Redemption (The Chosen #4)

by Swank, Denise Grover

  “I have no idea.”

  Leaning the side of her head into his neck, she sighed. “Okay.”

  “You don’t have to do this.”

  “I know. But I’m curious.”

  “If you’re going to see him, it should probably be soon.”

  Pushing herself off the bed, she gave him a brief, tight smile. “Let’s get this over with.”

  They walked to Marcus’s room in silence. Will stood next to her, wanting to say something but unsure of what. She knocked and within seconds Marcus opened the door.

  “Thanks for coming, Emma.”

  Emma didn’t answer.

  Leaning a hand against the door frame, Will lowered his voice. “I swear to God if you hurt her or scare her in any way—”

  Stepping away from the opening, Marcus gave Emma a soft smile, then turned to Will. “I only want to talk. I promise.”

  Anxiety prickled Will’s nerves. Are you sure you want to do this?

  Yes. She walked into the room without a backward glance as Marcus shut the door.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Emma told herself that Marcus wouldn’t hurt her, but her heart still raced. She spun around to face him, spreading her hands at her sides, she spoke with a cocky attitude. “Well, here I am, Marcus. What do you want?”

  “It occurs to me that you have questions.”

  Her mouth almost dropped open before she recovered. “I’m here because you think I have questions.” She put a hand on her hip and shook her head with a half-laugh. “Are you serious?”

  “I suspect no one has really been honest with you in all of this. Everyone has their own agenda, and they’ve told you the version of the truth that they want you to hear.”

  “What makes you any different?”

  “Our mutual love of Will. And our mutual need of Jake.”

  “Which is why you wanted to talk alone.” She understood their mutual love of Will, but not Jake.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, start talking.”

  Marcus brushed past her and sat in a chair in front of the window and waved to a chair next to him. “Have a seat.”

  “Thanks, I’ll stand.”

  He shrugged. “Perhaps I’ll start with the prophecy.”

  Her stomach tightened. She hadn’t expected that. “What about it?”

  “I suppose you wonder what it means.”

  “It’s gibberish.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  She snorted. “The funny thing about prophecies is that people read into it what they want. Everyone has their own interpretation.”

  Marcus rested his hand on the chair arm and ran his finger along the seam. “After millenniums of observation, I’d love to share mine.”

  She knew he had to have an underlying motive for this, but she had to admit she was curious. Sitting on the edge of the bed, the closest seat to the door, she cocked her head. “I’m listening.”

  “I’m sure you know by now that the prophecy the Vinco Potentia believed is wrong. The real one was written in code in the book. Once you heard it, it should have burned itself onto your consciousness.”

  “Jake told the correct one to Will when he marked him.”

  “So you know it?” Marcus grinned. “The first part is fairly obvious.

  “The land will fall desolate and cold

  As it waits for the promised ones.

  God resides within the queen

  While she hides among the people of the exile land

  Hunted for that which she must lose

  One who is named protector, The Chosen One,

  Shall be a shield, counselor, companion.”

  “I’m the queen. Will is the protector. I was hunted for Jake.” She didn’t try to hide the irritation in her voice.

  “Yes.” He smiled but his eyelid twitched. “I told you it was fairly obvious. It’s the second part that is elusive.” He recited again:

  “The elevated one will arise from great sorrow

  In the full moon after the summer solstice

  His powers will be mighty and powerful

  He will rise up to rule the land

  The supplanter will challenge him

  But only one will be overcome

  By that which has no price.”

  Marcus cleared his throat. “Aiden believes that Jake is the elevated one. I believe it’s Will. He received his mark and found you around the summer solstice. You have to admit that his powers are much stronger than yours and probably stronger than Raphael’s.”

  “What difference does it make at this point?”

  “The prophecy still applies, in spite of the rule changes.”

  “So Will is going to rise up and rule the land?” She refused to admit it to Marcus, but the idea of Will winning and ruling wasn’t that farfetched.

  With a look of earnestness, Marcus leaned forward, clasping his hands. “Yes, and you have to understand the significance of this. The world has been in chaos for eons. If Aiden gets complete control, he’s liable to wipe out half the human race, just for the fun of it. Raphael is a mini-Aiden. But Will…” Marcus’s eyes lit up. “Will has been training for this his entire life. He is not only destined to rule, but he will be fair and levelheaded. Will is just what the world needs to set it back on course.”

  “With you by his side. Of course.”

  Marcus didn’t answer.

  “So where does Jake come into this? You said you need him.”

  “Jake is the supplanter.”

  She nodded slowly, raising her eyebrows. “Of course, he is.”

  “He’s necessary for the end to play out.”

  Her heart lodged in her throat. “And the supplanter is overcome.”

  Marcus nodded once.

  “You want to sacrifice my son. So that you can save your own. Do you realize what you are asking?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry. Jake is a child and he’s not prepared to rule anything. Can you imagine the consequences to mankind? We must put our own selfish motives aside and think of the good of the world.”

