04 Last

by Lynnie Purcell

  “He’s gone…” Spider said.

  “I’m sorry,” I replied.

  “I never got to tell him…ask…there was such much I didn’t say…” Spider added.

  “He was our brother, and we never reconciled,” Ethan said.

  The words struck a cord with Spider. Odette’s prophecy was suddenly clear. She had meant Eli, not Daniel. That was the brother she had been talking about. His eyes showed his sadness at the misunderstanding. Spider’s face hardened when he realized what I was doing. I was wasting time consoling them.

  “Go get Marcus,” Spider said. “End this.”

  I nodded and stood.

  Spider grabbed his weapon with new determination and helped Sprint to her feet. The kids turned back to the fight, moving as a team to take out their next target. Eli remained motionless where he had fallen. I knew he would not get up again. His death was a heavy price. It was one I knew Spider would carry with him forever.

  I focused on the stairs. The answer to the end was there. Trusting my friends to take care of the Seekers, I went in search for the only way to stop the bloodshed for good.

  I went in search of Marcus.

  Chapter 22

  No one bothered me on the stairs. Everyone was focused on the battle down below. No one had thought I would get past the two hundred waiting for us.

  When I got to the top of the stairs, I saw an elegant door that was as broad as it was tall. The stairs dead-ended at the door – the ceiling above me was low enough to touch. I had found Marcus’ room. My heart beating with unnatural speed, my mind racing to fortify me against the games Marcus was bound to play, I put my hand on the doorknob. This was it.

  I opened the door and let it swing to the opposite wall. I gripped my sword tightly. My senses were alert to traps and more hidden soldiers. I would not put it past Marcus to have more than his share of surprises. I was determined to end his games before they started.

  I was not expecting the game he had put in motion, however. It was the last thing I had expected, in fact. It immediately made me question…everything.

  Standing in the middle of the circular room I had visited many times in my dreams was the second person I had seen on the balcony. The person still wore their hood. They were standing in front of a large fire that warmed the room more than was necessary. It groaned and popped with flames dancing in the hearth – it almost drowned out the sound of the injured and dying below. Almost.

  On the balcony, I saw Nguyen working his weather magic. He seemed oblivious to my appearance in his boss’s room. The figure by the fire turned as I entered. As the figure turned, the person lowered their hood. Instead of Marcus, there was a girl. I had seen her before – our lives had been connected in a way that I thought would last forever. It wasn’t so long ago that I had learned from my grandfather’s book that she was my cousin. She was the same cousin I had fished out of a river after a suicide attempt.

  It was Amanda.

  Her brown hair was curled and she wore makeup on her face. She looked older than when I had seen her and infinitely more in control. There was nothing of the girl who pined after popularity and friendship, the girl who was searching to find her father again; a father who was more concerned with his drinking and his prejudice than his own daughter. My eyes scanned the room for signs of Marcus or anyone that could explain her strange appearance. She had to be another trick – another vision sent by Marcus to mess with my head.

  She looked up when I entered. Her brown eyes – eyes that mirrored Sheriff Cobb’s and, strangely, Ellen – searched my face. She didn’t smile. She was not happy to see me. I was not the girl who had rescued her from her suicide attempt – I was the enemy.

  “Marcus said you would come,” Amanda said.

  My eyes narrowed at her tone.

  “Did he?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Amanda said.

  I took a step closer to her, seeing the seething mass of bodies moving out the large window. We were so high up, so far from the battle, yet the screams followed us.

  “What’s going on, Amanda?” I asked her. “Why are you here?”

  “Why am I here?” She laughed. “Why are you here?”

  “To kill Marcus,” I admitted.

  “We couldn’t have more opposite reasons for being here then,” Amanda said.

  “I don’t understand,” I admitted.

  “No, you wouldn’t. You’re too busy thinking everyone needs to be saved to see the truth of things,” Amanda said in a mocking voice. “Clare…must you rescue everyone?”

