Judgment (The Alternate Earth Series, Book 3)

by S. J. West

  “Why don’t you go down and see her?” I suggest to Logan. “You can even take her this last cinnamon roll as a peace offering.”

  I extend the plate to Logan. She takes it, albeit reluctantly.

  “I’m not even sure what to say to her,” Logan admits to me.

  “Would you like me to go with you, for moral support?” I ask.

  “Do you have time?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got the time.” I turn to Mason. “I’ll meet you in our room afterwards.”

  “I’ll be waiting,” Mason promises.

  I begin to feel a selfish guilt. I’m a little sad that I won’t be able to enjoy one of Beau’s cinnamon rolls, but I feel as though my sacrifice isn’t in vain. If it brings Logan a little closer to her mother, it will all be worth it in the end.

  Dillon accompanies us, which doesn’t surprise me at all. From what I was told, the two girls have been practically inseparable for a long time. Since Dillon was supportive of Logan patching things up with her mother, I see no reason that she shouldn’t come along, too.

  “Hey,” Dillon says to me as we walk down the stairs of the basement, “sorry about the way I acted at my party. I just didn’t realize what was happening at the time. I still can’t believe my parents are helping to end the world. How screwed up is that?”

  I wonder if I should tell Dillon that I just saw her father, Will. I decide against it. She seems to be acclimating to life here at the castle, and I don’t want to do anything that will remind her of her old life.

  When Logan steps into the graviton cage, Sophia hastily stands up from her cot and rushes to the bars of her cell.

  “Oh, sweetie,” Sophia says, “I was hoping I would be able to see you again.”

  “Before the world ends, you mean?” Logan asks sarcastically. “You should have just let me die, Mom. Now you’ve doomed everyone to an early death.”

  “I couldn’t leave you with them,” Sophia laments, twin tears falling from her eyes. “You’re my baby. I couldn’t just stand by and let them hurt you like that, not when I had the ability to stop it from happening. Please, Logan, tell me you understand why I did what I did. Even if no one else can forgive me, I need for you to.”

  “You placed the burden of this world being destroyed on my shoulders, Mom,” Logan tells her, shaking her head in dismay. “The deaths of the people who have died since the first trumpet was blown are all on me. There’s nothing that can change that now.”

  “No,” Sophia says resolutely, wiping at her tears. “None of this is your fault. All of it is mine.”

  “But that’s not completely true, and there’s nothing you can do to change the facts.”

  Sophia stares at her daughter for a long time. The yearning for Logan’s understanding is plainly written on her face.

  “I’m sorry,” Sophia tells her daughter. “I never meant for you to feel any guilt over what I did. All I can ask for is your forgiveness. Please, Logan, say you can forgive me.”

  “I’m sorry, Mom,” Logan says. “I just don’t think I can.”

  Logan turns and hands me the plate with the cinnamon roll on it. She quickly exits the graviton cage, Dillon close behind her.

  I hear Sophia begin to weep, as if Logan has just ripped her heart out and taken it with her. In reality, that’s probably exactly how Sophia feels. I only know one way to help her. I lay the plate on the cell floor before running back upstairs.

  When I find Tristan, he’s in the kitchen helping Jered wash the dirty dishes from the impromptu cinnamon roll gathering. As I walk over to get his attention, I’m once again thankful that we were forced to relocate to our small island hideaway. Not only are we isolated from most of the world, we are also in a place that is self-sufficient. Since we have our own powerhouse to generate electricity, and a private water supply, the calamity that was affecting most of the world left us practically untouched.

  “I need your help,” I tell Tristan in a low voice as I go to stand beside him near the sink.

  Tristan immediately washes the suds from his hands. While he’s drying them with a towel, he turns to me and asks, “What’s wrong?”

  “Sophia needs you.”

  “I’ll be right back,” Tristan tells Jered.

  “Take your time,” Jered replies, full of understanding. “I can handle the rest of this.”

