough reason…
By sheer will-power alone, I keep my eyes open and force myself to concentrate on the moon hanging in the sky above us, our only source of light. I use every bit of energy I have left to keep myself awake as Malcolm swims us to shore.
Once we reach the sandy soil, Malcolm picks me up in his arms and cradles me to his warm chest. He runs to a stand of trees to help block out the wind battering the shoreline with its winter breath. When we reach the shelter of the forest, Malcolm gently sits me against the trunk of one of the trees and begins to hastily pull off his wet clothes.
I don’t mind the private striptease Malcolm is giving me. In fact, I’m rather enjoying it, but I can’t imagine why he’s taking all his clothes off. I notice a series of black scars on his right calf and have to assume the injuries are what causes him to limp sometimes. Malcolm soon comes back and sits down beside me only wearing a pair of tight white underwear. He pulls me onto his lap and cradles me in the safety of his arms. I’m shivering so violently by this time I begin to wonder if I’ll end up breaking one of my own bones or hurt Malcolm.
“Anna,” Malcolm whispers in my ear, his warm breath melting my heart, “concentrate on my voice. Stop thinking about how cold you are and just listen to me.”
I nod my head because my teeth are chattering so hard I can’t actually speak.
“I never would have let Levi touch you,” he tells me vehemently. “And I sure as hell wouldn’t have let him have a child with you. Do you understand that? I wouldn’t have made that deal with him.”
I want to believe Malcolm's words, but I was witness to his hesitation. I knew he believed the words he was telling me because if it had been a lie I would have been able to see through it clearly. If I was able to speak, I would have asked him if, in that moment with Levi, he had considered the proposal seriously for even just a second. Was it his heart or his mind which had made the final decision?
I lean completely against Malcolm's warmth as my shivers subside. But, even with his added heat, my core feels so cold I'm not sure I'll ever regain my own body’s warmth. I'm so tired, and I feel alone even though Malcolm is holding me and rocking me for comfort. Unable to keep my eyes open for a second longer, I fall asleep and faintly hear Malcolm yell for me to stay awake. But, not even his desperate pleas are enough to stop me from free falling into death.
CHAPTER fourteen
I feel a warm breath fill my lungs to bursting and faintly taste something sweet against my tongue but can't quite place the flavor. I take in a deep, shuddering breath of my own and open my eyes to find an angel of mercy hovering over me. He's glowing just like most of the other angels I've met, and his sweet blue eyes hold an ancient quality I've never seen in anyone before. His tousled blond hair hangs down over his forehead as he peers down at me.
“Hello, Anna,” he says. “My name is Will.”
I lift a hand to his face and cup the side of it, strangely feeling as though I'm in the presence of a dear friend. There's a connection between us that is so familiar, yet so strange. It's almost a mirror of the way I feel about Auggie. I instinctively know that he just saved my life. I just don't know how exactly.
Will closes his eyes at my tender caress, and I know he feels the same way I do.
“Thank you,” I tell him.
Will opens his eyes and smiles down at me.
“You're welcome,” he replies.
“Will…what are you?” I ask.
“One of the people who hopes to help you make it through all of this,” he tells me.
“Was I...” I have to swallow hard before I can finish my question. “Was I dead?”
“For a little while,” Will tells me.
“Then how...” I don't even know how to ask what I want to know.
Will smiles.
“How did I bring you back to life?” he asks.
I nod my head.
“Protecting Caylin and Aiden's descendants is a job I was given a long time ago. To put it mildly, you girls have been high maintenance.”
“So, if we die, you bring us back to life?”
“Yes.”
I feel my brow crinkle as I consider this fact because one thing makes absolutely no sense if what he is saying is true.
“Then why did you let my mother die?” I have to ask.
Will's face drops with a mixture of guilt and sadness.
“I couldn't save Amalie,” he tells me.
“Why?”
“Because you had been born,” he replies gently, like he hopes this news won't upset me. “My protection automatically transfers to the next descendant. It's the way things have always worked.”
“Then my birth caused her death in more ways than one,” I say as I look up at him through a blur of tears, feeling the heaviness of my guilt over my mother's death crash into me all over again.
“No,” he tells me in no uncertain terms, “you did not kill your mother. It was simply her time to leave this world. Amalie knew what she was doing. She loved you so much she willingly gave up her life for you. You were everything to her. So, don't ever think you killed your mother b
ecause that's not what happened. The best parts of her are still alive within you.”
“If I hadn't been born she would still be alive,” I try to argue.
“Or the line of your family would have ended with Amalie,” Will argues back. “You have no way of knowing what might have happened. None of us do. So, stop blaming yourself, Anna. Life is never certain. Every decision, every turn in the road, will lead you down a different path. All you can do is be satisfied with where you end up.”
I try to take Will's words to heart, but I've carried the guilt of my mother’s death with me since I was old enough to understand what happened. It won't just vanish with a few kind words.
As I continue to look up at Will, I still have this strange sense of déjà vu.
“Have we met before?” I ask him. “There's something about you that's so familiar to me. I feel like I know you.”
Will’s smile broadens. “Yes, we met in Heaven before you were sent to Earth. We were actually playmates while you were there.”
“Playmates... in Heaven?” I ask, finding the concept strange. “Like we used to play chase and hide-n-go seek with one another? I didn't realize I even existed before I was born.”
“Some souls aren't allowed to stay in Heaven for very long. But, yours was. We were friends in Heaven for what would be many years here on Earth. God allowed someone very special by the name of Utha Mae to keep you before you were sent here. He gave me the privilege of being your best friend while you were living with her and her husband. He didn't want you to be lonely so he let me be your playmate.”
“Don't take this the wrong way, but you seem kind of old to be a playmate.”
Will chuckles. “In Heaven, you can assume any of your previous forms that you want. I looked eight-years-old when you and I first became friends there.”
