PANDORA

by Rebecca Hamilton

  Merrin spun. As quickly as I’ve ever seen anyone do anything, she grabbed the pistol, and took it from Ezra. “You don’t know me very well, do you?” She kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back into the van.

  With that, all hell broke loose.

  Things went flying. People went flying. I heard shouts and crashes. I heard the snapping of bones and the crunch of metal. It all happened so quickly. There was a flash of red, then a battling flash of blue. I watched Ezra send Merrin shooting up into the air and, to my horror, saw Casper fall out of it. I tried to run; to get to him or Owen, but my feet went out from under me. The ground came up to meet me, and my head smacked hard against a rock. I got back up, but as soon as I stood, I was down again; facing straight up, staring at the stars.

  They were playing with me now; all of them flashing and pinging. They winked at me. They sang to me. They swayed back and forth like waves in an ocean. And then I saw Wendy’s eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, leaning over me. “This was the only way it could happen. Remember, lie to the stars, Cresta. Lie to the sta-“

  She went flying, hit by some unseen force. I tried to sit up, to gather myself and fight, but it was no use. Whatever had hit her had me by the throat now. It wasn’t letting me move. I watched the stars flicker, and then disappear.

  ***

  The next thing I knew, I was in bed; looking up, not at the stars, but at drawn stars painted on a ceiling. But it wasn’t celling. No, my ceiling was gone; blown up with the rest of my house. My head spun, and my body ached, but I managed to sit up. The room around me was nice. Filled with flowers and paintings (of flowers), it was a bit girlie for my taste. Still, the bed was soft and it was definitely better than the ground, or the backseat of a van, for that matter.

  I stood, feeling heavy and hearing a swish. The events of the day danced back into the forefront of my mind. Where was I? Where was everybody else? Were they okay? Was there any way I could get people to stop mystically putting me to sleep?

  As I rubbed my eyes, nearing a mirror in front of me, those questions melted away. My mouth dropped as I realized they didn’t matter anymore.

  “Oh my God,” I said to the girl in the mirror, taking in the layers of silk and lace, rubbing at the lipstick on my mouth. “Why am I wearing a wedding dress?”

  Chapter 19

  Who You Are

  I stared at myself; half in shock, half in horror. A wedding dress, an honest to God wedding dress. It fit perfectly, hugging all the right places, and flattering all the wrong ones. I almost looked like a woman. I almost looked beautiful.

  “You forgot the veil.” A man’s voice sounded from behind me. I spun, the fabric of my gown ruffling, to find Allister Leeman leaning against the doorway. He smiled a wide, dark smile. The raven at his throat seemed to caw and move; its wings flapping against his Adam’s apple. His dark hair was slicked back, and a toothpick peeked out from between his lips. His eyes cut into me. A delicate white veil danced around in his fingers, and he was dressed in a tuxedo that, sickeningly enough, seemed designed to match my dress.

  “Where are my friends?” I asked, trying to steady my voice.

  “You don’t have any friends.” He plucked the toothpick from his mouth. “If you mean the people that were captured with you; they’re fine.”

  “And my mother?”

  “She’s fine too,” he answered, and started to make his way toward me.

  I flinched away. “I want to see them. I want you to let them go. I’m here. I did what you asked.”

  “You did part of it,” he thumped his toothpick onto the floor in front of him. “I’ll let them go when you do the rest. “ He reached for me, and ran his disgusting hand through my hair. I shivered and slapped it away. “Though, I don’t know why you’re so attached to them,” he grinned. “They don’t care about you, my darling. Not really.”

  “They risked their lives for me,” I snorted.

  “They don’t even know you. To them, you’re something to kill, something to change. Even your mother-Or, more appropriately, the woman who calls herself your mother, has only the most conditional of loves for you. None of them accept you for what you are. They would never try to understand you, or embrace the truth of who you are. That’s why they’re here, Cresta Karr. Not for you; it was never for you. They’re here because they can’t stand the idea that you are more than them; that we’re more than them. I’m the only one who understands you, Cresta. Because I know what it is to be called for something so monumental. I share your pain and your exhilaration in the same way that I will soon share your bed and your life, because it is mine as well.”