  Tristan follows me down to the basement, where we find Sophia beside herself with grief. I feel directly responsible for her emotional breakdown. I shouldn’t have forced Logan to come down here before she was ready to talk to Sophia. If I had been smart, I would have just planted the seed of forgiveness in Logan’s mind and let it germinate for a while, instead of trying to force it out into the sun.

  I open the cell door so Tristan can go in to comfort Sophia.

  When he sits down beside her on the cot, her crying subsides somewhat.

  “She’ll never forgive me,” Sophia laments to Tristan. “Never.”

  “She will,” Tristan says consolingly, “she just needs some time.”

  “What if we don’t have that much time? The princes might win, and we’ll all be lost.”

  “You can’t think like that, Sophia,” Tristan tells her, ever the optimist. “She’ll come around.”

  Sophia shakes her head vigorously. “No. She won’t. She’ll always see me as a villain, not a hero.”

  Before I know what’s happening, Sophia jumps up from the cot and makes a mad dash for the open cell door. Instinctively, I try to slam it shut before she reaches the opening, but I’m too late and too weak to stop her. Like a madwoman on a mission, Sophia pushes the door so hard as she exits, that I end up losing my grip and flying across the small area until my back hits the far wall.

  Sophia makes it outside the graviton cage before even Tristan can reach her.

  I’m certain she probably phased as soon as she left the confines of the graviton cage. Saying a few choice curse words to myself for my stupidity, I stand up and yell to Tristan, “Go get help!”

  I know we only have a small window of opportunity for one of the other Watchers to follow Sophia’s phase trail.

  I berate myself for not being more careful where Sophia is concerned, while Tristan races upstairs to find someone to help us. Within a few seconds, Jered phases back into the basement with Tristan.

  Jered doesn’t say anything to me. He immediately follows the phase trail Sophia left behind.

  “Where do you think she went?” Tristan asks worriedly.

  “I have no idea,” I say in bewilderment. “But I’m afraid she’ll do something stupid to prove herself to Logan.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know,” I reply, attempting to keep my apprehension to myself.

  Sophia is so desperate to gain her daughter’s love and approval again that she might do anything to achieve her goal. When someone is so focused on one thing, that person can become a danger not only to themselves but also to others.

  I feel like I need a do-over for the last hour. It seems like if there was a wrong decision to be made, I made it. Not on purpose, of course, but whatever Sophia does from here on out will be my fault. I feel like I might have just given Lucian the keys to the kingdom if Sophia tries to go to him again. Even if her plan is to try to help us in some way, the odds of it working out the way she thinks are not in her favor.

  Jered returns alone a few minutes later, looking troubled.

  “Well?” I ask anxiously, unnerved by the frown on his face.

  “I followed her as far as I could,” Jered tells us. “She tried to lose me a couple of times by not phasing from the same spot she phased into, but I was able to find her departure points.”

  “And where did she end up?” I ask, holding my breath as I wait for Jered’s answer.

  “Her last phase trail went directly into the White House,” Jered tells us, voicing my worst fear. “I didn’t follow her, though, since I couldn’t exactly tell what would be waiting for me on the other side. I thou
ght it was more important to report where she was than to go on a fool’s errand in there.”

  “You did the right thing,” I say. “We don’t need to lose you, too.”

  “Now what do we do?” Tristan asks me.

  “I wish I had an answer for you,” I reply, feeling lost. I have no idea what our next step should be. “We’ll just have to pray she doesn’t give them information that will compromise us.”

  “I don’t believe Sophia would do that,” Jered says. “From what I know about her character, she always has good intentions. It’s simply the way she handles things that are questionable.”

  “Well,” I say sighing heavily, “I guess we should go tell the others about my screw-up.”

  “You shouldn’t blame yourself, Jess,” Tristan tries to console.

  “Yes, I should,” I say, turning towards the staircase. “This whole thing has been my fault, from beginning to end.”

