“What cha thinking about?” Royce’s twang was like an annoying dagger drilling its way into my ears. I turned in time to watch him swagger over toward me, not that I needed to actually look to see how close he was. I could feel it, the shade pulling me toward him; like Hatfield and McCoy themed magnets being pulled together against their will. Well… against one of their wills.
“Field hockey,” I muttered, turning away. It wasn’t his fault that I hated the way our bodies reacted to each other. It wasn’t even really his fault that I hated him. Sure, he was brash, cocky, and a little entitled. But he was also caring, brave, and sexier than I‘d ever admit out loud. The truth was, I missed Owen. I wanted Owen; to see him, to touch him, to be with him in every way I had and every way I hadn’t.
But Owen wasn’t here. By his own choice, he had left me. Sure, he did it because he thought it was going to save my life. But he did it anyway. And that’s when it hit me. I knew why I was so hesitant about Dahlia’s plan, and about leaving the Hourglass in general. It was all about Owen. With all that had happened, I had forgotten what my primary focus had been. Leaving the Hourglass meant leaving Owen and, whether he wanted that or not, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. Not if it meant forever.
Dahlia said the Blood Moon rose in three days, which meant that I had three days to get to Owen and-
“Don’t,” Royce said impatiently.
“What?” I asked, jarred out of my thoughts.
“You’re standing out here looking at the moon, acting all lovelorn and whatnot. Don’t pretend that we both don’t know what’s skipping across that pretty little head of yours.”
“Royce, just leave me alone, okay,” I said, crossing my arms across my chest.
“Sure,” he said, giving up much quicker than I thought he would. Pulling a pocket knife out of his pants, he extended the blade and held the hilt out for me to grab. “Just stab me in the chest real quick first, okay Sweetheart?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, already tired of this.
“Well, the way I see it is, if you running after your boyfriend- and don’t pretend that ain’t what you’re thinking about- then there’s a good chance you’re gonna get yourself killed. And, quite naturally, I’m going to have to run after you. And there’s gonna be an even better chance that I’m gonna get myself killed. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather just cut out the middleman. So just stab me in the chest, Sweetheart. Let’ get it over with.”
“Get that away from me,” I said, swatting his hand back.
“You sure?” He smiled. “This sort of opportunity doesn’t come along every day, and I’ve got a feeling you’ve wanted to stab me with something on more than one occasion.”
“I get it,” I answered. “I get that it’s stupid and selfish. But it sucks Royce. It sucks so bad.” Tears burned behind my eyes.
“I know, Sweetheart,” he said, though his tone lacked its usual playfulness. I got the feeling that he wanted to move closer to me but refrained himself. “I’m gonna ask you not to do this, because-“
“I know,” I said. “There are legions of people counting on me. They risked their lives so that I could stay safe.”
“No,” he answered, and this time, he didn’t stop himself from coming closer. “I mean, yeah there are, but screw ‘em.” He bit his lip. “I know you don’t believe in the prophecies, and I know that you can’t see a world where the two of us would ever end up together. But I do and I can. God help me ‘cause you’re a pain in my ass, but I can. So I’m asking you, not as the Blood Moon or some mythical touchstone in time, but as the possible future love of my life, as the possible mother of my possible future children; don’t put yourself at risk like this. Don’t throw away everything you are, everything we might have- might possibly have,” he corrected. “I’m saying don’t do this, Cresta. Don’t do it for me.”
Chapter 16
Chicken and Waffles
The day the Blood Moon rose, I watched the sun come up behind the wall that separated the Hourglass from the rest of the world. I had been up all night. It wasn’t that I wasn’t tired, quite the contrary. I had been training so much, trying to prepare for what we were about to do, that I was basically a walking zombie by this point.
Still, I couldn’t sleep tonight. I would either get out if here or I would die today. One way or another, this would be the last night I spent inside of the Hourglass, the last night I would be in the same places as Owen. My eyes flickered up to the quickly disappearing moon. The next time I saw it, it would be red and we would all be in trouble.
The Council was undoubtedly preparing for this, waiting for us to make a move. Tonight was our only shot. We knew it, they knew it, and there was nothing we could do to make them UN-know it. The only thing we had going for us was the fact that they had no idea where we were. Maybe-hopefully that would be enough.
Royce came shuffling into view right on cue, giving me a quick glance before disappearing into the surrounding forest again. He said he was patrolling, but I knew the truth. It was plain as day in the way his ‘patrol’ seemed to take him back in my direction every five minutes or so. I hadn’t given him an answer to his question yet, and obviously, the thought of me bolting to try and save Owen was still heavy on his mind.
“Must be a short circle you’re running,” I yelled, but if he heard me, he didn’t react. The truth was, he was probably right to worry. I hadn’t gone anywhere yet. I had been a good girl. I had stayed put. But that was when there was still time, when I could tell the voice in my head ‘there’s always tomorrow’. But now there wasn’t any tomorrow. Today was the last tomorrow. And if I didn’t act now, today, I might actually never see Owen again.
