The house feels cold when I run inside, sopping wet from the rain. I walk to the kitchen table and sit at the end with my back to the front door. I put my hands together and close my eyes. If someone were watching me, I’m sure it would look like I was praying.
I picture Connor’s face and instantly the sound of rain and thunder fades out and all my consciousness is next to him. I’m pleased to see that he’s still waiting for Jeremiah and hasn’t started the meeting yet. I can’t help but wonder where Connor might have slept last night. Had he been given a room? Did the guards just let him into Screven without questioning him? Surely not.
I open my mouth and call out his name. “Connor.”
His fidgeting stops. “Mora?” he whispers.
“Yes, it’s me.”
He sits up in his seat straighter. “I know you’re watching me right now. It’s that feeling again.”
“Don’t mention Evelyn to Jeremiah,” I tell him.
He bends his head down to his knees this time. “You’re trying to tell me something. I just don’t know what it is.”
“Don’t say Evelyn’s name.”
His breathing gets heavier and the fidgeting returns.
“Don’t say Evelyn’s name,” I repeat. “It’s too dangerous. They know each other. Don’t say Evelyn’s name.”
“Evelyn?” Connor asks.
“Yes! Yes!”
“What about her?” Connor asks. “What are you saying?”
“Don’t mention her name!”
Trevor comes from inside Jeremiah’s grand office. “He’s ready to see you now.”
Connor nods at Trevor but turns his head back to the ground.
“Don’t mention Evelyn’s name!” I nearly scream.
“I’m sorry,” Connor whispers. “I know you’re telling me something. I just don’t know what.”
He gets up to walk into Jeremiah’s office, but I decide to keep drilling the message into his head. Maybe he will get it before it’s too late. Maybe he won’t mention her at all. This was all such a terrible idea. I know he meant well, but he had to know it would fail. That’s not what he wanted was it?
“Don’t mention Evelyn’s name. Don’t mention Evelyn’s name.”
He walks into the office. Much like the time Aaron and I had gone to visit him, he stands at the giant window near the top of the stairs. Connor silently marvels at the giant bookcases filled with more books than can be read in a lifetime. Trevor instructs him to ascend the stairs and take a seat in front of the coffee table where Jeremiah will meet with him.
Connor stands next to the seat and watches Jeremiah. He takes note of the man’s full dress and hat. He even sniffs the air to take in the perfumes that cover the man’s rotting skin.
“I wasn’t quite expecting a colonist of Salem to be visiting me any time soon,” Jeremiah says, still staring out the window.
“I didn’t expect that I would be visiting either,” Connor says. “Not until the events of the other day.”
Jeremiah turns and faces Connor, motioning him to have a seat. Connor does so as Jeremiah sits across from him. His teeth seem to be clenching a lot more today than when I had gone there to see him. His sunglasses cover his drooping eyes. He still holds a commanding presence and Connor seems nervous.
“Don’t mention Evelyn,” I repeat.
“Your name is Connor,” Jeremiah says. “Brother to Aaron, am I right?”
“Yes.” Connor says.
“Tell me, Connor, do you possess the power of the Starborn?”
“Actually, Aaron is my adopted brother,” Connor says. “I don’t really know if Starborn blood runs through me like it does him. Nothing has come of it anyway.”
“I see. So from what I understand, you wish to help me?”
“I do.”
“Why?”
Connor swallows and looks down at his feet for a second. He looks too nervous.
“Calm down,” I say. “You look like a liar.”
He takes a deep breath and looks up at Jeremiah. “I never agreed with them in the first place,” he says. “I always thought we should remain under Screven’s protection. I didn’t think it was a fight I should join.”
“Did Aaron plan to fight me on his own? At least, until Mora came along to help?”
“No,” Connor says. “There are others.”
Jeremiah sits up straight. “Of course there are.”
“Don’t say Evelyn,” I say. “Don’t say Evelyn.”
“But before I give you information,” Connor continues, “I want something from you first.”
