by Holly Martin
‘I think the infection is getting worse and Adam continues to torture me. Lucas, Mason is going to act this afternoon, he says he’s not going to wait anymore. But my personal guard, they’re still days away aren’t they?’
‘Eve, Seth’s there. He’s just arrived. I told him you needed to tell him something important, that he needed to sleep so you could talk to him. Seth didn’t like it, but I told him it was important. He’s agreed to sleep for an hour. It won’t do him any good though, Seth’s exhausted. I can feel him, I don’t know how he’s carrying on, I’d be unconscious by now if I’d ran that long without food or rest. But if you want to talk to Seth, now’s your chance.’
I had to stop him, he’d get himself killed, I just had to persuade Seth to wait a day, at least with Eli by his side he’d stand more of a chance and if Mason was successful I’d be out by then.
‘I have to go.’
Lucas nodded, but he caught my arm as I turned away. ‘Eve, Seth… he’s not himself. He’s barely communicating with us. He hasn’t slept, the only thing that keeps him going is a single minded ferocity to get you out. He’s furious.’
I paused. ‘With me?’
Lucas hesitated but then shook his head. ‘No, not really with you.’
‘What do you mean, not really?’
‘Seth’s angry that you went back to your room to get the sunglasses alone, but then he’s also angry at himself for not going with you. He’s angry that you forced him asleep, so he couldn’t protect you when Adam came. But mostly he’s angry with Adam.’
‘I didn’t force him asleep, not deliberately, I was trying to rejuvenate him, but I’ve not done that before and it went wrong.’
Lucas shrugged. ‘Eve, just… if he’s funny with you, don’t take it to heart. He loves you, completely, but he’s not in a good place right now.’
I nodded and closed my eyes.
‘Wait, do you not want to know who Mason’s brother was, so you can verify these dreams.’
I shook my head. ‘Lucas, I have to believe he’s alive, I have to. If he’s dead, then… I can’t go on. Besides, the next time I see Mason, hopefully he’ll be taking me out the castle. I’ll know then won’t I? As soon as I can access my powers, Seth will be there… or he won’t.’
Lucas smiled. ‘I’ll see you soon then Eve, we all will.’
I nodded and closed my eyes. I had to find Seth’s dreams, and from the sound of it, they wouldn’t be particularly pleasant.
I reached out for Seth and was ripped from the beach and into the woods. Seth was waiting for me, his arms folded angrily across his chest as he leant up against a tree.
‘Seth,’ I ran to him.
‘What do you want Eve?’ Seth said, with some annoyance.
I slowed in my approach, stung slightly by his tone.
‘Lucas said you had something important to tell me, though I don’t know why you couldn’t just tell Lucas, it would have been a lot easier.’
I stepped closer, and could feel his warmth. I reached up to tentatively touch his cheek, he was warm and soft and real to the touch. He had to be alive, I couldn’t face a world without him.
‘Damn it Eve, every second I waste with you here, is a second closer to the moment when Adam decides to kill you.’
I looked into his eyes, they were cold and angry, as Lucas had said. I looked away from him, hurt.
Seth took my chin, firmly in his hand and moved my face back to look at him. He studied my face trying to read me. I moved my hand still on his cheek to his mouth, tracing his lips with my thumb. I tiptoed up as far as I could reach to kiss him, but he didn’t tilt his head down to meet my lips. His mouth stayed resolutely an inch too far away from mine.
‘Tell me I haven’t wasted all this time waiting for you, just because you wanted to kiss me,’ he muttered, angrily.
I swallowed. ‘I needed to see you Seth, I haven’t got the strength in me to fight for a world without you in. Do you know how painful my grief has been, I nearly died, knowing you were dead. And then through my agonizing horror, came the sliver of hope that you were still alive and I fought back from the edge of death, so I could see you. So stop looking at me like you hate me, and kiss me.’
Seth stepped back from me, his eyes softening slightly. ‘I don’t hate you Eve. God how can you think that, I’ve ran for five days to get to you, no food, no rest, because I can’t exist without you.’
