03 Saints

by Lynnie Purcell

  He stepped in to the middle of the crowded hall, off the room Sara had set us down in, and spread his arms wide. His face was full of amusement.

  “Come now, you can’t get rid of me that easily.” He smiled as the others laughed. His face lost some of its amusement as he spoke again. “Yes, it is true we were ambushed. Believe me when I tell you that I will find the person responsible, and they will pay. There is nothing to fear...it is like any other fight gone bad. And we’ve sure seen plenty of those.”

  People’s conversations started to buzz around again; his words soothed some of their anxiety. The hidden message was that the danger would not last long. No one missed it.

  Ethan, Cora, and Sprint were gathered next to one of the large windows, doing their best to stay out of the way of the others. Their faces, more than the others, reflected their worry. I realized - if the attack had been successful - there would have been no one here to make sure they were safe. I wasn’t even entirely certain where Alex was, or what she was doing. Our lack of communication could have been their undoing. Spider went to them and they gathered in a small circle of seclusion, checking in and going over what had happened. Even Twitch was hanging on to Spider’s every word.

  I pulled Daniel out of the way of the others and in to an alcove. I made him sit on the edge of a window and took away Spider’s tattered jacket. He allowed me to look, the expression of pain on his face overdone for my benefit. Now that he was safe, he wasn’t above hamming it up. I looked at his shoulder, feeling helpless. I had done nothing to prevent his wound. What if the shooter had been a better shot? It would be his body burning on the pyre. He noticed my expression and dropped the act. He put his hand over mine, a silent gesture that everything was okay, that he was okay. It made me feel better, but I still had worry.

  “Daniel…” I said, dabbing at the silver blood with the jacket.

  “Yes?” he asked, watching me with serious eyes.

  “I need a car.”

  His eyes lit up. “I thought you would never ask.”

  I shook my head. “Not for me. For the kids. If something goes sideways again, I need to know that they have a way to escape the school. I need something that will fit all of them, something that Ethan or Spider can drive.”

  “Neither have a license,” he reminded me.

  “Oh, gosh, really?” I said. “Cause that’s stopped them so many times before…”

  He smiled at my sarcasm. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I need a favor in return,” he said.

  “In that case, I take back my ‘thank you,’” I said.

  “Fair,” he said.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  He reached in to his pocket. His face was a curious mixture of hope and doubt. I wasn’t certain where the contradiction was coming from, or why he looked so unlike himself in his doubt.

  “After tonight, I realize waiting around for fate to catch up to us is dangerous…I…”

  Just as he started to pull his hand out of his pocket, Elizabeth and River came out of the room that held Anna. I hadn’t realized we were right in front of it. The people crowding the corridors had made me lose track of location. River waved at me as she passed, a small smile on her face, while Elizabeth looked too angry to notice anything. They kept walking toward the stairs, not stopping to talk.

  Moira stood in the door for a moment and watched them as they left.

  “What’s up with her?” I asked Moira.

  “She just found out about the attack,” Moira said.

  It felt like a partial truth.

  “Oh,” I said.

  “She’s been trying to find the spy,” Moira added thoughtfully. “It’s dangerous. Searching for someone who does not wish to be found is a good way to die a quick death.”

  My eyes widened. I wasn’t sure what message Moira was sending: to be careful or to not look for the spy – because she was the spy and she would kill whomever came looking. Daniel’s face was impassive, but I sensed him wondering the same thing.

  “The traitor must be found, if Reaper is to continue his mission,” Daniel said.

  “Yes, but blundering around, as Elizabeth is doing, will not end well. She is foolish to be so obvious,” Moira said.

  “We’re all foolish at times,” I said.

  Moira’s lips lifted up in to a half smile. It was a smile of knowing; it was a smile filled with caution.

  “Indeed.” Her eyes moved beyond us, to where Elizabeth and River had disappeared down the stairs. Her expression was strangely sad. “I must get back.”

  She gestured toward the room and the box I had been avoiding looking at; the box that held Anna.

  “Certainly,” Daniel agreed.

  I had more questions, but Moira had already shut the door. Daniel stood and looked down at his shoulder. The wound was starting to shut, though it looked as if it was having a difficult time healing the way it should. He rolled his shoulders, putting his injury to the back of his mind. It wasn’t the only thing he put to the back of his mind. Whatever he had been about to say to me, he didn’t mention again. The moment was lost.

  He stood and started toward the stairs, searching out a change of clothes and a shower.

  “How has Elizabeth been blundering around?” I asked as we walked.

  “She’s been asking around about the attack…not being very subtle about it,” Daniel said.

  “How not subtle?” I asked.

  “Your kind of not subtle,” he said.

  “I knew I liked her,” I said.

  “What happened?” a new voice interrupted us.

  Alex met us outside her room. She held a phone in her hand, and it looked as if she had just heard about the attack. Her x-ray eyes were filled with worry and tension. They held a worry I hadn’t seen shaped in her eyes before. It went beyond ‘normal.’ I wasn’t sure who she was worried about; her blue eyes were a mystery.

