The Sentinel (The Sentinel Series)

by Holly Martin

  ‘Best translation is Hidden Faces,’ Eli supplied.

  I looked back at Quinn and his face cleared. ‘Animals don’t like shape shifters, they know we aren’t really one of them, but they don’t see us as human either, we’re an unknown quantity. Our bad reputation precedes us into their world as well.’

  I turned my attention back to Areli. ‘Quinn is …’ I paused over telling them he was my brother. If they thought I was a shape shifter too they might completely lose it. ‘Quinn is a very good friend of mine, yes he is a shape shifter, but he would die for me, I trust him with my life.’

  Areli hesitated, clearly flummoxed by this new turn of events. ‘The shape shifter, as you call it, is your friend?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Are all…shape shifters your friend?’

  I thought back to Lucas’s evil twin. ‘No, just this one, he’s very special to me.’

  Areli nodded. His ears went flat again as Persia and Clementine arrived in the church behind her. They froze when they saw Areli and Jai.

  Areli sniffed the air between them and relaxed. ‘We should go Jai, the Angelus Vita has a lot of work to do.’

  ‘Come again, I’m always happy to talk to you,’ I smiled, encouragingly. I didn’t want to alienate the animals because of my association with shape shifters.

  Areli nodded, sedately and nudging Jai with his antlers they left.

  ‘Friends of yours?’ asked Persia. Her eyes were sad and I wasn’t sure why.

  ‘Yeah, sort of, though they weren’t fans of Quinn though.’

  Quinn shrugged as if he was used to the prejudice against shape shifters.

  ‘Hey Persia, sorry about yesterday, just leaving like that, I hate to worry you unnecessarily.’

  ‘Don’t sweat it, I’m kind of getting used to being left in the dark.’

  I winced. Was that what was bothering her. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘No seriously Eve, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant I’m getting used to the unusual happening around you, it’s fine. You had slightly more important things to worry about. Now listen I need to talk to you.’

  Not again. Not more bad news.

  There was suddenly a man in the church with us. The Guardians surrounded him like a shot. He looked startled at his sudden welcome party.

  ‘I’m looking for Eve,’ he said, edging back away from my imposing bodyguards.

  Eli stepped forward with his hand on his knife and the man flinched.

  ‘Easy Eli, we’re not about to kill an innocent member of the public.’

  ‘Wait, I have a message,’ the man scrabbled in his pocket and produced a sheet of paper. ‘I was out running at the bottom of the track and some man paid me a hundred pounds to come up here and deliver it. He said I’d get another hundred from you guys once I had handed it over.’

  Eli snatched the letter from his hand.

  ‘Oh. It’s only supposed to be read by Eve, the man said that…’ he trailed off under Eli’s glare.

  Eli opened it, his eyes flicking across the words. A second later he had the man by the throat up against the wall. ‘What is the meaning of this, who are you?’

  The man struggled against Eli, but it was futile.

  ‘Please,’ the man begged, ‘I don’t know what it said, it’s nothing to do with me. I told you, I was paid to come up here.’ The man punched against Eli’s arm, trying to free himself from his grasp. I could see the panic in his eyes, he was terrified.

  ‘Eli, let him go.’

  Eli hesitated a second then released him. As soon as he hit the floor he scrambled up and ran. If he was a Putarian, he was certainly a cowardly one.

  Eli was tense and not just about the man.

  ‘What does it say?’ I asked.

  He shook his head.

  I held out my hand and the letter zoomed into it. It didn’t say a lot and what it did say didn’t really have the same effect on me as it did on Eli.

  ‘On December 21st, the Sun will set on the old year and the New Year will begin. The sky will burn red. The waters will be tainted with our sacrifices. Putus will smile down on the pure and reward our offerings. Yours will be the greatest gift of all.’

  I turned over the paper to see if there was more by way of an explanation. There was nothing.

  ‘What does it mean?’

  ‘December 21st is end of the year for the Putarians. Traditionally it’s when they make human sacrifices to their god Putus, normally Zekis or Donum. They intend to sacrifice you instead.’