  “We’re not sharing anything!” I couldn’t help it. I slapped his stupid face. I probably shouldn’t have done it. After all, he did have everyone I cared about in the entire world in his clutches. But he was just so smug, pushing all my buttons. “What the hell is the matter with you anyway?” I shouted. “What kind of lunatic actually wants the world to end?”

  He put a hand up to his quickly reddening face. “The kind that knows it has to.” A broad dangerous smile crept across his face. His eyes glowed menacingly. “They haven’t told you all of it, have they?” He did a little shuffle with his feet, almost like he couldn’t wait for what came next. “This isn’t about the way the world ends. It’s about what comes next. The world has ended a hundred times before; with ice ages, and floods, and meteors that have purged this planet of everything it could find. But each time, the world has come out of it for the better, stronger, and more evolved.”

  There it was, that word, evolved.

  “Just as human replaced the dinosaurs, we will replace humans. It’s the way of the world. The strong always replace the weak, my darling.” He held the veil out toward me. “And you are the one who will set it all in motion.”

  I slapped it away too. “I would never hurt anybody.”

  “Just as the wave would never hurt the mountain. Still, the mountain erodes. “He picked the veil up, folded it, and put it in his pocket. “They paint you as an antichrist, but you are a messiah.”

  “I’m not,” I said. “I’m not the Bloodmoon. I’m not anything. Look, I’m not going to kill anybody. So, I can’t be the Bloodmoon. The sun will be up soon, and then everybody will know. So, just give me my mom and my friends, and let me go.”

  “Still, with these friends, “he muttered. “Come here. Let me show you something.”

  He extended his hand. I didn’t take it. He shrugged, and motioned for me to follow him out the door. As I followed, I found myself in a huge bunker. This place was insane. A windowless metal area, it stretched as far as I could see. Closed doors lined the walls and, looking down and up; I saw that we were on the fourth of seven identical floors.

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  “We’re at the end,” he answered, without looking back at me. “Or the beginning, depending on which side you’re on.”

  “I meant what kind of place is this?” I asked impatiently. There were people on either side of me, lining the walls and watching us as we passed.They were all dressed in formal wear; tuxedos and evening gowns. Most of the women had flowers in their hair and hands. They had a look in their eyes that told me they definitely agreed with the Raven when it came to that whole messiah or antichrist thing. What was that about anyway? Not that I cared. I didn’t want to be a messiah or an antichrist. I didn’t wanna be a Bloodmoon or even a Breaker. I just wanted to be plain old Cresta; the girl with asthma who had way too many graphic tees, the girl who never quite fit in in Crestview. I wanted to be Casper’s best friend; Owen’s would be girlfriend, and God willing, my mother’s daughter. Walking through this crazy place though, with these crazy people watching me, I wondered if I ever could be that again. Was that girl gone? Was there any way to get her back?

  No. I wasn’t going to let myself think that way. I was me; just me, nobody else, dammit! I had a life, a good one. I hadn’t realized that before, but it was true. And I
sure as hell wasn’t going to let these weirdos take that away from me.

  “I said where are we!” I came to a stop.

  Allister Leeman whirled around, half surprised, half elated. “There she is. That’s my girl.”

  “I’m not your anything!” I rushed him and jabbed a finger into his chest. “Now you’re going to bring me to my friends and my mother, and you’re going to do it now!”

  He grabbed my hand and kissed my fingers. The whole thing made me sick. I jerked my hand away and smacked him hard on the face again.

  A few of the bigger guys watching us started toward me, but Allister Leeman threw his hand up to stop them. “Anything for my bride,” he said, and they backed away. We walked further down the metal hallway, passing countless doors on either side.

  Suddenly, I remembered not only why I was here, but what Allister Leeman wanted from me. How long had I been unconscious? Maybe the sun was up. Maybe this entire thing was over. No, he wouldn’t have done that. He had this entire thing orchestrated. It wouldn’t make any sense for him to get me here just to be too late to fulfill that stupid prophecy, not when he wanted it so badly. Still, there was a chance. Wasn’t there? I looked in every direction. No windows.