  After we make it back upstairs, Jered and Tristan go off to find the others. I know where Mason is, in our bedroom. I don’t want to tell him how badly I screwed up, but I know I have to so we can figure out what to do next. When I step inside the room, I find Mason lying on our bed, a small plate holding a single cinnamon roll across his hips.

  “I have something sweet for you to eat,” he says to me cheekily. The smile on his face quickly fades as he continues to study mine. He moves the plate from his lap and sets it on the nightstand beside him.

  “What’s wrong?” he asks, sitting up on the side of the bed as I close the door behind me.

  I inhale deeply, and tell Mason exactly what I did.

  “Come here,” he says to me, patting a spot on the bed next to him.

  I go to sit down beside him.

  “You didn’t know what she was going to do. In fact, I don’t even think she knew until she did it.”

  “It’s still my fault she escaped.”

  “You were just trying to help her, Jess. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “I should have been more careful. I should have never opened the door in the first place.”

  “Stop,” Mason says, pulling me into his arms. “You can sit here and second-guess yourself all day long. It’s not going to change anything. We’ll deal with Sophia when the opportunity presents itself. You’re going to have to let this go. We have enough to worry about right now without trying to guess what she’s up to.”

  “I don’t believe she’ll do anything to put us in danger. I think she wants to prove to Logan just how much she loves her.”

  “Then maybe she’ll do something that will work in our favor,” Mason suggests, with more optimism than I can muster. “Like I said, we can’t sit here and try to figure out what’s going on in her mind. We’ll deal with it like we do everything else: together.”

  I hold onto Mason and soak up his warmth. Unburdening my worries to him has always made me feel better. No matter what life throws at us, I know that, as long as we have one another, nothing is impossible to overcome.

  Mason kisses my left temple and says, “I think someone needs a cinnamon roll.”

  He lets go of me so he can lean back and grab the plate from his nightstand. When he hands me his offering of sweet decadence, I just lay it on my lap and stare at the roll for a moment. I don’t feel like I’ve earned the right to eat it, but I know if I don’t, I’ll feel guilty for letting it go to waste.

  Mason seems to understand my inner turmoil. He carefully pulls off a piece of the pastry and feeds it to me. I open my mouth and accept it, but only because it seems rude not to.

  “Don’t let one mistake make you doubt yourself, Jess,” Mason tells me in a half-chastising, half-exasperated voice. “Now isn’t the time. Our work here is almost done. We’ll be able to go home soon.”

  “Do you really believe that?” I ask, wondering if our work here will ever come to an end.

  “Of course I do,” my husband says, like there is no question of if, just when. “Don’t you?”

  “I guess I would if things would start to work for us instead of against us.”

  “I don’t think my father would send us here on a one-way trip, Jess.”

  “No, I don’t either,” I agree, realizing for the first time in a while that all hope is not lost.

  God knows how important my family is to me. He wouldn’t be so cruel as to send me to a world filled with strangers without the possibility of ever returning home.

  There is a way to make things right in this reality again, and, as soon as we find it, we can all go back home.

  A little while later, Mason and I go back downstairs to see how much longer it will be before we’re ready to go to the core facility. I’m glad to learn that we’re keeping the group we’re taking small in number. Besides Mason, Lucifer, and me, only Xavier, Noel, Malcolm, and Nina will be traveling there.

  “The fewer people we take the better,” Xavier tells me. “I’m hoping since we have your Lucifer helping us, we can be in and out before the guards know what’s happening.”

  “We can hope,” I say, without much enthusiasm. I may be too cynical for my own good, but if I don’t get my hopes up, I’m never disappointed when things take a turn for the worse.

  “The sooner we get this done,” Malcolm says, watching a group of humans pass by the entrance to the library, “the better I’ll feel. Enough people have died because of Lucian. I don’t want to see any more perish just because they got the dragon tattoo so they could provide for their families.”

  “You have to admit, though,” I say, “it is an ingenious plan; an evil-to-the- core plan, but a brilliant way to ensure the deaths of a large number of people all at once, and at a time of his choosing.”