  My blood ran cold.

  ‘They won’t get anywhere near you,’ Eli said.

  ‘No they won’t. I have the best Guardians watching over me, you guys are amazing. What bothers me most is that they know I’m here. How do they know that? We’ve only just got here. They had no way of knowing we would be back. They must be watching us.’

  This thought had obviously already occurred to Eli. But he shook his head, either unwilling or unable to give me an answer.

  I sighed. ‘What date is it today?’

  ‘The 18th,’ Lucas said, quietly.

  I had three days.

  Persia took my hand and pulled me down on to the window ledge next to her. ‘Listen I had a dream, a prophecy.’ She looked round at my Guardians and continued in my head. ‘I don’t know how to say this. Your Guardians are going to die.’

  I gasped. ‘When?’

  ‘Alexandria dies tomorrow. Mason drowns on the 21st. Caleb in a month or two.’

  I looked at them. They had become my friends. They were going to die for me, because of me. I couldn’t stand it.

  Persia took my hand with tears in her eyes. ‘Eve, I’m so sorry but Seth dies too. Also on the 21st.’

  I actually felt all the blood drain out of my face. Seth had said the Oraculum told him he was going to die for me. But somehow I had thought I could stop it. I could still stop it. I had to do something to stop all of them from dying. They had saved me so many times over the last few weeks, it was my turn to save them.

  ‘I’m so sorry Eve.

  ‘You said you saw me marrying Seth?’

  ‘I did, I still do… but.’

  ‘So I can prevent it.’ I would prevent it.

  ‘I guess, but I don’t know how.’

  ‘How does he die?’

  ‘He’s with you, in the woods at night, alone. The Putarians come. He tries to fight them off but there’s too many of them’

  ‘And what do I do whilst he’s fighting them?’

  ‘I think you’re unconscious because you just lie there.’

  ‘And then I die too?’

  ‘I don’t see that part, just the bit where Seth dies. I’m sorry, my prophecies are not that clear.’

  I let my head fall into my hands. I couldn’t lose him.

  ‘Should I tell them?’ Persia asked, quietly.

  I nodded as I stood up, an idea suddenly forming in my head. ‘They have a right to know.’

  ‘A right to know what?’ said Eli, obviously concerned by the looks of anguish and despair me and Persia had been sharing.

  ‘Persia has something to tell you. I’m just going to go outside, I just need to be alone for a minute.’

  Eli watched me go suspiciously, though I deliberately positioned myself where he could see me.

  I heard Persia explain what she had seen and there was silence for a second as they digested it.

  Then Seth let out a cheer. ‘For the glory of the Sentinel.’

  I actually felt sick. He wanted to die for me. To make matters worse, they all cheered in response.

  And in the din that followed I ran for the car.

  ‘Is that what Eve’s upset about,’ said Caleb. ‘Doesn’t she know the Oraculum will just send her a new Personal Guard.’

  ‘I think she’s more upset about losing you,’ said Quinn.

  ‘That’s silly,’ laughed Mason. ‘That’s what we’re here for.’

  I leapt in the car, started the engine and as I floored the accele
rator I shut my mind to the Guardians. I didn’t really have a plan. I was panicking wildly. I just knew I had to get as far away from them as possible. If they weren’t with me then they couldn’t be killed. I would do it all alone. I didn’t need them.

  I looked in the rear view mirror and to my annoyance Eli and Lucas were both chasing after me. I changed into a higher gear, increased my speed and hit the main road at the bottom of the dirt track, narrowly avoiding a truck that was speeding towards me. I pushed the car as fast as it would go and took off up the road.

  I had gone full circle. The first time I had met Eli I had ran from him now I was running for him. I rounded a corner and chanced a quick look behind me. Lucas was still remarkably keeping up, his arms and legs a blur as he ran behind the car. Though there was no sign of Eli.

  Suddenly a loud bang on the roof of the car indicated his arrival. Despite the fact that I was pushing a hundred miles per hour, Eli calmly opened the passenger door and slid into the passenger seat.

  ‘Pull over now.’ He was furious.