I went through a list of things I could do to Royce in my head to incapacitate him. All I’d have to do was knock him out for just a minute. Everyone else was asleep. I could be gone before they knew it and, with any luck, halfway back with Owen in tow by the time they were having their morning coffee.
The flip side of that was that I also could be dead by the time they woke up, but there was no need to think about that right now. That’s what I would do. I would wait for Royce to come back, strolling along for his customary check-in, and then I would use the shade around him to throw him into a tree and knock him out. I might even be able to grab his hand and siphon on some of the excess shade that was churning around in my body, if that was the sort of thing that worked when he was unconscious.
I bit my lip and waited for him to swagger back into view, batting down the guilt that was bubbling up in my gut. He had fought for me. Hard. The last thing I wanted to do was really hurt him, but this was Owen. I had to do what I had to do. It sucked, but it was the truth.
“Cresta,” the voice made my heart plummet. Echo stood behind me, his fingers resting against his sides, just aching to rub against something. “We need to talk.”
I thought he was asleep. I thought they were all asleep. I couldn’t let that stop me, though. I’d have to knock him out, too. Maybe I could use the shade to throw one of them into the other one, knocking out two unyielding birds with one very flexible stone.
Or maybe I could turn on bitch mode and let my tone do to for me. “I don’t think so,” I said in my best PMS voice. I would have to use force with him. As much as I hated the idea of hurting Royce, the idea of hurting Echo was a million times worse. He had been there for me since the beginning. He lost everything he held dear in the pursuit of keeping me safe. If we had been talking about anyone else in the world (save Casper, of course) I wouldn’t even consider doing this. But we weren’t talking about anyone else. So I ratcheted up the angst.
“We have nothing to talk about.”
I wasn’t sure why I was supposed to be mad at him, but if I knew anything about grown men it’s that they always found a way to blame themselves.
“I know you’re angry with me, and I don’t blame you,” he said.
Bingo.
“I knew about the Essence. I figured
you’d be able to access it. But you have to understand Cresta, just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should.”
My eyes flickered back to the woods impatiently. Royce would be rounding the bend any second. If I couldn’t get Echo out of here then I’d have to deal with both of them, and that wasn’t something I wanted.
“Look, I get it. I just want to be-“
“I saw what happened to the last person who was able to access that power, Cresta. He was a kind man; a good one. And I watched it turn him into a psychotic mess. The Essence is dangerous. It’s consuming, like a virus or a fire. It’s not meant to be trifled with. The fact that you can; well- it’s an abomination.”
My head snapped toward him. “Wait, did you just call me an abomination?” The idea seemed ludicrous. I would have expected it from Dahlia, but this was Echo. This was Morgan Montgomery, the ‘good man’ that my mother entrusted her only daughter to. Him calling me that; not only did it cheapen that gesture, it cheapened me.
“You haven’t seen what I’ve seen,” he said sharply.
“I don’t care!” I answered. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I am more than on your side,” he said in a voice that didn’t betray as much contrition or sympathy as I would have liked. “I would have died for your mother and I will die for you if need be. Nothing can change that, not even the fact that you’ve been less than truthful about your intentions this morning.”
I blanched as I remembered Echo’s Breaker skill. He was basically a human lie detector. Though the way he was looking at me made me realize he probably didn’t need to use it in order to tell something was up. He knew me pretty well, and I was probably wearing my concern like some ugly handbag.
“None of that touches you Cresta; not the lying or the Blood Moon prophecies, or the fact that you’re way too stubborn for your own good. I am here for you. I will always be here for you. The fact that I’m standing here right now; talking to you about something very uncomfortable and thwarting whatever plan you have to prove your love for Owen by getting yourself killed is a testament to that.” His mouth tightened into a harsh and regretful line. “But what you can do; the shade shaping combined with this Essence nonsense, it’s not good news. Only a few Breakers in all of history have ever been able to do either, and no one could do both. The idea of it-” He stopped short and averted his eyes. “You know I love you Cresta, but I can see why they’re so afraid of you now.”
I was a mix of emotions. Though I guess I had known it for a while now, Echo had never told me he loved me before. But I had also never gotten the feeling that he was scared of me, that he ever thought I was capable of doing the awful things that the prophecies detailed. Now however, it was basically pouring off him in buckets.
Royce came strutting by, peeking in at me and becoming noticeably less tense when he saw that I wasn’t alone. I would have to wait until his next round to make my break for it. But that didn’t matter. I had other things on my mind, at least for right now.
“What does it do, Echo? Why is this stupid Essence such a big deal?” I shuffled uncomfortably, suddenly feeling like some stupid girl who was forced to talk to her dad about her period.
