“You’ve evaded the Butcher for years, Chronicler,” a different man in the living room said. Either he was the one in charge or acting as the spokesman. “But now you’ll bow to him.”
“The hell I will!”
The woman slammed my head forward into the floor. My nose snapped, causing me to tear-up instantly. I cried out but was quickly silenced by the blood pooling my mouth. I inhaled some and fell into a coughing fit.
“We’ve learned something about you, Chronicler,” the spokesman said. “You’re no more powerful than humans, without your sisters. So, you are worthless to the Butcher until then.”
“Then let me go! I’m no use to you if I’m dead!” I screamed. The woman backhanded me and demanded that I stopped crying. My cries turned to whimpers.
“You’re no use dead, that’s correct. But it’s not your life I’m concerned about,” the man holding Elsie said. I knew I heard his voice before. “Do you think Hunters enjoy murdering deities to extend their life? Do you think we don’t remember what it was like have their longevity? Do you think we don’t recall what it’s like to be immortal?”
The woman laughed. “Well perhaps there’s a little enjoyment killing those arrogant gods.”
“What do you want with me?” I asked.
“Convince the Healer to return your Elysian to you. The Butcher will give you further directions then,” the spokesman said.
“I’d rather die,” I whispered.
“Thought so, which is why we aren’t offering to spare your life,” the man holding Elsie said. “This girl will be the bargaining chip.”
Elsie’s muffled screams brought tears to my eyes. They couldn’t take her! She was just a kid. I told them to take me. They laughed. I was of no use to them until I was healed. The woman pulled my hair back, forcing me up, and then threw me in front of the man holding Elsie. I caught myself with my good arm. Glass grounded into my hands. Tears flooded from my eyes.
“Do what we ask, or she dies. Let Jace heal you. The Butcher will be in contact with you after that.”
Screams of the little girl who just walked into my life became faint until the sound of my front door quieted them. They took Elsie because of me. They took a little girl because they wanted me, and I was utterly useless until I found my sisters. The woman stepped over John and Martha and walked out the front door. Unable to do anything but bleed out onto the living room floor, I screamed soundlessly in my mind, hoping someone would hear my pleas.
My screams turned to sobs by the time Jace and Marco appeared in my living room. I was crying on the floor, picking glass out of my hands. Jace cupped my face. His rage poured into me; it gave me the strength to gather my thoughts and speak.
“Who did this?” he demanded.
“Two men and a woman,” I said, hating what I was about to do. It wasn’t all a lie, and not what I wanted, but I knew the Butcher would kill Elsie if I didn’t cooperate. “I couldn’t see them, Jace. I can’t tell you what they looked like because I can’t see! I couldn’t tell if they were Hunters or just psychopaths getting back with John.”
“Why would anyone seek revenge against him?” Marco asked.
“Lawyer,” Jace and I said simultaneously.
“That’d be a little bit too coincidental,” Marco grunted. He disappeared. A few seconds later he reappeared. “The Thompsons are out cold but unharmed. The dog is alive but needs those hands of yours to pull through, Jace. The young girl is gone; they took her.”
“They hurt you, but they spared your life.” Jace said carefully touching my arm. “The Butcher was sending a message, Gwyneth. He wants you to fear him. But remember, you’re safe until we find your sisters. He doesn’t want you to die.”
“Well, not yet anyway,” Marco said.
“Jace, they’re going to hurt me as much as they can without killing me. They’ll hunt others of your kind down until they get what they want.” Thinking of my memory where the old man grows young, I replied, “He kills to defy death. I’ll grant him immortality if he lets Elsie go. It will be simple.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Jace said. “Anyone who steals you must be willing to kill you for their heart’s desire. If they aren’t willing to end your life, you don’t have to grant their wish.”
“They’ve killed for centuries, Jace. I sincerely doubt he will hesitate to end my life to ensure he gets what he wants. Please, heal me. I give you permission to heal me. Give me back my Elysian.”
He sighed like I’d given him everything he’d ever wanted and taken everything away at the same time. Jace whispered my name as he brushed the hair away from my face. “Close your eyes, dearest. This will not be pleasant.”
He spoke out soundless language. The longer he spoke, the louder the distant ringing in my ears became. I struggled to breathe when the shape of Jace’s mouth formed. Fighting the urge to cover my ears, I tried calming my nerves. The white and black in my sight began to twirl furiously. As my world spun into a gray blur, I focused on Jace.
He stroked my cheek. He kissed me like it would be our last. His passion trickled onto my lips as he stole my breath. He broke the kiss only to place the gentlest kisses on both my eyes. As soon as his lips made contact, my eyes burned. As Jace spoke in his wordless language, I screamed out.
An explosion of sound blasted me as he spoke. As he spoke, a melody became apparent but was sung louder than anything I’d ever heard. It felt like I’d been deaf and was suddenly given back my hearing only to be screamed at. My ear bled. He refused to stop even though I begged him. I heard myself scream so loudly that I hurt my own ears. My agony grew.