  “If they need it,” I said.

  Amanda smiled, tossing her brown hair from her face with casual arrogance.

  “That’s what made playing you so easy…If Cassandra and Thomas hadn’t messed it up, we would have had what we needed from you sooner. We wouldn’t have been forced to wait so long to get the sword and wipe the earth clean of filth like my father.”

  Her words were startling. They suggested she had been involved in the attempt to get me to give up my blood. Had her suicide attempt been faked? How much could I trust from that night?

  “Are you saying you played me in to rescuing at the river?” I asked.

  Amanda shrugged.

  “It was kind of easy,” Amanda said. “All I had to do was plant the seed of sadness and let your…nature do the rest.”

  “Why?” I asked. “I don’t get it…”

  “My ‘father’ was never part of the plan. He was the distraction… He was the one we wanted you to blame, so that you were not looking at us. The deception was necessary. Once Daniel came in to the picture and started protecting you, we knew we would have to play a more delicate game. Daniel has never been the kind of person to quit easily. So, I lured you out. The others were supposed to see if you were capable of really changing a person…they were to figure out if you were really the one in the prophecy. Of course, they did figure it out…the hard way. They pressured you in to killing them and our plan was scrapped. I told them it was a bad idea to use Daniel as leverage. We should have just killed him when we had the chance.”

  Her words were heartbreaking and shocking. Amanda had been behind Marcus’ original plan to get my blood willingly…to see if my blood would eventually open the vault that held the sword. But it still didn’t make sense. How was she tied to Marcus? Why would she give up her soul to such a man?

  She seemed to be able to read my thoughts. Or else my thoughts were on my face.

  “Marcus was the first to see me for who I am,” Amanda continued. “We met when I was little…he knew Cobb. He pulled me out of my depression and helped me see that I could be more than I thought I could ever be. He helped me see that I was more than just a sheep doomed to die a miserable life. He woke me up. He gave me love.”

  Love? She thought she was in love Marcus? More importantly, she thought Marcus loved her? There was no way. I was suddenly certain she was being used. I was certain that the words I had just heard from her were Marcus’ words. They were not her. She was being controlled.

  “Marcus loves you?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Amanda said.

  “But he leaves you here to face me?” I asked.

  “I can fight,” Amanda said. “He trusts me to kill you.”

  “He trusts that you’ll be a distraction,” I said. “Nothing more. He’s using you.”

  “You don’t know that…”

  I took a step forward.

  “Amanda, I do. That’s what Marcus does.”

  She blinked at me in confusion. It was as if she had never heard the truth put so honestly. She couldn’t figure out what I meant. She couldn’t reason the truth I was bringing her with the logic in her head. It was more proof that she had been used. I heard an awakening in her mind. Amanda was trying to crawl through the lies Marcus had planted in her head. She was trying to break out of the visions.

  I was not the only one who noticed.

  Nguyen finally turned away from the balcony. His black eyes sug
gested I had come upon the truth. Amanda was nothing more than a distraction. Amanda was an emotional manipulation – a pawn in Marcus’ larger game. Nguyen raised his hand. A streak of lightning came through the open doors. I moved to Amanda, to knock her out of the way, but I was not quick enough. The lightning hit her directly in the chest. Her whole body lit up with a blue light. Her face was surprised. Her eyes moved to mine. In that final second, she understood. Nguyen was acting under Marcus’ orders. Marcus had ordered her death to slow me down. Her eyes showed her hurt and regret. Then, she dropped to the earth.

  I fell back at the blast. I rolled to my feet again and faced Nguyen. The anger was pounding through my veins. It was taking all of my effort not to descend in to madness. I knew that’s what they wanted. If I lost it, I would never discover where Marcus was. I would never get to him in time. My anger would rule me.

  “Woops,” Nguyen said. “Must have missed. You know how temperamental lightning can be.”

