by Holly Martin
I soon found out as Lucas yanked the bedroom door open. ‘Go back to your room, you’re no good to anyone at the moment.’
Noah didn’t even argue, he stood and sloped off down the corridor. Lucas turned back to face me.
‘Well we expected this from Quinn, the question is what do we do about it?’
Seth sighed. ‘Can we get Cassidy up here to heal him, I might have been a bit rough when I tried to stop him.’
My heart swelled with love for him, despite what Quinn had just done, Seth still cared enough for him or for me to want him healed.
‘I could heal him,’ I said, quietly, knowing they wouldn’t let me anywhere near him.
‘I want to know what drug he was trying to use on her and where he got it,’ Lucas said.
‘That’s not important now, I want Quinn removed from this tower. I don’t want him anywhere near her now, he can’t be trusted,’ Seth said, angrily.
‘You don’t have any right to demand that,’ I said.
‘I’m your husband, I have every right.’
‘Even if we remove him, he could come back as an animal, an insect, and attack her then,’ Lucas said.
‘He didn’t attack me,’ I protested. ‘He was trying to save me. Now have you got Cassidy to look at him, or is he still lying on the roof in pain?’
‘And how was it you were there at the exact moment that Quinn attacked, is this part of the ploy, you prove to us that you can be trusted and whilst our attention is diverted by Quinn’s attempts, are we going to get another attempt from you?’ Lucas said.
‘Shall I just go and heal him,’ I made for the door.
Seth caught my arm. ‘I wouldn’t do it again, I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her ever again.’
‘So how come you were there?’
Seth looked suddenly embarrassed and I stopped trying to extricate my arm from his hand and looked at him.
‘I… just felt she needed me.’
‘I called you?’ I asked.
Seth shook his head. ‘It was just a feeling.’
I stared at Seth for a moment, then turned my attention back to Lucas. ‘Is Quinn OK?’
Lucas shrugged. ‘We haven’t found Cassidy yet.’
Angrily I paced away from them, but not out the room.
‘Maybe a few minutes of pain will teach him a lesson,’ Lucas muttered.
I clenched my fists and angrily reached out for Quinn’s signal, and pulled him to me.
Quinn landed in front of me, shivering and writhing in pain.
Lucas and Seth fell silent behind me, and I knew they were angry with me for defying them.
I grabbed a blanket from the bed and wrapped it round him, then quickly healed him, filling him with warmth also.
‘I’m sorry Eve, I just… I can’t lose you.’
‘I know and I’m sorry for causing you so much pain. I don’t want to leave you either. I love you Quinn. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, but I have no choice and I’m sorry,’ tears filled my eyes and Quinn took my hand. I was aware that Seth and Lucas were very close behind me.
I swallowed. ‘Quinn I want you to move out of the tower, I can’t trust you to be near me now.’
Quinn’s eyes widened in horror. ‘Please no Eve, I’m sorry. I promise I won’t try anything like that again, we can all make sure that you’re never alone with me again. Give me an escort so you’ll know I can’t get hold of the drugs or try anything behind your back. Please, I’m willing to do anything, please just don’t take me away from you. If you’re going to die, I can’t bear to not see you again.’
‘We’ll never be alone again?’
‘That’s fine, we were never supposed to be alone anyway. I’ve never been good enough to protect you alone, but… you can have me searched before I’m allowed to talk to you, whatever it takes.’
‘All my personal guard will have to be informed.’
Quinn nodded, keenly. ‘Please Eve, I’m sorry, truly I am.’
‘OK, you can stay.’ I felt the presence of Lucas and Seth behind me. ‘Now you better get out of here before these guys decide to take out their anger on you.’
Quinn eyed Lucas and Seth over my shoulder. ‘I’m sorry Seth.’
‘It’s OK Quinn, I know exactly what you’re going through.’ I looked up at him and smiled sadly. ‘I’m sorry for …erm throwing you across the roof.’
