by R G Peterson
Nick seemed to come under her control once more as he spun toward GG and Grace and took a menacing step toward them as Ligeia smiled triumphantly.
Instead of cowering, Grace and GG moved into Nick and embraced him; projecting the love they felt for him deep into his soul and willed him to return to them. A moment later they felt his body relax as he returned their loving embrace.
As they continued to hold onto one another, Ligeia’s rage erupted. She began to raise her arm toward the three of them when a small explosion could be heard coming from the first floor and then more and more of them gradually moved up to where they were standing.
“Oh, oh,” Maddy said. “Fingers crossed, all.” Everyone in the room except Nick and Ligeia covered up by throwing their hands over their heads or flinging themselves to the ground. Suddenly, there were multiple explosions from all over the mansion. Hundreds of small snow globes, hidden around the manor burst with such force that it sent miniature glass projectiles piercing the air. A surprised Ligeia spun toward the sound. The tiny slivers of glass circumvented her and reformed on the other side. Nick held up his hand and achieved the same effect, making the glass shards move over and around the three of them.
Nick scanned the room to see if anyone had been injured. When he saw AJ blindly feel his way across the floor, everything became crystal clear.
AJ had rolled over onto his belly and crawled along the floor in an attempt to get as far away from the bullet like glass particles as possible. AJ’s hands touched the bracelet and he heard Terry say, “Me, It was supposed to be me. She lied to me. She said I was The One. That it was there all the time in the archives. They’ve all deceived me. Ligeia, Thanatos, my father. I hate them all. She deserves to die like the rest of them.”
He heard Terry run through his options as to how he might overcome her invulnerability to any of the Elements. But as he listened to Terry struggle in his search for an answer, Terry seemed to move farther away from him, as if putting more distance between him and Ligeia would clear his thoughts.
The next moment AJ heard Nick say to him. “There’s a bow and arrow straight ahead.” Every few feet AJ touched the bracelet with both hands so he could hear Nick’s thoughts. “Keep going.” Then, “Good.” AJ’s hand found them. He touched the band once more and heard Nick say, “When I say, ‘go,’ you will shoot the arrow toward my voice. You will not hesitate. When I say ‘go’ aim and fire, right at where you hear my voice.”
AJ gave a curt nod in response to Nick’s directive.
Nick sprinted toward Ligeia and wrapped his arms around her, catching her by surprise. She had turned away from Nick bent on determining if there were to be any more explosions and never saw him run at her and sweep her up off the floor. She looked at Nick confused.
He said, “Isn’t this what you wanted? You and me together?” He shouted, “GO!”
AJ unleashed the arrow at Nick. The next thing AJ heard was a scream.
Chapter 67
“And I…we all trusted you”
Nick looked down at his chest. The arrow had stopped with the tip of the arrow lightly touching his chest directly in front of his heart. Ligeia writhed in his arms and tried to extricate herself from Nick’s vice like grip. A moment before, when he had grabbed Ligeia, who was a half-foot shorter than Nick, he lifted her off the ground and spun her around as he yelled, ‘Go.’ The arrow passed through her back and out her chest. When Nick saw that she was still alive he couldn’t believe it.
She continued to struggle in an attempt to free herself.
In response Nick said to her, “As our old pal Thanatos said, ‘stop, it’s futile.’ I’m not using one of my powers to hold you, so you can’t get away.”
Terry stirred across the room. It was at that moment he knew.
Nick held Ligeia’s eyes and gave her a scathing look mixed with one of feeling betrayed. “And I…we all trusted you. It was you all along. You controlled them all. You were the one behind all of the pain, suffering and misery. Our mother and father’s deaths. Warrington’s, too. You were the one who guided the ice toward him, cutting him to pieces. It was you. All you. For what reason?” Nick had never felt such pure unadulterated hatred toward anyone in his young life. Not old man Warrington, nor Thanatos. Not even Slate.
Ligeia refused to answer and continued to struggle to free herself.
When she realized it was indeed futile, she stopped and said, “You men have wreaked havoc on this earth for far too long. Self-centered and self-serving beings. Always lusting for power. Greedy. All of your kind. You and Terry, I see now, are just like them. You only want the power that accompanies your assent. Over hundreds of thousands of years it has proven to be true in every case that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The one way to rectify what has been done is to have someone much more sensible and much less in love with power be able to control the one who wields that power.”
“And you believe that to be you,” Nick spat out in sheer disgust and hatred.
“Yes, my intent is pure. To renew the earth as it had been bequeathed to us so many, many years ago.”
She gave Nick a triumphant smile and focused her attention at the arrow protruding from her chest and willed it to move forward, toward Nick, inch by inch.
He realized that he was the one now locked in Ligeia’s embrace, that he couldn’t move any farther away from her. He looked down at the arrow slowly piercing the skin over his heart. He raised his eyes and focused on AJ kneeling across the room.
He yelled, “AJ, grab another arrow.”
He saw AJ scrounge around the floor. The arrow piercing Ligeia’s chest began to pierce Nick’s breastbone. He knew he would be incapable of stopping it.