“The Essence is our DNA, Cresta. Everything we are is made up of it. The shade is our energy source. As you know, controlling one would make you insanely powerful. Controlling both could potentially make you-”
“A world ender,” I finished.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” he said, gracing my arm with his hand. “Not all bombs explode, Cresta.” The look in his eyes, the way they were at once fearful and pitying, finally let me know exactly what was troubling Echo so much. It wasn’t the end of the world. He always knew that was coming. It was that he could finally see the pieces falling into place. For the first time, I wasn’t just some girl. I wasn’t just Ash’s daughter who had somehow had swept up into all of this. I was someone who really could do all the horrible things the prophecies talked about. It was all possible to him now.
“Do you really believe that?” I asked. “You know what, never mind. Any answer you’d give me would just make it worse.”
“You can stay away from this,” he said sternly, moving to give me a hug. I brushed it off and backed away, running fingers through my blond hair. “It doesn’t have to destroy you. It’s not-”
“Yes, it is! It’s predestined, isn’t it?” I yelled, thinking of how much I had come to hate that word lately.
“Forget predestination. This isn’t about what might happen to you. It’s about what is happening. You’re strong. You can beat this.”
“Really?” I scrunched my nose hard. “Has anybody else? You said this happened to three other people. I know that dude you knew from before went crazy, but what about the other two?”
Graveness settled on his face and I knew the answer. “One of them threw himself off a great tower. And the other one; something much worse happened to her.”
“Right,” I scoffed, sliding down the trunk of a tree. Before I knew it, I had settled on the grounds, knees around my chin. “So what’s the difference?”
“You Cresta,” he said looking down at me. “None of those people were you.”
*******
I walked through the woods slowly. After my conversation with Echo I needed a bit of time on my own: well, as much of ‘on my own’ as I could be with Royce trailing behind me just out of eyesight.
I wasn’t sure why I reacted like this. I already knew about the prophecy. The fact that fate and the Breakers thought the worst of me was old news. I should spin out and retreat every time some horrid twist came my way. But what could I do? These things always took me by surprise and, if I were to stack them on top of each other and look at the situation objectively, even I would have a hard time justifying my continued existence.
I had these stupid powers. They were way powerful, I didn’t understand them, and now came the troubling news that they could also push me toward psychosis. And there it was; the thing that would likely turn me into the Blood Moon. I had always just been a girl. Even with the powers, I never really thought I was capable of doing the horrible things the prophecies stated. I was me, and the ‘me’ I was would never do those things. But now maybe I wouldn't be myself anymore. Maybe the Essence would transform me into someone just as powerful but darker. Could that person really be allowed to survive?
“You’re not going to talk to me?” I asked back to Royce, wherever he was hiding among the trees.
“I’m trying to be stealthy,” he said, the twang strong in his voice.
“How’s that working out for you?” I asked.
“I gotta say, I’m pretty impressed with myself,” he answered.
“You would think that wouldn’t be possible, given how thoroughly pleased with yourself you always seem to be.”
“What can I say, Sweetheart? I just keep raising the bar.”
Something that resembled a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth, but I quickly dashed it. This wasn’t a time for smiling. This was a time for morose and sullen thought. It was a time for-
“Chicken and Waffles,” Royce said from his hidden place in the woods.
“What?” I asked, almost pulling myself to a stop.
“Your mom, she’s a good cook,” he said.
I almost corrected him. After all, my mom was always the worst cook in whatever state we happened to find ourselves in. But then I realized he was talking about Dr. Conyers, my other mother.
“You knew her,” I muttered, realizing that I had sort of forgotten that.
“Know her. She ain’t dead, Sweetheart. And you know her too, if I ain’t mistaken.”
“I knew an act, a lie,” I said, thinking of my sessions with Dr. Conyers. “She never told me the truth, not one word of it.”
“Did she listen to you?” He asked, striding out of the woods and into view. His hands were in his pockets and his mouth was a smug smirk across a face that had been sunburned
ever since he returned from his little venture. “Did she talk you through stuff? Did she make you feel safe and comfortable? And when you spoke, did she treat you like you were the only person in the whole world that mattered? Words ain't the only way to tell the truth, Sweetheart. That’s who your mother is; the person who does all those things and makes ‘em look easy. Oh,” he nodded. “And like I said, she’s a helluva cook. Chicken and waffles are my favorite. “
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, looking into his shrouded and very ‘unPoe’-like eyes.
“You keep hearing about the bad, like fear’s the only thing in the world that can motivate you. But it isn’t, there are good things in the world, too. And even though it doesn’t seem like it right now, your life will have good things in it, too.” He brushed me with his shoulder. “So, when this is over, when we get out of here and everybody can see that the world is still spinning, I want you to taste your mom’s chicken and waffles. And then I want to take you on a date. What do you say?”
Before I could answer, not that I even knew what I was going to say, the unseen woman from before appeared in front of me again. She was tall and her wavy blond hair hung around her shoulders. I jerked but, like before, I seemed to be the only one who could see her.
Her eyes bore into me and she grabbed my arm. “The strangest of places,” she said, though her lips never moved. And suddenly, I wasn’t in the woods anymore. I was somewhere else entirely.
The Breakers Ultimatum (YA Urban Fantasy) (Fixed Points Book 3) Page 14