I stepped up to him again. ‘Then why aren’t you taking me in your arms and kissing and holding me?’
‘Because…’
‘Seth… please.’
Seth sighed with annoyance, then wrapped his arm reluctantly round my waist. ‘Happy now?’ he muttered.
‘I will be,’ I reached up to kiss him, but he still didn’t move his mouth down to meet mine.
‘I know what you’re doing Eve, you’re trying to distract me. You think if you keep me here, wrapped in your arms, if I get caught up in touching you, kissing you,’ he swallowed, moving his mouth closer to mine, but then changed his mind, pulling away slightly. ‘You think Eli will catch me up, or I’ll stay here and continue to kiss you and won’t go in at all. It won’t work. Do you think that you have that much an effect on me that I’ll forget what I’ve come here for?’
I kissed Seth’s neck, Seth loved his neck being kissed, and predictably, his eyes closed momentarily. I moved my mouth to the front of his throat and kissed him again.
Seth kissed me on the forehead, then moved his mouth down to meet mine. ‘Stop it,’ he whispered, his mouth just millimetres from mine.
I looked into eyes and they were soft, filled with an intensity I hadn’t seen before.
I reached up as far as I could and my mouth brushed his, but he didn’t come any closer.
‘Eve, stop it,’ he said.
‘Seth, in an hour, one or both of us will probably be dead, I’ll either be dead from trying to get out or you’ll be dead from trying to get in. Now if this really is going to be the last time we hold each other in our arms, then please, kiss me.’
And then, finally he did. I closed my eyes, as my heart leapt out of my chest, the hot, softness was familiar and sweet.
Seth was reluctant at first, but as the kiss continued, his hand moved round the back of my neck, his other hand tightening round my waist, as he pulled me tighter against him. Seth’s mouth moved to my neck, kissing just below my ear and then drifted down to the base of my neck, then his mouth was back on mine again. Though his kisses were not the usual tender, gentle kisses, they were urgent, insistent and his hold was tight, fierce, scared to let me go.
Seth suddenly pulled away, his face changed, it was angry, alert. ‘Someone’s here.’
‘What?’ I whirled round, expecting to see someone else in the clearing with us.
‘Someone’s found me.’
And then he vanished, almost as if he was ripped from the woods.
And I was back in my cell, alone.
Chapter 15
I had to act. A Guardian had found him or even worse, Adam.
I closed my eyes, I had to project. I had to find him and protect him.
But no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t do it. I was over thinking it, I just had to relax, but knowing my husband was out there with a Guardian or Adam made me feel sick, made my heart pound furiously against my ribs. I had to help him.
I couldn’t lose him again.
I reached for my powers, but they stayed resolutely out of reach. In a blind panic I wriggled and writhed on the table trying to free myself.
What was going on up there, had Mason acted yet, was he on his way down to get me out, or was he lying dead somewhere. And Adam, would he decide to come back and kill me himself after I’d hurt him this morning? Without Mason there to stop him, he would murder me.
The power of the Earth, I’d felt it before when the Oraculum had kept me in the cell. So much power, it had surged through me. That’s what the electric field was doing, blocking me from that powe
r source. I just had to get past that, and I’d have so much power I could rip a hole in the earth. I’d certainly rip a hole in Adam if I could get hold of him.
I closed my eyes and reached out for the Earth. Nothing. This was hopeless. Upstairs there were people dying for me, the Royal Guard that had decided to fight for me, Mason, Rhesa and Seth. I felt sick.
I started to rock around on the table, in the vain hope that I could knock the table over. The force of the table hitting the floor might tear, or at least loosen, one of the straps. But I couldn’t get enough leverage or momentum.
I heard the cell door open and I wriggled round on the table to see who it was, to see if it was Adam, come back to continue to torture me, or maybe Mason. A shadow loomed near the door, but I couldn’t make out any of the features. The shadow moved forward into the light and I burst into tears.
‘Quinn, Oh God, Quinn…’ I cried, but then trailed off at his furious expression. He stood staring at me, looking at every part of me, and the more he stared the more furious he became. It was then that I noticed the knife in his hand, shaking as the rage consumed him. He stepped closer to me.