His body ignited into flames, but Jace never let go. His heart was broken, but he warmed a cold, dead part of my scared soul. I reached out, trying to find another soul to connect to. The power I’d refused to believe in grew. I didn’t know how to control it, but it didn’t stop me from embracing thousands of human lives.
I saw the destinies lying out before them, ever changing but real just the same. I didn’t see them as shadows; their bodies were no longer important. Instead, I saw their threads of life, intertwining with each other. They grew from the dozens to the hundreds. The more I strained to reach each thread of life, the more quickly they pulled away from me like they were afraid.
My eyes burned as if they’d been destroyed by the sun. My world was still painted in black and white. My body was soaked in sweat. Utter exhaustion imprisoned my body. I looked at my savior. He looked to me like I belonged to him. He was weak but managed to feel imposing. He spoke to me in my mind. Although I didn’t understand what he was speaking, I found myself getting tired the louder his voice became. Soon his deep, soothing voice grew darker. The longer he spoke, his vehemence became more apparent.
“Anger feeds my power,” he whispered, apologetically.
He stroked my smallest finger with his thumb as he screamed into the night. Shades of white, black, and gray mixed with different shades of color I’d never seen, flooded my mind. Just as quickly as the thousands of colors invaded my mind, they vanished. My world built upon shades of gray vanished. I was truly blind. I couldn’t hear, couldn’t feel, and couldn’t taste the blood on my lips.
***
I came-to in a hospital bed; noises from the alarms, doctors, nurses, and patients bombarded my senses. Feeling about as good as being beaten by a sledge hammer, I couldn’t fathom trying to move my mouth much less speak or open my eyes.
“I know you can hear me, Gwyneth. Perhaps you don’t care about your body right now, but you survived the transformation,” he whispered in my mind, while squeezing my hand. “It’s going to take me a few days before I’m at full strength, so I couldn’t speed along your injuries. Just another day, dearest, and you’ll see. Your foster parents are safe; they don’t recall anything. Marco fed them a story that Elsie had run away while they were sleeping. He told them that you tried to stop her, but it ended in a fight, which is why you are at the hospital. Now close your ocean eyes and dream.�
��
Sleep washed over me quickly. What felt like seconds later, I was awakened by someone walking into my hospital room. I couldn’t see. Bandages covered my eyes. However, I knew the person was injured because I heard the uneven step of a limp. An intravenous line was hooked up to my arm. It tugged on my skin, and the person said that I needed medications. A glorious haze washed over me a few moments later. It wasn’t long before I wondered why my tongue felt so large in my mouth. I giggled.
“You need meds because we can’t have you alerting Jace, now can we? He can sense when your anxiety spikes - so these muscle relaxers should do the trick in keeping you calm.”
His voice sounded so familiar, but my mind was groggy. I couldn’t think straight.
“Jace is tired,” I agreed. “He doesn’t need to worry about me right now. He’s a mess.”
“Do you know your name?” he asked.
I laughed; of course I knew my name. I told him not to ask such silly questions. It made the man chuckle. He was pleased at my reaction. I was pleased. I had heard that laugh many times before, yet, it sounded slightly different, like I was hearing with new ears.
Tugging on the bandages covering my eyes, he instructed me to sit very still. He peeled them off. Brilliant light briefly blinded me. I expected to see the world in an explosion color. But I was confused. My surroundings – the bed, floor, and nightstand – everything but the man – were still shades of gray. At least it was more than my black and white vision. I saw clear edges of shapes, definition, and depth. That pleased me. I clapped.
On the other hand, the man was painted in pale, dull colors. His skin was a pale tan. His hair was a light brown, and his eyes were light green. He wore faded blue jeans and a gray jacket. A shaggy beard covered his face. I grinned; for the first time in my life, I saw my best friend, Hector. For some reason he looked familiar, but I couldn’t place it. In addition to the splash of color, I noticed his fragrance. He smelled like fresh spring rain.
“Hector,” I said, giddily. “You’ve come to visit me!”
He set a vase of lilies on the stand beside me. He always brought me that flower in honor of my sister.
“You’re full of chuckles tonight,” Hector said. He smiled back at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “We’ll, it might humor you that you weren’t wrong about HomFree. The security system had been tampered with.”
“I knew it!” I exclaimed, pleased that my hunch was correct.
“It was a few colleagues of mine, Zalen included, that had been watching your house in shifts,” Hector said. His voice was harsher than I recalled. I couldn’t hear the affection in it. “If you hadn’t asked me to meddle with that home security system, I never would have realized that Jace had altered the security.”
“When did he mess with it?” I repeated.
Something wasn’t allowing me think clearly. Something was off with Hector, but I couldn’t pin-point it.
“Oh, come now, you remember. Think good and hard – the night you refused my ride to take you home after coffee. My sources said that you snuck in through your bedroom window just after Jace added an alarm to HomFree’s system. It’d notify Marco of any intruders, too.”
“Jace convinced John and Martha not to say anything because I didn’t like hand-outs,” I said, recalling parts of the night. “He was worried about me. So why didn’t it work? The house was broken into, and Marco didn’t show up till it was too late.”