  “I’m going to kill you,” I said.

  “You are going to try,” Nguyen said.

  I realized I would be playing in to Marcus’ plans again. Nguyen would be a difficult fight, but I was certain I would win. It would take time…

  “Before we get in to a duel to the death…mind telling me where Marcus is?” I asked.

  “He’s getting the sword,” Nguyen said. “You won’t be able to stop him.”

  “I thought only a Michaels could get it out?” I asked.

  Nguyen’s smile was full of pure evil. “The girl opened the vault for him. Would you know that she had just enough Michaels’ blood for it to work? We had to wake the sword up first, but now…it’s ready to be pulled out by Marcus. Are you ready for the new dawn?”

  “I’m ready for people to stop talking crazy,” I said.

  I eyed him carefully, trying to figure out the truth. I kept my eyes away from Amanda, who was staring at us blankly. Looking at her just made me mad. The manipulation she had gone through…it was unbearable.

  Nguyen smiled at me. His hand clenched in preparation of another lightning bolt. I saw beyond his smile to the truth. His body language was telling. He had been careful to keep it pointed away from the balcony since he had noticed me. It connected in my mind. Marcus was where the sword was. And since the sword was under the earth – obvious by the fact that Marcus had been digging there – that’s where Marcus was. I had climbed to the furthest point possible from him. An army separated me from what was underground.

  Nguyen put a hand to his ear as the truth dawned on me. His voice was mocking.

  “Do you hear that?” he asked in a teasing voice.

  I listened. It was the sound of panicked yelling and a rallying cry. I thought I heard Reaper and Daniel yelling to each other over the chaos.

  “There’s more! Nightstalkers!” Daniel called.

  “To the left, everyone to the left!” Reaper added.

  “The troops Marcus kept in reserve must have left the caves,” Nguyen said. “Nightstalkers mostly…fierce fighters. Over two thousand last count.”

  I shifted subtly, to be able to look down to the valley floor without his body blocking the way. Nguyen moved, willing to let me see the carnage. I saw Daniel on the floor of the valley. Across from him, blocking the caves that led underground, was an army of Nightstalkers. Behind Daniel was his own army. They were less, though. They were the survivors of the first fight. Many of them had fallen, but not as many as I had thought would fall. There was not enough to face the Nightstalkers, however. I was sure they would not be enough to win. They were doomed. I had let them down. I had failed them. Marcus’ trick had worked. Time had run out.

  Nguyen was watching my face. His expression was foolishly gleeful. It was happiness at my despair. He should have known not to show such emotion. It just made me feel determined. I clenched my hand around my sword and focused on what I knew. Marcus was in the caves getting the sword – if I did not get to him soon the battle outside would be for nothing. Nguyen was the distraction. Why not take care of the two things at once?

  Decided, I put my sword in to its scabbard and looked at Nguyen. He was prepared for a fight, a duel to the death. He would not expect something stupid, something without seeming reason. So, something stupid is exactly what I did. I took a deep breath and ran at him. I jumped when I reached him. I wrapped my arms around his body, keeping his hands down at his sides, so he couldn’t point his lightning at me. We moved through the air, farther than normal. My aim was perfect.

  We flew out and over the balcony in a long arc. Nguyen fought against me as we flew through the air toward the ground below. He was strong, determined. He finally managed to kick me away. Our bodies separated. I ignored him and focused on the fall. The ground rushed up at me. The wind roared in my ears. There was a strange stillness in the flight. Time stopped moving. As I fell, I saw Daniel start to charge the Nightstalkers. He moved between shapes as he ran, becoming a Nightstalker in a second’s time. Despite the change, he noticed my fall. Many of the soldiers did. But there was nothing they could do. Their mouths dropped open in surprise at the sight of me purposefully headed toward the ground. The Nightstalkers were charging.

  Then, I hit the ground.