‘Quinn…’
He looked at me, and his hand tightened round the knife. He stepped closer and touched the angry wound on my wrist. I flinched and his jaw clenched angrily. Quinn tucked the knife into his belt and quickly undid the straps, then pulled me gently into a sitting position.
‘Eve, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, I didn’t know he had you.’
I hopped down from the table. My legs wobbled, my muscles screaming in protest at being used after so long. Quinn quickly wrapped his arm round me to steady me. I hugged him tightly as I leaned heavily against him.
‘Quinn, I missed you so much,’ I sobbed into his chest, as he hugged me back tightly.
‘Eve, you know I only left to protect you. I knew he was going to kill you. I thought if I went with him, he would think he had won. Tormenting you with taking your brother from you was much more attractive to him than killing you. It hurt you more. And it worked, well at least temporarily. But he’s obsessed by you, you’re all he talks about. I tried to distract him from you and I thought if I was with him I could at least keep an eye on him. I would never have left you unless I had to, you’re my sister, and I love you so much. I had no idea he had you here, until I saw Seth outside, and he explained everything, you believe me don’t you Eve, this had nothing to do with me.’
‘Of course, wait,’ I pulled back. ‘Seth’s really outside?’
Quinn nodded. ‘Yes I was out for a run, and found Seth asleep in the bushes. He’s still outside now, I persuaded him to give me half an hour to find out where you were. Come on I’ll get you out to him’
My heart leapt. ‘He’s really here, he’s really alive?’
Quinn nodded and my heart soared. I had so wanted to believe it before, but my heart wouldn’t fully endorse it. He was alive, my husband was really alive.
Suddenly like a tidal wave my powers ripped through me, coursed through my veins through my heart. And such strength that I had never felt before, it was a fire consuming me. But then as I reached out for it, it was gone again.
‘Eve, Seth said your powers were blocked and I didn’t think I could just walk out with you, so I got this from the lab.’ He held out a small syringe. ‘I’ve spent a lot of time there over the last week or so, trying to get a better understanding of you and Adam, of our mum’s work. This will force you to shift into a mouse, similar to what Sophia gave you that time,’ he held out the syringe, asking for my permission.
I nodded.
Quinn sat me back down on the table. ‘It might hurt, but now you’ve shifted before, it might not, but I can at least put you in my pocket and carry you out. The Guardians here trust me so they won’t stop me.’
I held out my arm, the sooner he got me to Seth the better. ‘And you’ll come home with us as well, won’t you?’ I looked into my brother’s face. But it was still hard and angry.
He put the needle to my arm.
‘Wait, Mason, he’s loyal to me. Quinn, he’s going to lead an attack on Adam this afternoon, he has a band of Guardians that are willing to fight for me. We need to find him, tell him not to do it, there’s no point getting himself killed if I’m already out.’
Quinn stared at me. ‘Mason?’ I nodded and Quinn groaned. ‘I treated him so badly.’
‘It doesn’t matter, just find him and tell him.’
Quinn nodded. ‘You ready?’
I nodded and Quinn injected me.
I felt myself shift almost instantly, the walls, floor and Quinn growing around me, until Quinn towered over me and I was sitting on top of my clothes. I saw my wedding ring nestled amongst the folds of my T-shirt and I quickly ran to it, I was so small I could easily poke my head through the middle.
I watched Quinn move back out into the hall and drag the two bodies of the guards, he had incapacitated, back into the cell then he came back to me. He slid the wedding ring onto his little finger and scooped me up in his hand. He quickly moved out into the hall, closed the cell door behind him and put me into his pocket. There was a huge cereal bar wrapper in here, along with some big balls of fluff.
I felt Quinn run along the corridors, and up the stairs, keeping a gentle hold of me in his pocket as he ran so I wasn’t bumped around too much. I heard Quinn going through doors and his feet running along the corridors. Suddenly I could hear distant shouts, scream and the sounds of fighting going on. Mason’s revolt had already started.