  ‘Stay away from me. I’m not safe to be around.’

  I slammed the brakes on and skidded the car into the side of the road, I could see us heading straight for some trees and knew Eli would stop us from hitting them. He did, he grabbed the wheel and skilfully steered away from them and as the car slowed I leapt out. I stumbled on the floor as my feet hit the moving ground but soon I was running through the trees. I knew it was hopeless. Eli was so much faster than me. I had to concentrate on sliding somewhere, anywhere but here.

  As I darted through the trees, I could hear the footsteps gaining on me. I quickly imagined the beach in Mexico where I had gone with Seth. I could see the white sands, the palm trees. It was dark, early hours in the morning there and the moonlight was glinting off the water. The picture was so vivid, so clear and I imagined stepping through.

  Something slammed into me hard and I hit the floor with strong arms in a vice like grip around me.

  I struggled for a moment but stopped when I realised I had successfully slid to Mexico and taken Eli with me. It was dark and the beach was thankfully deserted. No one to see us arrive.

  Eli sat up and looked around with confusion. ‘Where the hell are we?’

  I used this momentary distraction to wriggle free and run down the beach towards some palm trees. Within a second of finding my new freedom, I was suddenly grabbed and pinned against a palm tree. It wasn’t hard, Eli ensured that, but my head still banged painfully against the trunk. With the shock of this and the sudden grief of losing Seth and my Guardians finally catching up with me, with my frustration of not being able to stop it, and the complete and utter exhaustion I had felt over the last few weeks, I burst into tears.

  To my absolute surprise, Eli pulled me into a hug, holding me tight against him as I ruined his shirt with my tears.

  We stood like that for ages. He didn’t say anything, nor did he try to stop me. Eventually my sobs subsided and Eli pulled me down to sit next to him at the bottom of the tree, with his arm still clamped round my shoulders. He wasn’t taking any chances, but I didn’t have it in me to run anymore.

  ‘You can’t grow attached to us Eve.’ His voice was soft now, all traces of the anger had gone.

  I looked up at him, incredulously. ‘I am attached Eli. I can’t undo that.’

  ‘We’re just Guardians, we’re very unimportant in the grand scheme of things.’ He picked up a handful of sand and let it trickle through his fingers. ‘We are the grains of sand, you are this great palm tree.’

  I looked up into the fronds of the tree as they rustled gently in the breeze above us.

  ‘You’re important to me Eli, I don’t want to lose you.’

  He shook his head. ‘We are sent to protect you in any way that we can. We would gladly die for you, in fact there is no greater honour than to die for you.’

  ‘It’s a horrifying thought that anyone would die for me, but you guys are my friends. I couldn’t bear it if any of you died whilst protecting me. I’ve already lost one family, I can’t lose another.’

  ‘We’re not your friends or family though Eve, not really.’

  Fresh tears welled in my eyes at this and I looked down to avoid his gaze. He took my chin and pulled it back to face him.

  ‘You misunderstand me. We care about you a great deal. Not just because of who or what you will become, but because of who you are now, because of your compassion, kindness, your determination and courage. We love you. But we can’t be friends. If one of us gets killed, we’ll be replaced by another. That’s the way of it.’

  ‘How can you be so callous, won’t you miss them. Mason, Caleb, Alexandria, they’re all going to die.’

  Something flickered in his eyes when I said Alexandria’s name, but it was gone a second later.

  ‘Yes. I never thought I would say this, but I will miss them. But my feelings towards your personal guard have no bearing on this. Whatever happens I would never put their safety above yours. You have to be alive at the end and as we’ve already seen you can’t do this alone. The Putarians, the Reapers, the bounty hunters are pulling out all the stops to see you don’t reach the end. It’s our job to make sure you do.’

  I felt my jaw clench angrily. I had been made to die to save the world and the Guardians had been sent to die to save me. The Oraculum really did have a lot to answer for.

  ‘Then I will do everything in my power to protect you guys as fiercely as you protect me.’

  ‘And that’s all we can ask for.’

  I leaned against him, praying it would be enough.

  ‘And what are we going to do about Seth?’ he asked.

