04 Last

by Lynnie Purcell

  “He’s a Watcher,” I pointed out. “You would have just hurt yourself.”

  “I don’t care,” Spider said. “He abandoned the kids. Twitch was heartbroken when Eli left. I could tell. Eli was the only person to ever stand up for Twitch. All of the kids counted on him…he was more than just the guy who watched for us. He was the big brother none of us ever had.”

  “Are you sure this is about Twitch?” Alex asked in a gentle voice.

  “Save it, doll,” Spider said. “I don’t need to be analyzed or my brain picked apart. I just wanted to tell you where I stand…”

  “You’re not sure if you can be around Eli,” I said. “I get it. Just let me know when you know.”

  Spider nodded. His face turned mischievous as he eyed Alex again. His fidgeting had stopped with his admission.

  “You know, doll, if you want me that bad, you don’t have to get undressed to get my attention,” he said to Alex. “I think you’re gorgeous with your clothes on.”

  Alex blushed at his words. The fact that so many people had seen her naked was too fresh for her to laugh it off. I pushed Spider off the bed and forced him back to the door. His smile was huge as I shoved him away from Alex.

  At the door, I paused and gave Alex a questioning look. I wanted to be sure it was okay to leave her alone. I didn’t want her to feel abandoned in her time of need. Her smile was brief, her emotions shut down behind a careful cloak of contentment. Her smile told me she was fine, that she didn’t need a babysitter. I smiled back, doubting the truth of what I saw, and pushed Spider the rest of the way out of the door. He swore at me, but I ignored him. I closed the door, to give her privacy to get dressed and deal with her emotions, and wrapped my arm around Spider’s thin shoulders. Without thinking about it, he led me down the hall, toward the galley, and away from the partying.

  “Who kissed you?” I asked, rubbing at one of the lipstick stains on his face.

  “I’m a ladies man, doll. What can I say?” he asked.

  “Right…” I said.

  Spider shrugged and a rueful expression crossed his face.

  “Apparently, I’m adorable,” he said.

  “When your mouth is shut,” I agreed.

  “I knew you dug me,” he said.

  We walked in to the galley then. Spider’s mind was on food. Mine was on finding a way to take stock of the past day’s drama without feeling overwhelmed. Alex’s drama…my drama…saving Han and Beatrice – it all swirled around in my mind. With such emotional pulls trying to drain my senses, it took me a second to realize the room was occupied.

  Daniel and Reaper were surrounded by Reaper’s other generals. Moira was next to Daniel at the table, while River and King were on Reaper’s right side. Sara and Shawn were across the table, looking at Reaper and Daniel with serious expression on their faces. Margaret and Jackson were nowhere to be seen.

  Reaper looked up as we entered. The lost look was gone from his eyes. He had recovered from his head injury – the benefit of quick healing. He looked as if he had showered. He had showered away more than a concussion. There was a cool professionalism in his eyes, something he always carried with him in front of the others. Daniel also looked up, though he looked less startled at the interruption. Daniel’s eyes held a different cool. It was a burning cold I had seen many times. It was the sort of fire that left a burning in my veins. It was the burning desire to move and act. I wasn’t sure why he was so worked up, but I didn’t mind. It was more proof we had made it out of Marcus’ lair of doom alive.

  Spider looked uncertain as everyone turned to look at us. It was obvious they had been talking about serious things; he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear ‘serious’ after such a serious day.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “We were just talking about our next move,” Daniel said. “Your promise to Serenity…where the Saints play in to what’s next…You know, world-saving stuff.”

  “And what have the world-savers decided?” I asked.

  “We haven’t decided anything,” Reaper said. “We just started talking about it.”

  I sat down in front of Daniel. I smiled at him in a distraction from the darkness.

  “I think our first order of business should be a group song…I know! ‘Forever Young’ by Alphaville. Can you sing tenor?” I asked Daniel.

  Daniel’s mouth moved to form a response. He didn’t get the chance to start a playful argument about my song choice. Reaper stopped it before it started.