  Daniel told her about the attack, his details vague enough so I didn’t feel as if I were reliving the moment but vivid enough to give her the big picture. She stared at the wound on his shoulder as he spoke. Her worry intensified with the proof of his injury.

  “Holy frak!” she said. “So that coin was for Spider after all?”

  “It was for all of us, I think,” I said dryly.

  “And do we still think it’s…”

  Quinn appeared at the end of the hall, as if he had known she was about to say his name. Behind him were the two flunkies, who followed him everywhere. They were mocking Reaper’s speech, insulting him openly. When Quinn’s eyes connected with mine, he smiled. It was the sort of smile that said ‘I’ll get you next time.’

  My first thought was of Daniel and how close the bullet had come to taking him from me. Quinn could threaten me all day long, but to threaten Daniel? Unacceptable. His expression reinforced the fact that Daniel’s life hung in the balance, so long as Quinn was breathing. Anger surged up at the thought.

  Burning, skin-tingling, heat surged through my body. The heat channeled through my skin and a film of dangerous haze swirled in front of my eyes. It was the sort of haze I knew was deadly. Daniel, who was holding my hand, felt the change.

  “Clare…” he warned me.

  I ignored the warning. The building started to shake. Parts of the ceiling started to fall to the floor. Quinn and his bodyguards rocked in time to the shaking building.

  “Get out of here!” Alex yelled at Quinn. “Go!”

  Quinn had lost his smug smile. He pushed his bodyguards out of the way and hurried to the stair door. His retreat wasn’t enough to stop me. I started after him. The shaking of the building grew worse. Without hesitation, Daniel circled around me to block my path. I started to move past him again, but he put his hands on either side of my face to stop me.

  “Stop,” he commanded.

  I glared at him. His green eyes were unrelenting. They bored in to mine unflinchingly. They told me to calm down; to not take v
engeance. Not like this. Not now.

  His eyes said enough. I remembered his training. I remembered my commitment to control. I focused on my breathing; I focused on not killing everyone in the building. Another breath and I felt my racing heart calm down. One more breath and the building stopped shaking. Daniel kept his hands in place, to see through our connection if I was really calm. I finally nodded at him, and he smiled. I sensed he was proud of me; it was the first time I had controlled my temper without a fight.

  “Well, that was exciting,” Alex said.

  “You controlled it,” Daniel said encouragingly.

  “Define ‘progress’ – the act of not making a building fall down,” I said dryly.

  “How did he get back here so quick?” Daniel asked, staring after Quinn. “If he is the one taking shots at us…how was he here?”

  “Sara or Shawn would have had to have taken him,” Alex said. “Both were out.”

  “If they are on his side…” Daniel said.

  “Imagine if they decided to leave someone in that dark void they walk through…” I said with a shudder.

  “Did you guys feel that earthquake?”

  Spider and the kids had come to find us. Their eyes were wide with excitement and fear. Spider had found another jacket, one that looked way too big for him. It looked like Reaper’s.

  “Yeah, we felt it,” Daniel said.

  “I’ve never felt a real earthquake before!” Cora said.

  “Do you think they’ll be another one?” Sprint asked. “What are they called?”

  “Aftershocks,” Ethan said.

  “No seriously,” Sprint said. “What are those things called when the first earthquake ends?”

  “Aftershocks,” Ethan repeated.

  “I don’t think so,” Sprint said.

  “I’m hungry,” Cora said as Ethan’s lips formed a rebuttal.

  “It’s Spider’s turn to fix something,” Ethan said.

  “I was just almost killed,” Spider pointed out. “I deserve a freebie.”

  “No way, dude…The only way you get a freebie is if you actually die,” Ethan said.

  “Oh, well, thanks,” Spider said.

  “Fair is fair,” Ethan said primly.

  They walked off, leaving Daniel, Alex, and me in the hall again. I was staring at Daniel, Daniel was staring at the ground, and Alex was biting her lip and staring out the window.

  “I need to talk with Reaper,” Alex said.

  “What good do you think that will do?” I asked.

  “Maybe nothing, but I need to understand. The more we know, the better we can deal,” she said.

  “Okay,” I said.

  She walked away, still lost in wherever her thoughts had gone. I sensed not all of her thoughts were about the attack; something else was bothering her. Daniel crossed his arms and continued with the biggest worry on his mind.

  “We need to find out if he had help. Sara and Shawn can be dangerous allies to have. If Quinn owns them…”

  “You’re the charmer,” I said. “You could get them to confess.”

  He smiled briefly. “I’ll see what I can do. Just be aware of the possibility, and don’t take anything for granted.”

  “I’m aware that the Saints aren’t as trustworthy as I had hoped,” I said. “On several counts.”

  “Mmmhhh,” he agreed. He stepped past me and headed for our room. “I’m going to shower and change…then we have training,” he said.

  “Can’t I call a near-death experience as an excuse not to train today?” I asked.

  I wanted to spend time with him that didn’t include testing the outer limits of what I could do. The attack had made me doubly aware of how tenuous time could be.

  “No, because that just makes me realize how necessary training is,” he said.

  I sighed, and accepted the fact that there was no escape from training. The look on his face told me I would lose should I argue. He felt too passionately about what he was trying to accomplish by training me. There was no defense against such passion.