Jeremiah raises an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”
“I have a lot of skills,” Connor says. “I’m smart. I’m a good marksman. What I mean to say is that I want a position here in Screven. An important one.”
Jeremiah sits silently.
“I can help you in the fight against the Starborns. I know their powers. I know their weaknesses.”
“So, what is it you want?” Jeremiah asks.
“I want you to give me a job. I want to lead your fight against the rebels.”
“They are Starborns,” Jeremiah says. “You are a normal human being. What makes you think you can stop them? A handful of them destroyed one of the largest greyskin herds I’ve ever assembled.”
“Assembled?” Connor asks.
Jeremiah smiles at him. “There’s a lot you don’t know.”
“The advantage I have is that they all think I’m still on their side.”
“Yes, that’s something we would have to discuss, you and I,” Jeremiah says. “There was an attack on my men at Springhill. We got it in over the radios. They’ve gone dark ever since then. I’m guessing you know about that?”
“Yes,” Connor says. “I was part of it.”
“You killed some of my men?”
“Yes,” Connor says. “I had no choice. I was working up a way to get out of there when I could. At the time, the guards looked at me as a fugitive from Salem. But I was more of a captive, forced to fight against the very thing I believe in.”
“And you believe in what Screven does?” Jeremiah asks.
“Absolutely.”
Jeremiah shakes his head. He sits silently for a moment, staring at no spot in particular. He then looks up. “Guards!”
Connor’s eyes go wide. What is Jeremiah doing?
Several guards come with guns drawn.
“Take Connor away,” he says. “Take him to the prison and shoot him.”
The guards grab Connor by the arms and start pulling him toward the stairs.
“Wait!” Connor yells out. “They’re planning an attack. They’re going to kill you!”
“You shot my men, Connor,” Jeremiah says. “I’ve got no use for you.”
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” he screams from halfway down the stairs. “e stairsThere’s more than just Aaron and Mora. There’s a mastermind. Evelyn leads the lot of them.”
Jeremiah freezes and my stomach drops. “Wait,” he calls out to the guards. “What name did you just use?”
“Evelyn,” Connor repeats.
“She’s a Starborn?”
“Yes.”
“How old is she? What’s her power?”
Connor shakes his head. “The more I tell you, the less chance I have to stay alive.”
Jeremiah waves for the guards to let him go. “You’re going to tell me everything.”
I can feel the anger coursing through my veins. “You better come up with some good lies,” I say. “You’ve already messed everyth…”
I’m cut short when something from behind me grabs my braid and jerks me out of the trance that allowed me to follow Connor. I’m pulled so hard, I’m thrown out of my chair and to the ground.
I scramble to see what or who might have done such a thing, but when I look around I don’t see anything. I turn my head to the right and left. In every direction I seem to be alone. I stand and hold out my hands, ready to fight with the gif
ts I have within me.
Blood spurts from my nose an
d I fall to my back as some invisible force smashes into it like a brick. I feel a blinding kick to my ribs before I can get to my feet again. This time I raise my hands in front of me and push with all I have, sending the invisible force to the wall on the other side of the room. The force smashes into the wall and dishes crash into pieces as they land. I can hear the moan of a man in pain as I start to get up to my feet.
“Who’s there?”
I hear nothing but rapid footsteps and then another blinding blow to my face that throws me to the ground again. I could tell that one was a fist. It’s a man. Invisible. A Starborn? One of Jeremiah’s hunters? He yanks on my braid and pulls me up to my knees, and I suddenly realize my grandma’s advice to cut off my hair wasn’t so bad after all.
The invisible man kicks me in the side again and knocks the wind out of me. I do my best to whirl around and throw him back, but I have no target. The walls shake at my effort, but there is no victim this time. By the time I see the chair floating in front of me, it’s too late. He swings it with all his might and it crashes into my body. By the time I hit the floor I’m barely awake.
