“I’ll be right back,” I said to my friends. I walked into the kitchen to talk to Blaise alone.
“I hear you won your case!” he said brightly.
“How did you get my number?” I asked.
“What, you still don’t trust me? That’s preposterous. I’m entirely harmless – to you, that is. How have things been going?
By the way, I’m not sure I mentioned it, but you certainly did a number on that Eric boy. I saw him in court, talking with that computer. It was brilliant, really, I’m very proud.”
“You were in court?” I asked, astonished.
“How do you think you won?” he laughed. “My sister and I did a little magic of our own to ensure your freedom, mate. We need you here, fighting the good fight.”
“I might have to testify in another case,” I said, suddenly remembering I’d probably also have to testify against Jacob.
“Where’s here?”
“England, of course! And don’t worry about those cases; we’ll get you out of them in a jiffy. The Core doesn’t have
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doppelgangers, but we do have our ways around the two-places-one-time debacle.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, the Palace uses doppelgangers to train the Signs.
You know –”
“Yes, I know what a doppelganger is,” I interrupted.
“Hey, Zac, get off the horn!” Austin called from the living room.
“I’ll be there in a sec,” I called back. To Blaise, I said,
“Look, I can’t talk right now. How can I get ahold of you later?”
“I’m always available when you need me. Just feel it in your soul,” Blaise said. Before I could ask what that meant, he cried, “Cheerio!” and the line when dead.
I tried to finish up the night as quickly as possible, but realized we’d all been drinking and I let my friends crash on the couches downstairs. The last thing I wanted was to A) get Evan’s mom in trouble for buying us beer or B) get in trouble myself for drinking it underage, especially after I just got out of jail. The next morning at about ten, James gave me a call.
“I was just contacted by one of the judges,” he said.
“They’ve reopened your father’s case. They’re reviewing all of the evidence, and you may be asked to make another statement. But no one sounds positive. I wouldn’t worry too much, but you better stay in the city until this thing blows over.”
“I understand,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “I’ve got to finish school anyway. It starts in a couple weeks.”
“That’s right, it does. Well, focus on that right now. It makes you look good.”
I said goodbye and took a long, hot shower. Even though I’d taken one last night when I got home from the courthouse, it still felt like I was washing away the last few months.
But I knew I was different. I’d changed, and not in the normal I-went-to-prison-now-I’m-a-hard-ass way. I knew things. I knew things that no one else – except possibly Sam – knew. It was strange, though. Knowing I had to kill her was more of a simple thought than a daunting one. The apple had changed that.
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Thinking, I have to kill Sam, was more like thinking, I’m craving chocolate ice cream.
Unless she was around. Then it was more like what I’d imagine being addicted to meth was like. But instead of needing a hit, I… well, I needed the other kind of hit.
When I got out of the shower, my friends were awake downstairs, eating breakfast. My mom hadn’t kept much around since I’d left, but Austin had found some microwave bacon in the fridge and cheerios in the pantry. It wasn’t a great breakfast, but it was better than nothing – and prison food.
The guys left around noon and I was left to reacquaint myself with my house. Thankfully my mom hadn’t touched my room, and it still felt comfortable and safe. Paul, my stepfather, had been storing a couple boxes in there, but they were light and easy to move into the garage.
I signed onto Facebook, something I hadn’t done in who knows how long. I had hundreds of messages and wall posts: What happened to you? OMG you killed someone?! Jacob is alive! Congrats on winning your case! KILLER!
It seemed petty and stupid that people would make wall posts like that. I mean, really – can’t you watch the news? Hell, you can become a fan of the news on Facebook!
I wasn’t sure what to do after that, but I wanted to talk to Blaise. I just didn’t know how to get ahold of him. I had no clue what he meant by “feeling it in my soul” or what not. What I supposed to just wish him here?
Tried that, didn’t really work out. So I turned on the TV.
My mom refuses to pay for cable or satellite, so we only get the free channels. In Alaska, the free channels aren’t bad – but everything is digital now, which doesn’t work worth shit. God almighty do I miss broadcast television.
I turned on the DVD player to watch a James Bond movie (Dr. No, of course) but my mom already had one in there.
Our DVD player has a mind of its own, so I let it load the DVD, which turned out to be a Charmed disc. Bored and curious as to why my mom and Lily loved that stupid show, I picked a random episode and started watching.
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And that stupid show gave me an idea.
The hot chick was meditating and she called something from some other plane or whatever; but it sparked me into thinking a little deeper.
Blaise said I had to feel the need to speak with him in my soul. That’s meditating, right?
So I turned off the TV and sat on the living room floor.
The hot chick had candles and incense and other witch crap lit around her, but I was too lazy to search for my mom’s candles. So I just cross my legs and started thinking about what I needed to discuss with Blaise. I tried to feel it in my soul, but I didn’t think it was actually working.
And then my phone rang.
“Hello, mate,” Blaise said the second I accepted the call.
“Nice job feeling it in your soul, mate. Call was very strong.”
“How did you do that?” I asked, astonished. Blaise laughed.