  “Or we could decide that we need to find out where Marcus was last seen,” Reaper said. “So we can move to take him out once and for all.”

  “If that was easy, we would already know where he is,” Daniel said. “He’s always moving, always has guards around him. He doesn’t even tell his own people where he’s going. He just goes.”

  “We know he’s building an army,” King pointed out. “That’s no small task. He has to have a place where he is doing that. Keeping an army mobile all the time would be too much trouble…would take more effort than he would want to spend.”

  “Serenity just destroyed his place,” River said. “His fortress is gone…no more army building for him.”

  “That wasn’t a training facility for new recruits,” Daniel said. “It was a prison…a diversion.”

  “There were a lot of Marcus’ men there for it to just be a ‘diversion,’” River said.

  “Trust me, it was a diversion,” Daniel said. “If his army was there, we would have known about it. We wouldn’t have gotten out of there alive.”

  “So, where does that leave us?” Reaper asked.

  “Why don’t you ask Serenity?” Spider asked.

  “She doesn’t know,” Daniel said. “I’ve been down that route. Plus, it would cost us.”

  “That’s my girl,” Spider said proudly.

  “How do we magically find out his itinerary then?” I asked. “Mind-meld?”

  “His itinerary is impossible to find, but his place of training might not be so impossible,” Daniel said. “Clare?”

  “Daniel?” I asked.

  “Marcus has hijacked your dreams before,” Daniel said. “Maybe he showed you more than he intended. You said you dreamed of a desert landscape with a tower above it, right?”

  “Right,” I agreed, uncomfortably.

  “What kind of sand was it?” Daniel asked.

  “The cracked kind. It was really dry. There was a flat area, backed by mountains. The mountain had a building dug right in to it…”

  “Sounds familiar,” Reaper said. “Marcus does love to build his fortresses straight in to mountains.”

  “It’s not as safe as he thinks, though,” King said with a satisfied smile.

  Daniel was still focused on my dream.

  “Any other details?” Daniel asked.

  I shut my eyes and focused. It wasn’t the sort of details I liked to remember; not when it brought such terror to my heart. I couldn’t imagine the landscape without seeing Marcus’ yellow eyes and long, white hair. His eyes were similar to the last time I had seen them: playfully and deadly. We were on a balcony. The sky was a brilliant blue. The sand was dry and cracked. Mountains rose up around the valley. Soldiers marched around on the valley floor. Some dug in to the mountain. I wasn’t sure if they were digging to build another addition to the fortress or for some other reason. I focused on what was in front of me. There was a gap in the mountains and in the far distance, I saw a glittering…or was it a sparkle?

  “Water,” I said. “Far away…You can only see it from the top of the tower.”

  “Water near the desert?” Daniel asked.

  He thought about it and a slow smile formed on his face. He caught Reaper’s eye and his smile grew.

  “What?” I demanded.

  “Old habits die hard,” Daniel said.

  Reaper finally understood. “Israel.”

  “He used to make a pilgrimage there every year,” Daniel said. “He said there was something spec
ial about it… I thought he was just talking about an arms dealer or something similar. I never got around to going there with him, before he tried to kill me.”

  “Yeah, that puts a damper on even the best of friendships,” I agreed.

  “You do realize that’s a long shot…a long shot backed by the fact that Israel is, you know, a whole freaking country,” King said.

  “We’ve operated with less going for us,” River reminded King.

  “There’s no denying that,” King said.

  “We should start checking it out,” Reaper said. “Find a couple of our sources…the reliable kind. Ask them if they’ve heard anything…spread some money around in the right places.”

  “In the meantime, we should point our ship in that direction,” River added.

  “Do it,” Reaper agreed.

  “Is it true you’re going to go with Clare to meet Odette?” Sara asked Reaper.

  “Yes,” Reaper agreed.

  “Keep your eyes open,” Sara warned.

  “Plan on it,” Reaper said.