  Brand walks into the room with three black backpacks in his hands. He hands one to Malcolm, one to Xavier, and the last one to Nina.

  “Each one has a timer set for 10 seconds,” Brand warns them. “Once you push the red button on the detonator, phase out.”

  “This should be an easy phase-and-dump operation,” Xavier says.

  For some reason, I feel like his words have just jinxed us.

  “Am I just in time for the party?” I hear Lucifer say.

  When I direct my gaze to the doorway, I see him leaned up against it, looking at us with an amused expression.

  “Why do you look like you’re the only one in on a joke?” I ask him, even more suspicious of his motives for agreeing to help us.

  “Oh, no particular reason, Jessica,” Lucifer answers with a shrug of one shoulder. “I’m quite excited to see how this little adventure of ours will turn out.”

  I narrow my eyes at Lucifer, because something just doesn’t feel right. Not that much does when he’s around, but it’s like he’s the boy in class who refuses to share a secret with the rest of the students. I was already uneasy about our mission, and Lucifer’s attitude isn’t helping matters.

  “Shall we go?” Lucifer suggests pleasantly.

  I turn to Xavier. “You’re positive this isn’t a trap of some sort? Happy-Go- Lucky over there is just looking a little too enthusiastic about this little trip of ours.”

  Xavier glances in Lucifer’s direction, frowning when he sees Lucifer smile.

  “I can’t be certain, of course,” Xavier says, looking troubled. “I suppose it depends on whether or not Lucian suspects me of being a part of the resistance. None of them have shown any indications that they do, but I can’t be one hundred percent sure of that.”

  “Either way,” Mason says, “we have to go to the core facility and destroy the fusion reactor before Lucian executes the next step of his plan. Let’s just go there assuming that it is a trap, and be prepared to leave quickly if we have to.”

  “For once,” Lucifer chimes in, “I agree with Mason. You people are just wasting time standing around here wondering about things. It’s always much better to meet your demons head-on.”

  “You being the expert on demons,” I snap. “What do you know, Lucifer? From where I�
�m standing, it looks like you know a lot more than you’re saying.”

  Lucifer’s smile broadens. “Why, Jessica, you really do give me a lot of credit for being ahead of the game. I know as much as you do at this point. If I look as if I understand more about the situation, it’s just because I know what I would do if I were in Lucian’s position. I mean, he’s me, in a weird, twisted sort of way.”

  “And what would you do?” I ask, hoping to gain a little insight into Lucian’s mind.

  Lucifer shakes his head. “You know I can’t tell you that. Besides, what if I’m completely wrong? I do so hate being wrong about things. It’s not a very becoming look on me.”

  “You’re wasting your breath, Jess,” Mason says, having given up on Lucifer a long time ago. “He’ll never tell you anything if it doesn’t benefit him in some way. I’m sure he’s hoping this mission will fail, so he can gloat about it later.”

  “You make me sound so childish, Mason,” Lucifer chastises lightly. “I’ll have you know that I only have Jessica’s best interests at heart.”

  “I’m not sure if I should be flattered or worried,” I tell Lucifer.

  Lucifer looks me straight in the eye and says, “Both.”

  “Let’s just go and get this over with,” Malcolm says, frustrated by Lucifer’s lack of cooperation.

  “This must be a day for miracles,” Lucifer says in amazement. “I’m in complete agreement with the mangy mongrel who just spoke.”

  “You know,” Malcolm says to Lucifer, “I’m starting to think Jess might be in line for sainthood, since she’s able to put up with your smart ass.”

  “Takes one to know one,” Lucifer counters.

  “Ok, boys,” I tell them both, “let’s put away our petty differences for once and concentrate on doing what needs to be done right now. Xavier, can you go through the plan one more time?”

  “It’s pretty simple,” Xavier begins, “Noel and I will phase all of you down to the core facility. Lucifer will open the door to the reactor room, and those of us with explosives will place them around the fusion reactor while the rest of you keep you guard. If everything goes as planned, we should be in and out in less than a minute.”