Quinn grinned and reached out to shake Seth’s hand. After a moment’s hesitation Seth took it. Quinn turned to Lucas. ‘I’m sorry Lucas, I betrayed your trust in me.’
Lucas’s face was cold. ‘If you try anything again, you’ll have a bit more than broken bones to contend with. What was the drug you were trying to use?’
Quinn fished in his pocket and held out the syringe, Lucas snatched it from him before he got any closer to me with it. ‘It’s a shape shifting drug, what I used to get Eve out of Adam’s clutches when he held her at the Oraculum’s castle. It would have forced Eve to take the form of a mouse for a few hours, then I was going to shift into a bird and fly her out of here.’
‘And what if you dropped her? She’d be alone in a forest as a mouse. And what would you do once the drug wore off, keep her topped up with some more?’ Lucas asked.
Quinn sat up and Lucas stepped closer, almost stepping between us. ‘I didn’t really think it through, I… I was desperate.’
‘And that’s what could have gotten her killed, not thinking it through, not thinking of what could happen to her.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Look,’ I said, standing up and stepping discreetly away from Quinn, mainly to appease Lucas. If he got any closer, he’d be sitting on Quinn’s lap. ‘We have all done and said things we probably shouldn’t have over the last few days. It’s been emotional for all of us. We just need to get through the next two days, help each other to get through it.’
Lucas nodded reluctantly. ‘Very well, if you wish that Quinn stays, if you are prepared to trust him then I will too.’
I nodded my thanks.
‘We should tell him about our daughter,’ Seth said, in my head. ‘It might stop him from trying again if he knows he could hurt his niece in trying to save you.’
I shook my head. ‘What if telling him about his niece will make him try even harder?’
‘If I’m going to cut you open seconds after you die, he’ll need to know why. In fact any of the Guardians in the room will.’
That was not going to be an easy conversation to have. And while I was happy for Quinn to know about my daughter if she survived. I didn’t want anyone else to know she existed. If word got out, the Putarians would hunt her down too once I had saved the world and I didn’t want that life for her.
I stood up, and Quinn stood up too. He looked so forlorn that I immediately stepped forward and gave him a hug. He hugged me back and then quickly left the room.
‘I agree with Seth, I think you should tell him,’ Lucas said.
‘Not yet. Maybe you two can be separate from the rest of the Guardians when I come back. So no one questions why you are suddenly gutting me like a fish. If the baby survives then I want the smallest amount of people possible to know about her. Quinn can be told, obviously, and Eli. But Seth I want you to take her into hiding. Get to that island somehow and raise her there. I don’t want the Putarians or Reapers to ever know she exists. If there are any members of the Oraculum left alive, I don’t want them to know either.’
Seth nodded. ‘OK.’
A thought occurred to me. If the Oraculum found out she was alive, would they kill her just in case she became as powerful as me? Would they risk leaving the child of the Sentinel alive?
Adam’s supposed prophecy of Nathaniel killing Seth slammed in to my mind. What reason would Nathaniel have for killing Seth after I had gone? Unless Nathaniel had come to kill my daughter and Seth was trying to stop him. I remembered Adam’s offer. Kill the Oraculum and he would stand with me to fight against the end of the world. If they w
ere dead, then she would be safe. Well from them at least. And I wouldn’t have to face the end of the world alone. I had seen me and Adam fighting to save the world together. Was this what I did to ensure that that happened? Could I do really do it?
As soon as the thought popped into my head, I pushed it away. I could never kill someone in cold blood. I had killed people before in self-defence but I couldn’t seek them out and kill them for no reason, no matter what was at stake. The Oraculum were scared that Adam was dark and malevolent but killing the Oraculum would make me no better than him.
I sighed. My daughter’s existence was going to complicate things for Seth and Lucas after I’d gone. But I just had to trust that they would keep her safe.
Chapter 17
I wasn’t surprised to see Adam that night in my dreams. With only one more day before the end of the world and three members of the Oraculum left alive and probably hunting Adam down, he was getting desperate too.