  The discussion switched to mundane matters. They talked about who to send to collect information and what sources to use. Spider had quite a few names, even more than Reaper. When nothing was left to say, the meeting broke up. As we stood to go our separate ways, King caught my attention. I hovered near the back of the group as Spider distracted Daniel with a technical question about computers. They walked out of the room without noticing I was no longer with them. When Daniel was safely out of the galley, King handed me a key. My hand wrapped around the key without thought. It was as natural as taking a friend’s hand.

  “No problems?” I asked.

  “Nope,” King said.

  “Thanks again for doing this,” I said.

  King smiled, his neon eyes sparkling with the secret between us.

  “No problem,” King said.

  Daniel reappeared in the doorway. He had noticed I was longer with him and had come to find me. I put the key in my pocket, before he could see it, and made a face at him for interrupting. Daniel’s expression was different as he looked between King and me – less suspicious than before and infinitely more curious. It was the sort of expression that worked hard to convince me to tell him all my secrets. I was not enticed to oblige. I went to Daniel and took his hand. King left us with a smile on his face.

  “It’s not working,” I said. “Would you like to try another expression? Perhaps one with pouting involved?”

  Daniel frowned at my question. “I don’t pout…”

  “Not with your face,” I said.

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Daniel said.

  “Sure, it does,” I said.

  “About as much sense as you wearing pink.”

  “I wore pink once,” I admitted.

  “When?”

  “To a funeral,” I said.

  Daniel looked shocked.

  “It was Naomi’s grandmother’s favorite color,” I said. “Naomi wore pink, too. We all did.”

  “Oh,” Daniel said.

  He pulled me away from the cafeteria door and led me to our room. When we were safely inside, Daniel sat on the bunk. He made me sit next to him. There was a long pause in which I felt the wheels turning in his head.

  “I wanted to talk to you,” he said.

  “Is this not talking? It feels like talking. My mouth is moving and everything,” I said.

  “This is serious,” he said.

  “Our talks have turned that way recently,” I said.

  “We’re going to meet Odette soon…as soon as Serenity realizes Alex is awake,” he said in a serious voice.

  “Yeah, I figured,” I said.

  “I know you have a wonderful habit of speaking your mind. Usually, I admire that habit, but, when you see Odette, I think it would be best if you shelved your propensity to talk back,” he suggested.

  His suggestion was startling.

  “Are you afraid of her?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he said.

  There was no hesitation, no sense that he had to think about my question. His fear was real.

  “I’ll do my best,” I promised.

  “That’s not a real promise,” Daniel said. “You say that then, when you speak your mind, you say to me you only promised to ‘do your best.’”

  I sighed. “You know me too well.”

  “Not half as well as I would like,” Daniel said.

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Yes,” Daniel agreed.

  “I will speak my mind, Daniel,” I said. “I will say what I think. Fear won’t change that, no matter who I am talking to.”

  “Acting brave won’t shelf the fear, either,” Daniel said.

  “It’s better than weeping in the dark,” I said.

  “Is that what happened down in the tunnels?” he asked pointedly.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” I said.

  “Of course you don’t,” Daniel said dryly.

  He turned to me and took my hand. I had never seen him look so serious.

  “Odette is unlike anyone you will ever meet. Think before you speak…that’s all I’m asking.”

  “Your confidence in me is overwhelming,” I said, refusing to promise to anything.

  “I know…” Daniel agreed.

  “What are Margaret and Jackson going to do?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?” Daniel asked.

  “Serenity didn’t invite them to come along,” I said. “Are they going to stay here on the boat?”

  Daniel smiled. “Don’t worry about them…”

  Before I could reply, or ask what he meant, he leaned forward and kissed me. It was unexpected, but just what I needed. After the fighting, and the sense of urgency of the past couple of hours, my body was full of energy. The adrenaline was easy to access. It was more than adrenaline. It was desire. I caved in to his kiss and pulled him in close. His body language was just as aggressive. He had just as much pent up energy channeling through his body. We fell back to the bed. His hands explored my body as I held him tight. My hands worked to pull his shirt over his head. Just as I managed to pull it to his neck, a knock came from the door. Daniel pulled away from with an irritated sigh. He pulled his shirt back down to its proper place and moved off me. I looked at the door as Daniel opened it with a firm tug.