As soon as AJ found another one, Nick yelled, “Go!”
AJ launched a second arrow that sailed directly at Nick. Despite the excruciating pain coursing through him, Nick knew where it was headed and was able to move Ligeia into its path. It entered the back of her head and came out one of her eyes. She let go of Nick and flailed around the room. At that same moment Nick saw Terry sprint toward the two of them.
Before he could reach them, the whole room came apart. Thanatos’ heavy, oversized desk flew up to the ceiling. People were thrown against walls or knocked off their feet and sent spiraling through the air. The majority of those in the room eventually were flattened against one of the walls like some spinning carnival ride.
Nick was pulled toward the open window. He tucked his knees and rolled sideways, as if he were on the Soyuz Space Station, and redirected himself. He came to an abrupt halt halfway up the wall, next to the window and stayed there as if he had just landed on the floor.
He saw Terry catapulted toward the ceiling and crash into the desk. He bounced off it, back toward the floor. The desk followed in his wake. As he touched the floor, Terry pushed off with both feet and launched himself forward toward Ligeia. The desk landed inches from where Terry had been. It would have crushed him if hadn’t moved. The desk remained balanced on one leg and began to spin like a top.
Grace rose in the air and pirouetted. She was pulled toward the same window Nick had barely missed being thrown out of a moment before. She picked up speed and screamed when she realized she was unable to transform into a bird, her powers having deserted her. She flew feet first out the window. At the last second, Nick grabbed hold of her arms and held on tight, his feet braced against the wall beside the window for purchase. The force that had been unleashed in the room was unremitting.
Nick and Grace held onto each other’s forearms, but second by second they were losing their grip. Their hands slid down one another’s arms and clasped one another by the wrists. Nick willed himself to hold on, but try as he might, he was unable to pull Grace back into the room and safety. Fatigue set in and their grip loosened. They were barely holding on to each other by their fingertips.
Out of nowhere two more bodies flew out the window, one wrapped around the other. A few seconds later, Nick heard a dull
thud as the bodies landed on the rocks below. Then Grace slipped through his hands and began to fall.
“NO!” he yelled and scrambled to watch as she headed toward the jagged outcropping that bordered the sea.
Chapter 68
“So why could she avoid the other Elements?”
It had been a week since the battle at Thanatos’ house. They had attended two funerals and sat through a reading of the will. Nick slept walked through the proceedings. His thoughts kept drifting back to that day, trying to figure out if there was anything he could have done differently. He chastised himself. He should have seen it all. Done a better job at deciphering the prophecies from the mural. He beat himself up for not searching his mother’s book sooner instead of waiting as long as he had.
Looking back on everything it all seemed so simple. So clear. Every time he thought about it he wanted to bang his head against a wall for not understanding the predictions sooner.
The 3D pictures in the prophecy section told them how the second born would “surpass” the first born and become the most powerful person on earth “with command over all.” It went into such great detail as to how the second twin would surpass the first that Nick had to read it multiple times before he completely understood what was written in the Minoan script. It defined the second twin as being bequeathed the Minoan Legacy to rule the world due to his more tolerant and benevolent nature. It also spoke in length of how the most significant factor separating the twins would be the second born’s ability to command all four elements at the same time. But, more importantly, to control all four effectively – or command over all – it would be necessary for the second twin to be able to “split” his mind. That ability was given to Nick on the night he was born at the moment Henry and Gayle saw Gabriella lean over his incubator. What they didn’t see was Gabriella gently touch Nick’s head and impart that gift, as well as, the ability to read the Minoan script. Thus, Terry, who had never been granted such talents, could only control one element at a time despite having all four.
A second page spoke of the time frame in which all of this would occur. While a third spoke of the how everything would be revealed to The One over the course of 120 days, in twenty-day increments.
Another page talked about how he would be able to judge those he felt were unworthy to be an Element. It was the part of the legend that Thanatos and so many before him misunderstood. The “know all” didn’t mean “possessing all of the knowledge” the First Civilization had acquired over centuries, but the ability to “know” what truly lay in the heart and mind of each Element he encountered. It explained how his simple touch, first to the forehead – because that is where their evil thoughts reside – then to their hearts – because that is where their evil desires lie – would remove their ability to use their element for any future transgressions.
But the prediction AJ loved to hear over and over again was the prophecy that said one distant (a Non-Element) would find the path (as in course of action) which would lead to the path (the way) to the defeat of the Element who possessed Aether and the reason why the glyph for path had been repeated twice in the 4th pyramid’s mural.
As Gabriella told them about Ligeia, Nick reflected on how bitter and betrayed he felt when she revealed her true nature. How could he have allowed himself to be deceived like that? He should have seen it. And the answer had been right there before him. He had even hit upon it, but let himself be convinced otherwise. In hindsight it seemed so obvious; if the number two stood for him, the second born, and the number one for his brother, the first born, it only made sense that the numbers three and four stood for people as well. The third person he now knew was Ligeia who controlled the fourth person’s mind and actions, Thanatos. And the ‘two become four,’ meant Ligeia would attempt to control Nick once Thanatos no longer suited her purposes.