  “And it just so happens that the good of the world is for your son to survive.” Her nausea returned and she resisted the urge to run to the bathroom. This man was discussing the murder of her son. She clenched her hand into a fist so he couldn’t see it shake. “And that which has no price? What is that?”

  “You.”

  Her heart stuttered. “What?”

  “Emma, you must kill Jake. It has to be you.”

  Icy fear flowed through her veins. “I can see why you wanted to talk to me alone. Will would never agree to any of this.”

  “His love for you blinds his thought process. If you take a step back and look at the situation without your emotional investment—”

  She stood, shaking her head. “I’ve heard enough.”

  Standing, Marcus reached a hand toward her. “Emma, wait. There’s something else.”

  “I can’t wait to hear this.”

  He released a heavy breath and lowered his hands. “There’s another prophecy. One more ancient. It’s so old that the specific words have been lost but the legend remains.”

  Putting a hand on her hip, Emma gave him a sardonic smile. “Let me guess, it has to do with a mother butchering her child?”

  “It’s about a child. A boy who restores the powers of the world by uniting two realms. Our own and the shadow world. He has a mark. Does Jake have one?”

  “Jake has no mark, so forget your crazy idea. Besides, wouldn’t that make Jake the elevated one?”

  “The legend says the boy does it at great sacrifice.”

  “And you think that’s Jake’s death?”

  “Death is the ultimate sacrifice, isn’t it?” He paused. “Jake’s power is growing. He can use it to defend himself against Aiden at some point, but it’s becoming malevolent. There’s nothing more frightening than an out-of-control five-year-old with unlimited power.”

  Emma’s stomach rolled. “Thanks for sharin
g.” Her tone was as snotty she could muster with fear crawling down her spine. “I’m done.”

  Marcus took several steps toward her. “I’m sure you don’t believe me, but this isn’t personal, Emma. I really do like you, and Will is going to be devastated to lose you. Sometimes I wish I’d never insisted Aiden create a new daughter. The old one had become selfish and petulant. She would have been…an easier loss.”

  With a sarcastic laugh, she took a backward step toward the door. “You’re quite the smooth talker. Thanks.”

  She threw the door open and stormed down the hall to Will, confusion jumbling her thoughts. Will would want to know what Marcus had to say and while she knew she should tell him, what if Marcus was right? What if that was how things were supposed to work out? Emma had learned from Jake’s visions that some things couldn’t be changed. Sometimes fate just intervened. Should she shield Will from the pain of knowing that her death might be foretold?

  But in fairness, hadn’t she already known? In the end, there could be only two, and she couldn’t kill Will even if she tried. Their bond prevented it. She refused to kill Jake. That left her to die.

  Will sat in front of the bed, his eyes glued to the television. The strained expression on his face told her something was wrong. When she walked in, he looked up at her with pity and fear in his eyes.

  Her heart fell to the floor. “What now?”

  “The news…”

  An announcer’s voice came from the television. “We have more word on what might have been another terrorist attack at the Shreveport Regional Airport.”

  Emma moved closer to the TV.

  “At approximately ten-thirty an incident occurred at the Shreveport Regional airport. Travelers in the terminal report that they suddenly lost their breath, as though the air had been sucked from their lungs. Reports suggest this lasted anywhere from twenty seconds to a minute, and many collapsed. There are a few reported fatalities, no confirmation on numbers yet. After the incidents in Albuquerque, Little Rock, and Jackson officials are treating this as a terrorist attack.”

  “No earthquake,” Emma whispered.

  “Not that they’ve reported.”

  “The breath thing… Alex did that to me in the elevator.”

  Will put his hand on her arm. “And to me.”

  “Alex is dead.” Her tone was flat. Only one person had control over air now.

  “Jake would never knowingly hurt people, Emma. You know that.”

  “So what? Aiden forced him to? What are they doing in an airport? I thought they were attacking downtowns.”

  Will sat down on the bed and pulled his laptop in front of him. “I don’t know. The airport is nowhere near downtown.”

  Emma’s feet rooted to the floor. “We know that Albuquerque was a fluke. That was me and the wonder boys fighting over the worthless damn book.”

  He glanced up at her. “Yeah, go on.”

  “Then Aiden took that idea and used Raphael and Jake to destroy Little Rock to fuck with my head.”

  “I’m sure he got a perverse pleasure out of killing a few hundred people too.”

  “Then Jackson, so he could fuck with me some more. All downtowns. All had earthquakes. All had storms. There was a pattern even if Albuquerque wasn’t originally planned that way.”

  “Okay, so what’s your point?”

  “Why change now?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe it had something to do with Alex.”

  “But Little Rock and Jackson were meant to draw me here. Why would he change the location and the way it was done?”

  “To fuck with you more? To get you this close and frustrate you that you’re so far from getting Jake?”

  “Why not kill everyone in the airport? It would have been easy. Look.” She pointed to the TV. “It’s small. Raphael could have easily ripped it down while Aiden had Jake make a storm to finish everyone off.”

  “True.”

  Excitement bubbled up within her chest. “What if it wasn’t Aiden?”

  Will cocked his head. “What do you mean? Who could it have been?”