  I met him at the beach, after his shower. The wound on his shoulder was completely healed, and it was almost as if the attack had never happened. Almost. His actions gave away the fact that he was thinking about it. He was quiet and tense, lost in plans and questions as he joined me. I broke the silence first.

  “Have you gotten word from Margaret or Jackson yet?” I asked.

  “No,” he said. “They’re not going to risk what they’re doing by calling me, before they have information.”

  “I hope they’re okay,” I said.

  “There are three people in this world who I know will always be okay, Margaret and Jackson are two of them,” he said. “They’re survivors.”

  “I’m sure you weren’t thinking that when our hotel in New Orleans burned down,” I pointed out.

  He shrugged and didn’t reply.

  “Who is the third person you know will always be okay?” I asked curiously.

  “Your mom,” he said.

  I was surprised. I laughed in disbelief. “Ellen?”

  He nodded. “She’s got a sense for when to leave, when to stay and always manages to survive. She’s the reason you managed to say hidden for so long, remember?”

  I agreed. “True.”

  He pulled me away from the water and forced me to face him, to begin our training. The seriousness of our conversation, the worry from the attack, was obvious on his face as he looked at me. I knew he was about to train me as hard as he could – I was about to feel the wrath of his worry. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for an exhausting morning.

  By the time noon rolled around, I was tired, mentally and physically, my arms ached from sparring and exercising, and I was fighting the images he had forced in to my head as part of his mind control exercises. Despite my exhaustion, I was grateful for Daniel pushing me so hard. I knew it was for a good reason; a reason I agreed with.

  Alex didn’t join us for the training. I figured she had thrown herself in to her data sorting, the attack making her feel like she had to be doing something to help. She couldn’t stand being helpless…almost as much as I couldn’t stand sitting idly by when someone was in danger.

  When the sun was fully overhead, Daniel stopped my lesson and directed us back to the school. As we were walking the stairs to our room, talking quietly, I heard my name called. It was a strong call, forceful, demanding I pay attention.

  CLARE!

  I turned at the sound, expecting someone to be directly behind me. The staircase was deserted. There wasn’t even the normal traffic coming from the common area to the stairs. People were still mulling over the attack, fear making them hunker down and seek out the company of friends they trusted. But the feeling of being watched was pervasive. I frowned at the stairs, wondering if someone was messing with me. I was certain it had been my name and that it had been close.

  “What?” Daniel asked, also looking down the dark stairs.

  “Did you hear that?” I asked.

  “No,” he said. “What did you hear?”

  “My name,” I said.

  “Maybe someone in the school is talking about you,” he suggested.

  “Maybe…”

  A shiver went down my spine as the feeling of being watched grew stronger. I was certain we weren’t as alone in the hall as I thought. I knew turning invisible was possible, but if there was someone invisible hanging around, why would they have called my name? It didn’t make any sense. I shook my head at the feeling, deciding to blame my exhaustion and the long night of worry on the moment. It was better than admitting I was going crazy.

  “If he’s building a following, letting him gain the momentum seems stupid,” I heard Alex say from somewhere on the stairs, distracting me from the oddness of the moment. “You should do something now, before the situation escalates and more of your people die.”

  “Should I kill him in his sleep?” Reaper asked back. “Would you prefer that?”

>   “Well, no…”

  “So what are your ideas?” he asked. His voice was forceful – a challenge.

  “I dunno; exile him from the kingdom or something. Who cares what the others think? If they want to do good, they’ll stick around. You don’t want the other sort around you anyways, do you?”

  “How exceedingly naïve,” Reaper said.

  “Guilty as charged,” Alex said.

  “Now you sound like Clare,” he chastised her.

  Daniel and I turned the corner and saw them sitting on the steps. They were angled toward each other, though they were both full of combative tension. The feeling of being watched faded as I saw them. It was a good distraction, particularly since Daniel was staring at me as if he had never seen me before.

  “Why, that almost sounds like you were insulting her by calling her me,” I said playfully to Reaper.

  Reaper blinked a couple of times in surprise, as if we had snuck up on him. He obviously wasn’t used to people surprising him. He moved his legs, so that he was no longer angled toward Alex.

  “I…” he started to explain.

  “He was,” Alex agreed, interrupting him.

  “Do you feel insulted?” I asked her.

  “Only mildly,” she said.

  “That’s a comfort,” I said.

  “We should talk,” Reaper said hastily changing the subject. He was looking at Daniel.

  “Alright,” Daniel agreed.

  Reaper stood, still nervous about insulting me, and the pair walked down the stairs. Daniel gave me a look that spoke volumes as he walked away. I didn’t need the look to know he was wondering if he had trained me too hard and I was starting to hear voices because of it. It was a look that told me he had questions. I didn’t have answers.

  “How’s the shoulder?” I heard Reaper ask Daniel as they walked away.

  “It aches, but I think it’s going to be fine,” Daniel said.

  “Three inches over and you’d be a corpse,” Reaper said.

  “Don’t remind me,” Daniel replied.

  “Let’s go to the common area,” Alex said, pulling me away from their conversation.

  “Why?”