  “What time is it?” I asked, when I couldn’t take the suspense any longer.

  “Don’t worry darling. It isn’t daylight yet,” he smiled, reading my mind. Was he actually reading my mind? Could he do that? Who could tell what Breakers could do, let alone crazy fringe cult leader Breakers who want to trap me into marrying them?

  We came up to what I thought was a dead end. Allister Leeman tapped on it, like he was checking to see if it was hollow, or knocking on a door. The wall began to lower, revealing a hidden room. As the wall melted into the ground, I caught a glimpse of what was on the other side. The first thing I noticed was the floor and that every inch of it was covered in bright pink flowers. Looking up, I saw rows of white chairs filled with elegantly dressed cult members, sprouting out from a large white gazebo. It had statues on either side, gothic stone angels that looked like they were in more pain than pleasure. That wasn’t the worst of it though. At the center of the gazebo, which looked out onto a pane glass window, Casper stood ; his face red and swollen, his eyes raw, and his hands shackled together. He was wearing a tuxedo and, in his bound hands, sat two rings.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Allister Leeman said as I gaped. “A male Maid of Honor is so out of the box. What can I say? I’m a sucker for the unpredictable. Now come on,” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me roughly toward what I now saw was an altar. “We’re getting hitched.”

  I jerked away from him and ran to Casper. On my way, I saw that Merrin and Wendy were sitting in the front row. Their hands were also bound. While it hurt to see them like this; to see Merrin’s perfect face marred with bruises, and Wendy’s pale knowing eyes heavy with anguish, and know that it was all because of me, they weren’t Casper. They weren’t my Casper. They weren’t the boy who snuck out of his house and met me in the park on nights when I couldn’t sleep. They weren’t the guy who insisted on taking me to the ‘Ho Down’ themed homecoming dance, even though half the freshman girls in school were giving him googly eyes. They weren’t the person who singlehandedly made my early days at Crestview bearable; my rock, my best friend.

  I crashed into him; wrapping my arms around him, and feeling tears come unbidden to my cheeks.

  “I’m okay,” he whispered. I could hear the smile in his voice; the one meant to make me feel better. “You worry too much. Did I ever tell you that? I should have. It’s true.”

  “You don’t look okay,” I said, running my fingers across the red blooms on his cheek.

  “Really?” He winced. “Cause I think it’s kinda sexy.”

  “Enough!” Allister Leeman spun me hard toward him.

  “What the hands, lunatic!” Casper yelled. A tall man with a dyed blue mohawk got up from his chair and punched Casper in the gut.

  “Stop it!” I screamed as he bowled over. “Let him go. “ The tears came again. “I’m here. Just let them all go, okay.”

  “Oh sweetheart,” Allister Leeman said, brushing my tears away with a rough thumb. “Not yet. Not until you start behaving. There’s much to do and little time left.”

  “I’m not marrying you,” I said shakily.

  “Of course you are,” he disagreed. “And I’ll show you why.” He walked through the gazebo, to the plate glass window. Looking down, he knitted his hands behind his back. “Come and see where it all ends, Cresta.

  I helped Casper to his feet. “Be careful,” he said. I nodded and hesitantly followed. Allister Leeman’s breath had fogged up the glass in front of him by the time I got there. It turned out that I wouldn’t have the same problem because, when I looked down, it felt as though all the breath left my body.

  Below us, in a large circular room, my mother paced nervously on a gridded metal floor. She looked thin and tired. Her hair seemed ratty and unkempt, and her clothes seemed worn and slept in. “ . . . Mom,” I muttered. I beat loudly against the window, sending ripples through the glass.

  “She can’t hear you,” Allister Leeman told me. “Can’t see you either. So, don’t bother.”

  “I’m here!” I turned to him. “I did what you asked. What else do you want from me?”

  “Right now,” he pointed to a door at the end of the circle. “I want you to keep watching.”