I realised we were outside then, as I felt the cold air drift into the pocket. I heard the portcullis open and we ran under it, I could hear the metal clanking in the wind above us and Quinn ran on and then eventually slowed down and stopped.
‘Did you find her Quinn, tell me where she is and I’ll go down and get her,’ Seth said, and my heart soared.
Quinn pulled me out of his pocket and he opened his hand. My beautiful husband loomed over the hand, picking me up gently in his great strong hands and bringing me up to his face.
I reached out with one paw and touched his mouth and he gave a small smile.
‘She’s in a bit of a bad way Seth, Adam…’ Quinn swallowed, angrily. ‘Adam tortured her, and I think one of her wounds is infected.’
I saw Seth’s pained face looking at me intently.
‘Now I’m going back inside and I’m going to kill Adam. If I’m still alive after, I’ll see you back in the fort in a few days,’ Quinn said, calmly.
I wriggled round in protest in Seth’s hand.
‘Quinn, come home with us now. Adam’s too strong, he’ll kill you.’
‘Seth, you didn’t see her, you didn’t see what he’d done to her, her whole body was covered in burns and bruises, I’m not going to let him get away with it. Besides if I don’t kill him, he’ll come after her again. I’m going to end this now.’
I wriggled and squirmed to get free of Seth’s hand, I wasn’t going to let Quinn go back in there and avenge me, but Seth held me tight. I tried to shift but was unable to do so.
‘Then I’ll come with you Quinn, I’m not going to let you go in there alone.’
‘No Seth, we can’t leave Eve here unprotected and I’m not having you bring her back in there. Now listen, I had to give her some drugs to force her to shift, her powers were blocked and there was no way I could have just walked out with her. But it means she will be in this form for about an hour, then the drugs should wear off, though it might be a bit longer because she’s so weak. As soon as the drugs wear off, she should be able to use her powers again and call the Guardians, but in the meantime you need to get as far from here as possible, just keep running until she changes.’
‘Quinn, please come back with us, she needs you.’
‘She needs you Seth, she’s going to be a bit… vulnerable for the next few days after what she’s been through, take care of her.’
‘Always.’
Quinn brought his head down to me. �
��Eve I love you, you are the most amazing person I have ever met. I’m proud to have been a part of your life.’
I screamed at him, begged him to stay, to come home with me, but it only came out as a squeak.
Quinn took my wedding ring off his little finger and slid it on to Seth’s. ‘I’ve always considered you my brother, Seth. I couldn’t be happier that my little sister is with you.’
Seth held me to one side and hugged Quinn fiercely. Then Quinn was gone, running back up the hill. Seth watched him go for a moment and then turned and ran down the hill, holding me to his chest.
I screamed in his palm, knowing Quinn was running to his death, but Seth ran on. I struggled against his hand, but his hold didn’t lessen. Eventually I stopped struggling, feeling weak and hot in his hand. The fever was coming back, and without the medication, it would burn through me. His fingers were like a hot cage around me, and sleep or unconsciousness soon took me.
My sleep was heavy, filled with flashes of chaos, noise and confusion. I was woken with freezing water being poured over me. I curled up against it, trying to evade it.
‘Sorry Eve, you were so hot, I was just trying to cool you down,’ Seth mumbled to me, stroking his finger across my back. I blinked the water out of my eyes and stretched out in his palm, as I looked around. We were still in the woods, but it was just starting to get dark.
‘Can you shift yet?’
I tried, but to no avail, and shook my head.
‘It’s been hours since Quinn injected her,’ said another voice, nearby. ‘She should be able to shift by now.’
I peered round and saw Eli.
‘Are you sure this is Eve, how do we know that Quinn didn’t just bring out some half dead mouse.’
My heart leapt angrily at the accusation.
Seth growled. ‘Because I trust Quinn with my life, with Eve’s life. You should have seen his face when I told him that Adam had her, that he was torturing her, he was heartbroken. This is Eve, I know it is.’
Eli didn’t look too sure. I reached out for him and Eli shuffled closer, holding out a finger, which I held with my paw. ‘Eve?’ he said quietly.