  “Jake.”

  “We already know it’s Jake. Alex is dead and no one else could do this.”

  “I’m saying Jake did this without Aiden.”

  Will leaned back, watching her carefully. “You’re right that it doesn’t fit with the pattern at all. But what if Aiden decided to switch things up?”

  “There’s no way you really believe that.”

  “I’m just playing devil’s advocate here. How could Jake do this on his own?”

  How could he? Had Aiden taken Jake to the airport? “Maybe he escaped.” She gasped. “He was at an airport! What if he was trying to get away?”

  “Emma, he’s a smart little guy, but there’s no way he could have done this on his own.”

  “Maybe he had help.”

  “At this point, we need to determine if this was their strike, and if they’re moving on to the next city or if we need to continue on with our plan. Where would they go next?”

  “Tyler, Texas. But what if Jake was at the airport because he escaped? If he’s run away from Aiden, then we need to go find him.”

  Will reached over and snagged her hand, pulling her to sit on the bed. “Okay, let’s go with your theory. Let’s say that Jake escaped somehow and with or without help, he got to the airport. To what? Fly somewhere?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, he would have needed someone to get him a ticket somewhere and get him through security.”

  “Can’t we do a search to see if he got a ticket?”

  “In theory, but it’s outside the scope of my capabilities. James could do something like that, but that’s not relevant at the moment. Let’s presume Jake has escaped from Aiden. And let’s say Jake gets through security because obviously he was inside the terminal. Why would he do this?” Will pointed to the television.

  “I don’t know.”

  “He’s in the terminal, maybe getting ready to board a plane, then he sucks the breath out of everyone at the airport. Why?”

  She realized where Will’s questions were going. “To fight.”

  “Fight whom?”

  She closed her eyes, defeat washing over her. “Aiden must have found him.”

  Will rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. “I think you might be right.”

  “You think I’m right that Aiden got him back?”

  “I think you’re right about all of it.”

  “What difference does it make if Aiden still has him?”

  “A ton. First, we know there’s still a good chance that they plan to attack Shreveport. Second, we know that Aiden’s liable to be pissed so the destruction might be greater. And third.” He brought her hand onto his lap. “Jake might be less likely to cooperate with Aiden, making it imperative that we rescue him today.”

  “If Aiden hurt him…” Her voice broke.

  “Aiden needs him, Emma. Jake is his insurance policy.”

  But they both knew it didn’t mean Aiden wouldn’t cause Jake pain.

  A news reporter stood in front of the airport, sirens and flashing lights behind her. “Bill, we have something new to report. Something different from the other cities.” She looked to the side then touched her hand to her ear. “Multiple witnesses are reporting a woman bursting into flames outside the terminal while several men and a small boy looked on.”

  The blood rushed from her head. “Jake.”

  Cursing under his breath, Will grabbed his laptop. “We’ll still follow through with our plan to get to downtown by five to prepare for a seven o’clock attack.”

  Who had burst into flames and who had caused it? Jake or Aiden? “What makes you think it’s going to happen at seven?”

  “The first attack was at three. The next at five.”

  “Will, wait. Why would they target the downtown areas of cities?”

  “To injure and kill more people in a concentrated area.”

  “Exactly.
So why would they attack at night when downtown has cleared out?”

  “Oh fuck.”

  Emma glanced at the clock. “It’s 11:03.”

  “Start packing. I’m going to tell Marcus.”

  “So when will they attack?”

  “I don’t know. Three again? Five? What if he goes two hours earlier this time? That’s one o’clock, less than two hours from now and we don’t even know anything about the buildings there.” Will ran to the door. “Pack everything up. We’ve got to go.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Marcus looked completely out of place on a street corner in Shreveport, Louisiana. But then again, Emma doubted he would fit in anywhere. He was too good-looking. The Elements had a beauty that was almost too perfect. Will, with his rugged handsomeness, was believable as half Element. Even Jake had a beauty unusual for a boy his age.

  Although she wasn’t unattractive, she wasn’t beautiful either. Sweat stuck her hair to her face and neck. She’d never felt more unattractive in her life, making her difference so obvious that she wondered why she’d never seen it before. There was a direct correlation between their beauty and their power. The true Elements were the most beautiful and the most powerful. She was the least attractive and least powerful. Where did that leave her?

  Her hand brushed the gun tucked into the waistband of her jeans. St. Louis had proven that power wasn’t necessarily what would win her this thing. Perhaps Aiden didn’t intend it to go that way, but she needed whatever weapon would work for her. If it was twenty-first-century technology instead of timeless elemental power, so be it.

  Will and Marcus had discussed the best vantage points as well as where to have Emma wait. They considered putting her on top of a building, but Will worried she’d be injured if the structure collapsed. “I don’t think we can stop them from damaging the city,” Will warned her. “It’s a matter of keeping the damage to a minimum. I want you to have a clear escape route if you need it.”

  Anxiety prickled the hair on her arms. She’d effectively blocked out the fact that people would most likely die here soon. Innocent people who had no stake in this at all. Will’s words made it all too real. “What about you?”