“I’m the Soul Searcher,” he said. I felt a little dumb for asking. “When your soul calls for me, I answer. Or in this case, I call you in turn.”
“Well, is there any way I can have your number so I don’t have to watch Charmed every time I have a question?”
“You watched Charmed? And that’s how you figured out how to call me?” Blaise asked with a heavy laugh. “We should use that in training. The girls would like it,” he added a little more thoughtfully. “Just call with your soul. I’ll always hear it, and always reply.”
Well, that was a little annoying.
“Look, I wanted to talk about England and stuff.”
“Well then, we should meet. I’ll be over in tick.”
Blaise again hung up before I could say anything. He wasn’t very good at the whole goodbye thing.
But he was right – the clock literally ticked once before there was a knock at my door. It took me four ticks to walk over there, but when I opened the door, Blaise was grinning.
“Pretty neat, trick, isn’t it?” he asked, shoving past me and into my house. I turned to look after him, rather annoyed.
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“Yeah, it is,” I answered, my voice holding much less enthusiasm than his. Blaise turned and looked at me sheepishly.
“Sorry, mate,” he said. “You’re so much less intimidating than I imagined, never mind the fact I know more about the Core than you do. It’s hard to remember you’re our leader. I apologize.”
He bowed. I felt extremely awkward.
“I’m really your leader?” I asked. I knew it was true – it was one of things the apple had given me. Blaise and his sister, Bella, were the rank directly below me. They made all the tactical decisions for fighting the Palace. But there was only on
e rank above me in the caste system of the Core: his name was Lu, and although he made all the formal decisions and had done so for thousands of years, I technically had more power than him. I just didn’t know how to use it yet. I didn’t understand how Lu had been the head of the Core for thousands of years, but the apple said he had.
“Yes, you are,” Blaise said, coming out of his bow. “My sister always reminds me, but it’s easy to forget.”
“Her name’s Bella, right?” I asked. Blaise nodded.
“She’s three years younger than me – about your age. She reviews all my battle plans and tells me when I’m being irrational.” Blaise smiled and looked at me with happy eyes. “I’m surprised she allowed me to release our assassin…” Blaise dragged out the last word as if he’d spoken without thinking. He suddenly looked frightened of me. “I’m sorry, we didn’t know,” he said quickly. I raised my eyebrows.
“Didn’t know what?” I asked. Blaise licked his lips.
“Before you judge me based on this one decision, you must know the Palace released theirs, too. We had to do something.”
“What did they release? An assassin?”
“Yes – he’s the one who almost killed you in prison. I believe in this cycle the Doberman is called… Eric?”
Things kicked in from there. I recognized the name Doberman – that was the Palace assassin of choice for rogue demigods…
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“Are you a demigod?” I asked, curious. I knew the Palace
“Nobles” were actually the thousands of gods from different belief systems – Greek, Roman, Christian, Pagan, Hindu, etc. I also knew that they often had children with humans – not just the Greeks and Romans, but all the gods. Some families were made up of mixes of godblood – the more godblood they had, the more gifts their bodies were able to maintain. I figured Blaise’s soul searching ability was probably a demigod trait. Then again, if I was the Seeker… was I a demigod, too?
“I am, you’re not,” Blaise said, interrupting my reverie but answering both my questions. “I’ve got loads of godblood in me – way more than the average demigod. I’m about eighty percent god. You, on the other hand, are a product of the Core.
You were made from Lu. He used to be Divine, but when the original founders of the Core rebelled from the Palace rule, he joined them. Since he was the only truly Divine, he became our head honcho. And then he made you to fight the Sign, blah, blah.
They really should include those things in the apple. But I guess the Palace doesn’t think it’s necessary. Did you know they make their people train for hundreds of years in Palace-Core history?
It’s ridiculous.”
“You just offer up an apple and fill in the blanks,” I said flatly. Blaise nodded. I thought that was a little lazy, on their part.
Or our part, I guess. “Wait, tell me about this shitty decision you made.” I’d almost forgotten what we were actually talking about. I was fascinated so much by what I’d learned from the apple it was easy to lose sight of things.
“The Core doesn’t really have an assassin,” Blaise said uncomfortably. “You see, the Palace has one to kill demigods who try and join us. We never have people go back to the Palace, so we don’t really need an assassin for that.”
“Okay, so why’d you get one? And if the assassin is only for demigods, why was he in prison, and why did he go after me?
Eric’s clearly not a very good assassin.”
“Actually, he’s the best. He’s utterly terrifying, really,”
Blaise said with a cringe. “I’m glad he’s back in the Palace.”
“He’s in prison,” I corrected.
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“He was in there to get you,” Blaise said. I gave him a confused look. I knew Eric had been after me, but the apple had no explanation for why. As far as I knew, it had never happened before. “When a demigod, or a Divine, receives their powers for the first time, there is a two year grace period where they are allowed to learn and master their powers without being attacked.
But since assassins are not Divine, they don’t have to abide by this law.”
“There are laws now?” I groaned.