  And a fresh wave of panic surged through me.

  ‘You love him don’t you?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said, honestly. But it was more than that. How could I explain what he meant to me? The wind picked up slightly making the leaves rattle above us. I looked up at them. ‘To use your analogy. If I’m the palm tree, then Seth is the roots. I can’t stand without him. I need him alive. If I’m going to save the world it has to be a world worth fighting for, a world with him in. I can’t lose him.’

  Eli nodded with understanding. ‘I can do something about that. Eve if you promise me you will do exactly what I say from now on, if you promise me that you will never run away from us or shut us out again then I promise you that I will keep Seth safe.’

  ‘I promise,’ I blurted out before I’d really thought it through. But really what was there to think about. Seth had to be kept alive.

  ‘Very well. When we get back you need to order Seth to stay away from you.’

  ‘That won’t work.’

  ‘When we pledged ourselves to you, we not only pledged to protect you, but to obey you. Now you can’t order Seth not to protect you; that would be like ordering him to kill you. But you can order him to stay away from you. You are the Sentinel; your orders have to be obeyed. Seth would have to do it whether he liked it or not.’

  ‘I could order you lot away too.’

  ‘You could of course, but the Oraculum would simply send you a new Personal Guard. But Seth is not part of your Guard.’

  ‘Seth will wriggle out of it somehow.’

  ‘He won’t. But you order him away from you and I’ll take care of the rest.’

  Surely this was defeating the object. I needed Seth in my life. But with crystal clarity, I suddenly realised that I needed him alive more than anything. I nodded.

  Eli stood up and pulled me to my feet. ‘Then let’s get back, they’re starting to worry.’

  I took his hand and thinking about the church, about the blackened and broken walls, I slid us back.

  I looked around, sheepishly at the concerned faces of my Guardians and friends.

  ‘I’m sorry. I probably should have grown out of the tantrum throwing stage a few years ago. I just… I’m scared of losing you.’

  ‘We are not scared of death, Eve,’ Alexandria said. ‘There is nothing to fear
of dying. Death is easy.’

  ‘For you maybe. In the human world, death is much harder for the ones that are left behind.’

  She didn’t get it. None of them did.

  I turned to face Seth. I stepped forward and hugged him, burying my nose in his chest and breathing in his glorious woody smell. ‘I’m especially sorry to you.’

  He pulled back and looked at me in confusion. ‘What for?’

  ‘For what happens next.’ I stepped back. ‘Seth, you pledged to obey my orders.’

  He narrowed his eyes at me but nodded.

  As I prepared to deliver my fatal blow, I felt like I was ripping out my own heart. ‘Seth I order you to stay away from me, I order you to never come near me again.’

  ‘What? Are you kidding? You’re ordering me, I’m your best friend and you’re giving me an order?’

  ‘You will obey the Sentinel’s order’s Seth, without question,’ Eli said.

  Seth glared at Eli, as if he had been betrayed.

  ‘This is ridiculous, I’m one of your Guardians, you can’t send me away.’

  ‘There are loads of Guardians out there that are pledged to me, but don’t ever come near me, you can go and be one of those.’

  ‘Eve, no, I’m not going anywhere,’ Seth said, defensively, folding his arms across his chest.

  ‘You swore to obey me, so you will obey me, I order you to leave now and never come near me again.’ I growled. If I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn someone was reaching into my chest and crushing my heart. I felt horrible.

  He turned to Eli in a last ditch attempt to stay. ‘Eli, tell her she can’t do this.’

  ‘I was the one that told her that she could. I won’t have anything near her that will compromise her safety.’

  ‘I would never do anything to put her in jeopardy, you know that. I’d die before I’d allow her to get hurt.’

  ‘And that’s the problem,’ said Eli.

  Suddenly five Guardians appeared out of the air. I flinched at this unexpected tact.

  Eli turned to the newcomers. ‘Seth needs to be placed under house arrest. He is not to leave his house without my permission. You will guard him with your lives.’

  Seth stared at Eli in shock. ‘I’m being babysat,’ he spat in disgust.