  “What?” Daniel asked in an irritated voice.

  Reaper held up his hands at Daniel’s combative voice, a gesture he came in peace.

  “Serenity asked me to come get you. She’s ready to leave.”

  “Of course she is,” Daniel said.

  Daniel turned to me.

  “Are you ready?” Daniel asked.

  “Are you?” I asked back.

  Daniel pushed the door open wider and gestured for me to go first. I got off the bed and followed Reaper down the narrow corridor. Daniel followed after me, the corridor too narrow for us all to walk comfortably side-by-side. We didn’t speak, but the air was full of sounds. The ship hummed with the sound of the engine and the sounds of merry-making from below. The engine was on full-steam ahead. I knew it was a long trip to get Israel, longer than I wanted to think about. I just hoped it wasn’t another diversion, something to pull us off of Marcus’ real trail…again.

  Serenity was waiting for us on the deck of the boat. The snow was wiping past with vicious fury; the storm had gotten stronger as the night had worn on. Her hair was tucked under a toboggan and a dainty scarf was wrapped around her neck. Eli and Mick were standing behind her, their positions mimicking the first time we had seen them. Eli looked unchanged, his sour expression as dominant as ever. Spider and Alex glared at him from their position near the railing, though Spider’s glare was tainted by the fact that he looked ready to throw up. I knew Spider’s appearance on deck meant he had made his choice – he would be coming with us. Sara was waiting between the two groups to take us wherever Serenity told her to go.

  “Finally,” Serenity said. “We’ve been waiting
forever.”

  “You’ve been waiting for five minutes and twenty six seconds,” Reaper replied.

  “Hm,” Serenity said noncommittally.

  Serenity held her hand out to Sara, her golden eyes on the door behind us. I sensed urgency about her actions; she was eager to get off the boat and take us to meet Odette. It made me wonder if Serenity was operating under an unspoken deadline…or if there was more to the meeting than she had let on.

  Just as Sara’s hand connected with Serenity’s, the door to the inside was pushed open with a shove. Margaret was outlined by the frame of the door. Jackson hovered behind her, his face excited at the prospect of violence looming on Margaret’s elfish features. Beatrice and Han poked their heads out from behind Jackson’s back, their faces worried at that same looming violence.

  “We are going,” Margaret said in a firm voice.

  “Odette was very clear…” Serenity started to protest.

  Lightning crackled over our heads with the sort of alarming closeness that made us all duck automatically. Daniel was the only one not to duck. He pulled me back to my feet as Margaret raised an eyebrow at Serenity. It was a single eyebrow raise, but it was enough.

  Serenity sighed. “Of course, exceptions can be made for every rule,” she said.

  Sara dusted off her winter clothes that had been dirtied with her dive to the ground and held out her hands again. Her expression was full of dry humor.

  “Everyone who wants a ride should hang on,” Sara said.

  Han and Beatrice looked at us in worry as Jackson and Margaret stepped out of the doorway. Daniel was just as worried; he was upset at the idea of leaving them alone after finding them so recently. The weight of the seeming abandonment was a tough burden to shoulder. Beatrice noticed. She waved as Han wrapped his arm around her shoulders, a sign that she and Han would be fine.

  Daniel and I moved to Sara, understanding moving between us like a living thing. We both knew meeting Odette was no small thing. Everything would change…or nothing at all. It was a strange contradiction to face. But it was one we had promised to face – for Han and Beatrice. For ourselves.

  Daniel’s eyes told me to be ready. And I was. More than he knew. My whole life had built up to the truth Odette was about to tell me. I could take it – I could take it more than I could take the worry of unanswered questions and doubt over my abilities.