  The door flung open. Owen, shirtless and similarly beaten, was thrown into the room. He got up, shaking his head, seemingly getting his bearings together. When he and my mom saw each other, they came together, hugging and talking. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could only imagine they were trading war stories, talking about all that had happened, all the had been through and, more than anything else, they were probably worrying about me.

  “I don’t get it,” I muttered.

  “You will,” the Raven grinned. “Did you ever stop to wonder why him? Why did, out of all the Breakers in the world, I chose Owen to help me? As you can see, I have hundreds of people who would gladly have given themselves to my cause, to our cause.” He brushed my cheek, which sent dinner racing back up my throat. “Many of them are young men. Many of them are handsome and, trust me, my little Bloodmoon, they would have had no trouble convincing you to open up to them. So what’s so special about Owen?”

  I looked back at Merrin, thinking she might know something I didn’t. Her eyes, narrowed quizzically, told me I couldn’t have been more wrong. I knew what made Owen so special; his heart, his bravery, the way he was willing to give himself wholeheartedly to do what was right. But something told me that wasn’t what Allister Leeman had in mind.

  “What?” I asked bitterly.

  “That.” Allister Leeman pointed to the blurry, masked tattoo on Owen’s back.

  “His angel?” I asked in a low voice.

  “That’s no angel,” Allister Leeman leaned close to me. “Go ahead. Look through the shade. See for yourself.”

  Sighing, I focused the way I had at the 7-11 when Dahlia almost found us, the way I had the first time I saw the Seer’s Tower. Slowly, the shade around Owen’s tattoo started to dissipate. It came into view; first the wings that spread across his shoulders and the full of his back, and then-

  “No. My God, no . . . ”

  There was no angel on Owen’s back. That wasn’t what kept him safe, what changed his fate. Stretched across Owen’s body, with huge leathery wings and a forked tongue, was a dragon.

  Joined to the Raven, consumed by the Dragon.

  “He’s not the dragon,” I said weakly, but I knew the truth. It was obvious; obvious in the visions I had seen while swimming around Owen’s memories, obvious in the pain on his mother’s face, obvious in the words Wendy had told him.

  “I used to be a fixed point,” Owen had said.

  “You still are,” Wendy had answered. And she was right. Owen was supposed to die. It was a fixed point. Noth
ing could have changed it. So, they traded one fixed point for another. They turned him into the dragon; turned him into something else. They bought his future by giving him a destiny; a destiny that said he would kill the Bloodmoon. And that very likely meant that he would have to kill me.

  “No. He’s not the dragon,” I repeated, hoping that if I said it enough, it might make it true.

  “Yes, my darling. He is,” Allister Leeman circled me, his dark hair started to come loose and hang in his eyes.

  “How . . . Why did you-“

  “Why did I bring him to you?” He asked. “I’ll answer that question with another question. Imagine you had a puppy Cresta, and that your puppy meant more to you than anything else in the world. Now imagine you knew that, one day, someone would come along and kill your puppy. But they needed a certain knife to do it; a knife that you had, that you could get. What would you do?”

  There it was; laid out in front of me. Somehow Allister Leeman knew Owen’s secret, and he brought him to Crestview to exploit it. He wanted to keep an eye on him, to make sure he didn’t hurt me? No. My stomach started to churn sickeningly again as I realized the truth. He wanted Owen to care about me, to see me as a person, to love me. He wanted Owen to love me so much that he would never kill me.

  “I-I would dull the knife,” I answered, bile rising in my throat.

  “No, no darling. You don’t dull it. You sharpen it, and use it on those puppy killing bastards before they can get to you.”

  The man with the blue mohawk returned, handing Allister Leeman a small black square, about the size of a remote.

  Do you remember the phone calls,Cresta; the calls that you thought were calls from Merrin, and that Owen thought were exercises to keep him feeble mind sharp? In reality, they were programming sessions. I was seeping into his mind, making him ready.”

  “Ready for what?” I asked, my mind running a million miles an hour.

  “For now,” he said, holding up the remote. “If you look closely, you’ll see that I did away with those pesky devices that bound Owen’s powers.”