Weak and in pain, I can’t do anything when he drags me to a chair and begins to tie my wrists with rope. In a daze, I can hear him breathing and moving all around me. This is an enemy I’ve never anticipated. How long had he been in the room with me? How long has he been at Springhill?
I’m still barely conscious. I can hardly breathe, much less try to use my gift to fight him back. He pulls down on the rope and ties the rest of it around my ankles. I feel a hand grip my chin, and out of thin air, the man appears before me. I recognize the scar on the side of his head that points to the missing upper half of his ear.
“You’re lucky Jeremiah wants you alive.”
Before I can respond, Commander Green of Screven rears back his fist and knocks me out cold.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“You and I want to kill Jeremiah for very different reasons,” Evelyn said to the man sitting in the shadows. Two of his bodyguards stood on either side of him. Evelyn didn’t care for his type or the kind of crowd he ran with. This guy, Tristan, was nothing more than a gangster who wanted more power.
“So what is it, revenge?” Tristan asked, leaning forward into the light. His eyes were sunken in and his skin was a pale, pasty white. Most of his hair was gone, but what was left was matted against the sides of his head. “Did he do something to you?”
“He’s done enough to all of us,” Evelyn said.
Tristan laughed too hard at this, but his face then turned very serious. “You can’t expect me to do this for free, of course.”
“All I’m asking you to do is help us get into the lookout tower next to the courtyard,” Evelyn said. “I’m not asking any of your men to get involved in the killing itself.”
“Yes, but if you and your people get caught, and one of you rats us out, we’re dead based off suspicious activity,” Tristan said. “I expect to be paid well for that kind of risk.”
“Your payment is Jeremiah’s death,” Evelyn said. “If he dies, Sudyka doesn’t become one of his colonies and you get to continue running things around here. If he lives, you get pushed out. You’re a goner.”
“How old are you anyway?” Tristan asked.
“I’m forty-two,” Evelyn said.
“If I’m going to do this, I want to know what motivation a forty-two year old woman has to murder one of the most powerful leaders around.”
Evelyn said nothing at first, thinking it might be unwise to say all of her true feelings. But then again, why did it matter?
“Twenty-two years ago he murdered the love of my life,” Evelyn said. “He tried to murder me. Before that he murdered a friend of mine.”
“Twenty-two years is a long time to hold a grudge,” Tristan said. “What were their names?”
“Mark was the man I loved. Whit was my friend. But this goes beyond revenge.”
“How?”
This was the part Evelyn thought they might not need to hear but she decided to let it out anyway. “He is selfish. He uses these colonies for personal profit.”
“Of course he does,” Tristan said. “The man’s a genius.”
“Also he created the greyskins,” Evelyn added. “Also he is a greyskin.”
“Jeremiah’s a greyskin?” Tristan asked with an eyebrow cocked.
“Yes. Partly.”
Tristan looked at the men around him for a brief, serious moment and then burst out with laughter. The other men followed his lead, cackling at the notion that anyone could be partly a greyskin.
“I think you might be insane,” Tristan said.
“Perhaps I am,” Evelyn answered, never waning in her composure. “And that would further lessen the guilt of your actions if you were to help us.”
Tristan suddenly became very serious. “Tomorrow, Jeremiah will be walking the streets of Sudyka. At noon, he’ll give a speech about what it means to be a new colony. Is that when you will strike?”
“All it will take is a squeeze of a trigger.”
“What’s your plan for getting out?” Tristan asked.
“I have one,” she said. “It’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“If I’m going to help you,” Tristan said, “I want to know everything. What is your escape route?”
“You want to know my escape route so you can kill me when it’s over,” Evelyn came back. “You don’t want anyone alive that can implicate you in the attack.”
Tristan shrugged with a cheesy smile on his face. “You got me.”
idth="2em">“I assure you, there will be no implications,” Evelyn said. “It will be a quick kill and a quick exit. You will never hear from me or my team again.”
“How many are on your team?”