I didn’t want to talk to him. Because things had changed. It wasn’t just my life at stake now but the life of my daughter. And a terrible, dark part of me, a part that I never even knew existed, had actually thought about Adam’s offer once I’d found out I was pregnant. Joining with him and killing the Oraculum would increase her chances of living. It didn’t matter that I had pushed the idea away as soon as I had considered it, because I had considered it and what kind of person did that make me? I was also scared that talking to Adam would tempt me again. I wanted to live to see my daughter grow up, but I wanted my daughter and Seth to live more and there was a huge part of me that would do whatever it took to ensure their survival. But I knew I had no right to choose whose life was more significant, my daughter or that of the Oraculum. The fate of the world was the most important thing here and I couldn’t forget that.
Adam sat down next to me and I sighed.
‘Time is running out. This must be heartbreaking for you and Seth knowing that you’re going to die.’
I could see he was trying to inject compassion and sympathy into his voice but was failing miserably. Adam didn’t have a single compassionate bone in his body. This was all for his gain, he didn’t care about me.
‘It’s my fate. It’s what I was created for. There’s nothing I can do to change that.’
‘Of course there is,’ Adam snapped. ‘Don’t let the Oraculum dictate whether you live or die. Take that decision into your own hands.’
‘By murdering them? Adam, that’s not who I am.’
‘You killed Helez.’
‘You did that, don’t put that on me.’
Adam shrugged, a smile on his lips. ‘Let’s call it a joint effort.’
‘You can call it whatever you want, we both know the truth.’
He looked me right in the eye. ‘Yes, we do, don’t we Eve? He betrayed you. He came to kill you moments after he pledged to protect and help you. Are you seriously telling me you didn’t want to see him dead after that?’
I shook my head. I was horrified that Adam had forced me to kill Helez, despite the circumstances but had Adam not taken control of me, I’d never have let Helez assassinate me. It would have ended in the same way with Helez dead. I did have it in me to kill. I had killed several people before and I knew I would again to defend me and my loved ones. Was what Adam was asking me to do really that different?
‘Destroy Cain and the others will be too scared to come anywhere near you. Eliminate him and I’ll take care of the others,’ Adam said.
There was no way I could hurt Cain. I shook my head.
‘Leon then. Kill him and that will bring Cain to you. I’ll take care of Cain once he’s standing in front of me. I just can’t get to him without your help.’
‘I’m not touching Leon either.’
‘What about Nathaniel? He has been against you from the very beginning. You owe him nothing. I’ve seen him murder Seth after you die. Kill Nathaniel and you’ll be safe, you both will.’
I hated that I paused before I shook my head, that for a split second I could even conceive it. Adam had seen me hesitate as well.
‘So you do have a chink in that golden girl armour,’ Adam smiled, smugly. ‘Leave it to me.’
And with that he vanished leaving me alone on the beach.
*
The morning of the 30th was another grey one, the snow glistening in the early morning light. I had one more day and one more night before the end of the world came and I still had no idea how this Armageddon would manifest itself.
I looked down at Seth’s hand resting over our daughter which is how he had held me all night. Was my belly bigger already? It wasn’t so big that anyone would think I was pregnant yet but she certainly seemed to have grown a little overnight. There was no sickness now. It seemed Lucas was right and it only lasted a day or so. The benefits of carrying a part Deus baby.
I rolled over to face my husband and his hand stayed over my belly.
He shifted my hair off my face and placed a tender kiss on my forehead.
‘What’s your plan for today?’
‘I think I’m going to stay right here, wrapped in your arms and I don’t plan to move until the world is crumbling around our ears.’
He nodded. ‘That sounds like a great plan.’
I sighed, knowing that I probably couldn’t do that. I guessed I needed to do something to say goodbye to everyone though the thought of doing that one by one was emotionally exhausting.
‘We could have a party,’ Seth suggested as if he read my mind.
I looked at him in confusion. ‘Did you read my mind the way that Lucas does?’
Seth frowned. ‘I don’t know, I just knew you were thinking about how to say goodbye to everyone.’