  I hit directly where the ground had split apart. The ground split easily, and I kept falling…longer than I should have. Beyond the rock was space. The rock had opened up to a city underground. It was a city that had once lived in the light of day. Now, rock and darkness covered it. Square buildings were crumbling in the darkness. The buildings were smaller the further they got from the city center, but they all held proof of artistry and loving attention to detail. At the center of the city was a large structure that could only be described as a palace. There, I saw torches flickering in the dark. Marcus was there. I could feel it just as I could tell that the city would have been beautiful in the light – covered in the gardens and waterfalls. It would have been an oasis in the desert.

  My fall finally found its end.

  I crashed in to one of the buildings, the rock giving way to the superior force of my body. I coughed against the feel of the dirt in my lungs. I took stock of my body. I was covered in debris and dirt, but I was alive. The weight of the rocks on top of me was nothing. I shifted and pushed against the rocks. They moved off me and I was able to see the hole I had made in the ground above. Dark light from the storm filtered down to light my path. Lightning lit up the rocks. The fall had been longer than I had thought, half a mile, at least, from the surface of the earth to my landing place.

  There was another hole further down where Nguyen had fallen through the earth. The lighting illuminated the place. He would not give up on the fight easily; I would have to keep my eyes peeled. I knew the fall had not killed him. His body was as strong as mine was. He would be waiting.

  I refocused on the flickering light of the torches. My task was there.

  The landscape was hillier than it had appeared while falling. The roads to the palace were all uphill. The hills provided cover, but they also slowed me down. I ran along the thick stone of the city streets, doing my best to stay as quiet as possible. I had no idea if there were other Watchers out there. My feet flew out behind me as I ran from one building to the next, my eyes scanning the darkness for signs of the enemy. I felt a clock ticking down to the time I had left. Marcus was close – was I too late to stop him?

  The palace finally appeared in front of me. All roads led there. A large drawbridge had been blown to pieces. There was nothing left but the gears that turned the bridge. The rubble decorated the walkway. I stepped over the rubble and through to the large courtyard. The torches fluttered angrily, but the light let me see that the courtyard was not as lifeless as the rest of the city. White rosebushes decorated the space – roses that were similar to the one the historian had kept. Farrah had been here. This had been her palace, once upon a time. The knowledge warmed me. I was on Farrah’s ground. It would strengthen me in the coming fight.

  The cour
tyard was empty of people. It was silent. I remembered the tower above and wondered if there were enemies hiding nearby. I took a deep breath and tried to feel the pulse of the place – to feel if there was anyone I should be worried about nearby. There was complete silence for a moment then I felt a shift. I felt the subtle beating of two very slow hearts. Two people were inside. Marcus had not trusted his army to help him get the sword. He had come alone…mostly.

  I followed the courtyard to the large stairs directly opposite the gate. The stairs were broad and made of white stone. They were broken in places and looked as if they had seen better days. They led directly to a door that was hanging off its hinges. I stepped around the shattered door and followed the feeling of the heartbeats. The interior halls were made of the same white stone, but pictures also decorated the walls. There were scenes of hunting, royalty doing daily tasks, and different roles of men and women in the palace. A design curved around the pictures, taking up the space where the pictures were not. It was a design that matched my armor, minus the red diamonds. The corridors were tall and open. A sense of space and time linked me to the halls. My fear of closed-in spaces was gone. The familiarity made it impossible to feel uncomfortable. I was familiar with the turns I made – I could feel the curve of the halls before I saw them. I knew this place. I knew it better than I should have.

  The feel of Marcus permeated my senses. Every step I took brought me closer to him. The strange connection we had always shared beat stronger with our closeness.

  Finally, the corridors lead to a room with no doors, only arches. The arches kept the room from feeling closed-in and separate. There was a sense of inclusion in the space. It welcomed visitors inside. And, sitting in a chair made out of stone, his leg thrown over the arm of the throne casually was the man I had been searching for.

  Marcus…Finally.