“I’m quite the handy-man, Gwyneth. After all these years of watching you grow up and waiting for the Healer to find you, you’d think I have just been sitting on my thumbs. I deactivated it easily.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh, come now. You really haven’t figured it out yet? I’ve been waiting for years, waiting for all the pieces to fall into place, and I wasn’t going to let one measly alarm stop me. I’ve been breaking in and out of homes for years, searching for you. Yes, the security has improved; but I’ve adapted. I always adapt. I’m a chameleon so to speak. I’ve been an engineer, banker, assassin, and a police officer just to name a few. I’ve had lifetimes to gain knowledge and experience waiting for you to turn up again.”
Hector handed me an object. I brought it up by my face and studied it. It wasn’t until I closed my eyes and slipped my fingertips over its shell that I realized what it was – my cell phone that I’d lost after making up with him at the library. The only thing I could think of saying was “you’re welcome” but it didn’t feel right. Hector told me I needed to remember a phone number.
“Your library card number,” Hector said, staring at me as if this was the most important information he’d ever given me. “If you dial the numbers of your library number, you will reach me.”
“Or I can just punch in the number five on speed dial,” I offered, trying to be helpful. “You were a police officer?”
“I was an old man when I wore that suit. But after I gained another lifetime by killing Lily, I had to hang up that attire as well. People tend to talk when you unexplainably become youthful again.”
“You killed Lily?”
Hector chuckled. “I thought it was you. Guess I was wrong. Didn’t matter, I guess. It gave me back a few years. Better this way. Rumor has it that you aren’t as strong without your sisters’ aid. Lucky for me I hadn’t killed you that night.”
I wanted to tell him that he would have if I hadn’t traded fates with Lily, but I hesitated. I didn’t know why. He could use the information and seemed very adamant about gaining knowledge. It was a good thing he worked in a library since he insisted on having so many occupations. Books were great for learning new traits.
“Find your sisters, Chronicler,” Hector ordered. He stood up and walked out the door. He paused but never looked back at me. “You’re useless to me until then. Call me once you do, or I’ll kill the kid. We will make our trade then. You get the kid if you grant me what my heart most desires. If you undermine me, I’ll track down your lover-boy and kill him just so I can live another life-time. I’d be my pleasure to end the life of the deity who shattered my leg and sentenced me to a lifetime with this limp. I think it goes without saying that no one is to know about me.”
Staring at my hands, I wondered why my fingers were so long. I wondered why black was so dark. And why Hector smelled like rain. After what seemed like hours, my eyes had watered, but my thoughts became clearer. I hated rain. It reminded me of death. My library card was seven digits long, just like a phone number. Elsie was still gone. Someone had her. Why wasn’t I thinking clearly? What happened to my IV? I closed my eyes and concentrated on Hector. Why had he acted so odd? Why did he smell familiar? Why did he look so familiar?
The rock walls imprisoned me, but the straw roof allowed light to seep through. An elderly woman hung from rusted shackles. Her gray hair lay in chucks at the floor. Vomit, urine, and a lovely scent of lilies hung in the air. Her breathing was labored, she neared death. I kneeled on my hands and knees in a pool of urine. My clothes were soaked in sweat.
“Give me what I desire most, or I’ll kill the Prophet.”
My head shook as I gazed up to the young man with piercing light green eyes. Hector circled me, careful not to touch the pool I kneeled in. His brown curly hair looked almost black in the dim lighting. The scent of rain lingered around him.
“Time is slipping away, Chronicler,” Hector said, as he tossed a spear back and forth in his hands. “Your sister is hanging on by a sliver of her thread.”
He walked gracefully over to her. Yanking what was left of her hair, he spat in her face. Her chest rose as if she was struggling to breathe, but a weak laugh came out. “Utter destruction would be had by all, including the humans.”
He beat her, but I was too weak to stop him. A testament of my age. I was no longer young and strong. My nails were yellowed. My skin clung to my bones, like the mouthless ones, my Scavengers. My body warmed thinking of them taking me from this world. I wanted death but refused to leave this life k
nowing all hope was lost.
“Blood will be spilled, and no new life will be had amongst our race without us three,” the Prophet said before passing out. I glanced down at her hand. She made the slightest movement with what fingers she had left. Slowly, she made three snipping movements.
“Our sister will cut soon, Butcher,” I whispered. My voice hung in the air as if I’d sung.
Hector laughed, “I’ve killed enough of you to know there has already been blood spilled. Give me what I ask, and I’ll end the genocide.”
An impossibly beautiful young man crashed through the roof. Jace’s body was engulfed in flames. My captor threw a spear. Jace dodged the blade, but it scraped his cheek. He slammed his foot down on my captor’s leg and held it there while the man screamed.
“This will never heal, Butcher,” Jace promised, and then rushed over to me. He never opened his mouth, but I still heard his screams in my mind. His misery ripped through me like it was my own, when he lifted my frail body in his arms. My life was draining into death’s embrace.
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