Sitting in the mansion after the reading of the will Gabriella informed the surviving members of the Clan that Ligeia had come to Thanatos at a very young age and convinced him that she could be of service to him because of her ability to read the ancient Minoan script. Of course no one knew or suspected that she could also control minds.
“Ligeia, a distant cousin of Thanatos, was from a long line of Minoan royalty. Both were descendants of King Minos the second, the evil tyrant responsible for the deaths of thousands of his subjects. As for her having Aether, no one suspected because so few people ever inherited it. It was by far the rarest of Elements, often skipping five or six generations.”
“So, why wasn’t she affected by the other Elements? Or how come when I tried to tackle her it seemed like I went right through her and landed on the other side,” AJ asked.
“Aether is invulnerable to the effects of any of the other Elements because it is the essence that holds everything together. That was why, when she was in her death throes, the space between all things evaporated and the laws of physics were temporarily suspended. In an attempt to save her life she drew the essence existing in the room to her, leaving a void. It was this lack of essence that filled those spaces that sent people and objects flying about the mansion. It is also the reason everyone’s abilities were suspended and no one could use their element to help themselves or others. It was only after she died that everything returned to normal.
“Furthermore, in order for her to avoid temporal objects, like you, she needed to be able to see them. She saw you rush at her and avoided your charge. She was unable, however, to see you shoot the arrow because Nick had diverted her attention. After all, she was not blessed with precognition, as Nicholas is.” ”
After she recounted Ligeia’s role in what they had experienced the last few years whenever they dealt with Thanatos, AJ asked, “So how come Nick and I can hear people’s thoughts when we hold the bracelet?”
“And how come I couldn’t control Thanatos when I was wearing it that day?” Nick solemnly added.
“The bracelet has been infused with special properties from the Watchers. It has, for lack of a better term, a spiritual presence, similar to what I explained before. I told you we are often your sixth sense. Your conscience. That we can see and hear what you are thinking, although we do not possess the ability to control you, only influence you. That is why you couldn’t control Thanatos. Or anyone else for that matter.”
When Nick began to question her again, she said, “That day in the cafeteria, you could not then either. It only seemed that way because everyone reacted to your body language. Nothing more. It was serendipity at its best.”
Nick nodded knowing he had convinced himself otherwise and hadn’t really tested it beyond that day.
Gabriella explained further, “That part of the prophecy was about Ligeia. As Aether, she had the ability to control someone’s mind, but only one individual at a time. That is why you saw people move in and out of conscious thought when you were there that night. And she could even control them from great distances. It wasn’t necessary for her to be physically present. She only needed to be able to concentrate on the individual she chose to control.”
AJ brought the conversation back to his earlier question. “But Nick says that he can only hear someone when he is looking at that person, yet I could hear what Terry was thinking.”
“Nick is somewhat mistaken about that as well. You can hear the thoughts of the person you are either concentrating on or that of the person closest to you. You heard Terry’s thoughts because of his close proximity to where you were on the floor when you began to crawl for the bracelet. He was the closest being to you when you touched it. When he moved farther away from you, Nick became the person physically closest to you.”
“But how come we’re able to hear people’s thoughts and nobody else can?” AJ asked.
“Because you, like Nick, had moved into another realm. You had what you mortals call a near death experience. Nick, after being attacked and you, before Nick revived you at the mansion. You would have discovered that Grandpa Henry could have heard other people’s thought
s, as well, if he had held the bracelet in his hands.”
“Okay. But where’d Val find it?”
“It had been given to Minos the first by a Watcher who fell in love with him – despite strict orders not to do so. Both the love and the gift,” she added and fell silent.
“Yeh?” Maddy asked.
She nodded. Then continued, “He in turn passed it down to his first born male not realizing the properties that accompanied it. This continued for hundreds of years until a time when identical twins were born and an elderly nursemaid, in the early stages of dementia, switched them at birth. It was years later that her error was discovered. The king, who for decades had lavished his attention and gifts on the wrong son, could not bring himself to bestow the bracelet to the rightful heir, so he declared that neither son should have it. It was stored in the Minoan archives along with the ring that had always been bequeathed to the second male in line. It was there Nick and Terry’s mother found it. When she read the inscription, ‘One will command,’ she thought it might be what she sought to cure their bipolar disorder and she took it in spite of the warning that accompanied it. It said, ‘Whoever removes this bracelet and ring from outside these walls will succumb to an untimely death.’ ”
“And the ring? She took that too?” AJ asked. His hand moved to readjust the dark glasses he wore since that night at Thanatos’ mansion.
“Yes. As your mother researched the cure for her and Andy, she became intrigued by the prophecies she read there. Instinctively she knew they were about her unborn babies. As she uncovered clue after clue, her lone thought became the survival of her twins. That is why she tried to tell the medical staff at the hospital, the night Terry and Nick were born, to be vigilant. She kept repeating, ‘One will be saved, the other gone.’ But at that point they had sedated her so much, they thought she was simply delusional. She knew from the prophecy, as well as the warning from Blind Sal, that her boys would be separated at birth.”