“Three including myself.”
“Their responsibilities?”
“Support, kill, and escape.”
“Support? Support you?”
“To watch my back while I pull the trigger,” Evelyn said with confidence.
Tristan looked down at his desk for a few seconds while he twiddled his thumbs. Evelyn knew it might be a lot to ask, but she knew Tristan and his thugs had no choice but to go for it. Their days were numbered as long as Jeremiah was taking control of everything. Tristan and his men had run Sudyka for years the way they wanted to. Now they’d been given the opportunity to snuff out the competition by helping Evelyn and her team get into the lookout tower.
Tristan finally nodded. “You’ve got a deal,” he said.
Evelyn stuck out a hand to shake it, but Tristan just held up a nub. “Can’t shake. No hand.” He let out another long laugh and his bodyguards did the same.
Evelyn was a little put out that she didn’t get to shake his hand. She had hoped to touch his skin and see if his intentions were true. Without a willing gesture from him, she couldn’t just reach out and touch the man. It would be too awkward and his bodyguards would probably take it as a threat.
“Then I will see you first thing in the morning,” she said.
“Yes, you will.”
Sarah and Jeffrey had been waiting for her outside of the room. When she walked by, she gave them a slight nod and smile to let them know that everything was set in motion. Once they were finally out of the building, they had to keep themselves from cheering. They were so close to finally accomplishing what Evelyn had been planning for so long.
She had picked the large, bustling village of Sudyka before she had even met Sarah or Jeffrey. She knew that it would one day become one of Jeremiah’s colonies. It had only been a matter of time. Sudyka had a lot of resources that Jeremiah wanted. Sure, it had the ability to grow food, but it also had machinery and, for some reason or another, helicopters. Over the years, she had made it a point to visit Sudyka and make a few friends. Those friends eventually let her know that there had been a long series of greyskin attacks and they were
getting to the point where they needed outside help. Then came Jeremiah.
It was the night before the big event. Jeremiah often enjoyed the pleasure of speaking to his colonies the day they joined with Screven. It was a chance to offer them hope of protection. None of them realized they were giving up their freedoms in the process. None of them knew what kind of man Jeremiah really was. For many, they saw it as their chance to be out from under the rule of thugs, and to give their village over to a trusted leader. They just didn’t realize how wrong they were.
Marcy had been kind enough to give the three of them a space to sleep for the night with the understanding that they never knew each other. Marcy had become friends with Evelyn several years before and knew all about Jeremiah from what Evelyn had told her. She bid the three goodnight and they all smiled at her and thanked her for the place to sleep.
Jeffrey put his arm around Sarah and she set her head against him peacefully as they sat against the wall. Evelyn stoked the fire in front of them, thinking silently to herself.
The two of them were about twenty years younger than Evelyn. Sarah was a terrific fighter, but she had no Starborn abilities. Jeffrey on the other hn the otand was there to aid in their escape. He had learned of his ability to teleport when he was a young child. The only problem was that he had never developed the skill to perfection. He could hold on to anyone and have that person teleport with him, but his accuracy was limited. If Evelyn asked him to teleport to the watchtower, he would be able to try, but might end up in the colony’s sewers instead. The accuracy only got worse as distance became greater. Tomorrow, Jeffrey would be tasked with teleporting the three of them out of the watchtower and back to the village of Salem. Evelyn had joked with him, saying that he better not take them to Screven by accident. He had just smiled, but shook his head, fearing it was a real possibility. Eventually he assured Evelyn that he could get them all within a mile. He was sure of it. Evelyn didn’t care, though. As long as they were out of there when the shot took down Jeremiah, they would be fine. They could figure out the rest later.
Content with the size of the fire, Evelyn scooted to another wall next to her rifle. She brushed her fingers along the barrel and scope. She had been practicing her long distance shots for a while now. She would aim for the head; she was sure that a chest shot wouldn’t kill the half-greyskin man.
The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) Page 41