“Only a few,” Blaise said. “The God and Goddess created the few laws during the rebellion to keep the playing field level.
Remember, they are the only neutral players and we all worship them, even the Palace Nobles.”
“So, am I Divine?”
“Technically, yes. That means you have two years before the Sign can attack you. Well, just under that – you receive your powers during a near-death experience. The veil between the Graveyard and Earth is thinnest then. All powers come from the Graveyard.”
“The Graveyard? Could you be a little more creative?”
“It’s where souls are recycled. Some religions call it the place of rest. Heaven, or what not. Really, it’s just where your soul is sent to be cleaned and returned to a body in the future.
When Divine have near death experiences, their souls get sent to the Graveyard and sucked back to Earth in a matter of moments.
It gives them special powers depending on who they serve. You serve the Core, so you got impressive strength, healing, and immunity to the Sign’s skills. Each Sign is the master of one skill
– you get immunity to this skill and resistance to the others.”
“This is getting weird,” I said, leaning my head back.
“It’s a lot to handle,” Blaise said, some of his tension easing. That reminded me of the assassin thing again.
“Why did they release Eric?” I asked.
“We think the Palace wanted to get a jump on you,”
Blaise said, rather reluctantly. Something about this conversation was not making him happy. He clearly didn’t want to talk about this.
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“But they’ve never done that before. At least, that’s what the apple told me.”
“No, you’re right, they haven’t. Which is why we flipped when I sensed his presence on Earth. We decided to send our own assassin after the Sign. But like I said, we don’t have a permanent assassin, and, well, that makes things tough.”
“So what did you do?”
“Well… you have to understand, we were in a huge hurry. We didn’t really know what to do because there was no time to corrupt a willing candidate. So we kind of kidnapped someone and unbeknownst to him corrupted his mind so he would try and kill the Sign at all costs.”
Blaise said all of that really fast, but I knew instantly why he’d been so reluctant to tell me all of this.
The Core’s assassin was Jacob.
If it had been convenient, I would’ve kicked Blaise in the nuts. Unfortunately, we were both sitting down and the odds of my foot actually hitting the right spot were slim.
“I’m your fucking leader and you almost sent me to prison?” I asked, a lot calmer than I thought. “And now I’m in danger of going to prison for a murder I committed when I was in middle school?”
“I’m so sorry,” Blaise apologized quickly. “We had no idea what the corruption would do to him. But like I said, we didn’t have time to choose a willing candidate. We had to choose someone who already had a connection to her but didn’t like her.
The Fastner boy was perfect. So we kidnapped him one night, did the ritual, and had him back for breakfast! He never even woke up.”
“If you ever do something like that while I’m in charge, I’ll kill you.” Okay, okay, I probably wouldn’t kill him. Death threats come surprisingly easy when you’re a badass hit man.
That’s what I was, right? Close enough.
“It was a mistake,” Blaise said apologetically. “It’ll never happen again, I swear.”
Now that Blaise was here, and I was kind of angry at him for nearly ruining my life, I didn’t really feel like talking. I no
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longer felt ove
rwhelmed by everything I’d learned. It all seemed… normal, I guess.
Yeah, I gotta kill my best friend’s girl. Piece of cake.
“What are the Sign’s powers?” I asked. Blaise shrugged.
“Can’t say. Depends on who got called. Last time it was Aquarius – master of water. She drowned all our armies. Gemini is pretty difficult. She can split herself, or himself, sometimes they’re dudes, in two. Gemini’s real good at astral projection.
Makes it rough to actually kill it.”
“Any idea how they choose who gets called?”
“It’s mostly random… unless there’s a huge war coming.
Which might be the case, considering they sent the Doberman after you. Actually… I never thought of that. The Core doesn’t have access to the Scrolls, so we don’t know what’s happened in other dimensions. There’s no way for us to prepare. But if there is a war coming, they called Sagittarius. No doubt. That’s the toughest Sign to deal with. Warrior, and all that.”
” There are other dimensions? ” I gasped. The apple hadn’t told me that. Blaise sighed as if it was a huge concept. I assumed it was.
“Millions. They’re all the same, sort of. The people are all the same. Each one exists at a different point in time… that’s where the whole time-is-linear-time-is-constant debate came from. It is linear, but also constant, because it’s all happening at once just not in the same world. It takes years to fully understand, but like I said, we don’t have access to the Scrolls so it’s kind of useless for us.”
“What are the Scrolls?”
“There’s a library in the Palace that chronicles how everything happens in each dimension. Since the Palace exists outside of time, anyone with access to the Palace can go to this library and read up on all the dimensions. Some dimensions are almost exactly the same, and if you match up what’s happened in yours to another, sometimes you get pretty accurate predictions of what’s to come. Then you have an idea of how to prepare. So maybe… maybe…” Blaise got a far off look in his eye, like he just realized something that would change his life forever.
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“If they sent the Doberman after you… maybe we win,”
he said, looking me straight in the eye. “Maybe she dies.”
Night Prowler Part One Page 29