Seth’s connection with me was getting stronger which was wonderful and equally depressing all at once. He would never have that connection that Lucas has with me. I wouldn’t be here long enough to for him to develop that.
‘A party would be good, something low key and casual. Just Quinn, Persia, Izri, my personal and outer guard. And Zach and Deacon of course.’
He nodded. ‘I can sort that out for you. Give me a few hours and we could do something tonight.’
‘I’d like that.’
I kissed him briefly then got up and got washed and dressed.
I stepped outside and Lucas and Mason were standing there. Obviously the one guard was no longer sufficient if that one guard was too upset to do his job properly.
‘I’m going for a run.’
‘OK,’ Lucas said.
‘I’d like to take Quinn,’ I said.
The smile fell from his face at that but he nodded anyway. ‘Mason will be coming with us too.’
I nodded at the extra precaution.
We made our way down the stairs and stopped outside of Quinn’s room. I knocked on his door and he answered almost immediately.
He smiled sadly when he saw me. ‘I didn’t think I’d see you today.’
‘Thought you might like to come for a run with me,’ I said, determined to try and keep everything as normal as possible.
‘Yes, of course. Give me two seconds.’ He turned and pulled his trainers on and then walked outside with us. As soon as we were clear of the fort I started running and all three of them matched my speed easily. I would never do this again with my brother. I quickly forced the thought from my mind. If I started thinking about all the things I would miss, I would lose it and I knew I wouldn’t stop sobbing until the end of the world came to finish me off.
As we ran into the forest, I could feel the tension coming from Quinn. Would he try something? Seth had said he had spoken to him last night, and he had accepted my fate, but Quinn was preoccupied I could tell that. I swallowed, my mouth going dry. Would he hurt Lucas and Mason to get to me? Surely not. But if he tried something my Guardians would stop him and that would end in a fight, and not one that Quinn could win, not unless he turned into a bear or something. My heart started to race, I didn’t want any of them to
get hurt.
Feeling my anxiety in my head, I saw Lucas move his hand to his knife as we ran. I stared at him, incredulous, but Lucas remained unmoved by my stares.
I stopped and Quinn, Lucas and Mason stopped either side of me, Lucas staring at Quinn intently, though Quinn was staring at the floor.
‘Any chance I could talk to her alone for a minute?’ Quinn asked, and my heart leapt.
Lucas just shook his head.
‘Well I guess I asked for that,’ Quinn muttered, he turned his attention back to me. ‘I want to give you something, I know you can’t take it with you, but I still want you to have it,’ he moved his hands behind his neck and removed the lion necklace.
‘No Quinn, I can’t…’
But Quinn took my hand and pressed the necklace into my palm, curling my unwilling fingers around it.
‘Our mum gave me this—’
‘I know, I can’t take it.’
‘We’re not sure why I turn into a lion when I shift, why that’s the animal I always change into automatically. Like yours is a lion too. But it wasn’t my dad’s nor any of my grandparents and normally these things are hereditary. Mum said it was because I had a special job to do, that I was to protect you no matter what. She gave me the lion as a symbol of courage and strength,’ he smiled wistfully as he continued. ‘She said she knew I would have great strength, that I would be fearless, but that courage, though with me all the time, would be the hardest to keep at the end. She said that in the end, I would need great courage to choose the right path, the most selfless path, and I believe she was talking about you. That I would need courage to let you go.’
Quinn pushed my hands back towards me, the necklace held within. ‘I’m letting you go Eve, the hardest thing I will ever do,’ he swallowed, tears brimming in his eyes and I started to cry too. ‘But you have shown bravery, strength and courage, more so than I ever could, so you should have this now.’
I looked at the small lion’s face in my hand, the amber eyes almost glowing in the early morning sun.
‘It’s OK for me Quinn, I’m not the one who’s left behind. And you are so much braver than me, because I could never let you go. But it means so much that I have your support in this.’ I moved forward to hug him, but Quinn had already grabbed me into a fierce bear hug. Eventually he released me.
