Fate's Surrender (Eternal Sorrows Book 3)

by Sarra Cannon

  She wasn’t sure how it worked, and she wanted to make sure they used the time wisely.

  “Please, tell my sister I love her,” she said.

  He smiled again.

  David had the kind of smile that could light up the whole room. There was something so beautiful and calm about him. So strong and grounded.

  “She can hear you,” he said.

  “I love you, too,” Zoe said softly. “I miss you.”

  Even though Parrish couldn’t actually see her right now, just the sound of her voice again brought tears to her eyes. Noah squeezed her hand.

  “David, can you tell us where you are in the city?” Crash asked. “We made our way to the coast in New Jersey, and we’re planning to take a boat into Manhattan tomorrow. We want to get both of you out of the city, but we’re going to need your help.”

  David shook his head. “We’re not in Manhattan,” he said. “We’re in the Bronx. Concourse Village. Do you know where that is?”

  David gave them the exact address of his building, but Parrish wasn’t sure where that was at all.

  “I know where the Bronx is,” Crash said, running a hand through his dark hair. “That’s going to be a longer trek than we expected. Do you know if the water’s clear? Any boats or debris in the East River?”

  Parrish had the urge to pull out one of the maps Tank had given her and see where he was talking about. She’d only been to New York City a handful of times, and mostly they had stayed near the opera house in Manhattan. She’d never been to the Bronx, and she wasn’t even sure where that was in comparison to the island.

  She was worried that if she broke the connection to everyone’s hands, though, so she could look at a map, they’d also lose their connection to the fifth.

  “I saw a lot of ships in the river,” David said, shaking his head. “It’s a mess. Some of the bridges are down, too. Some people were trying to evacuate that way, and it all got overrun. I can scope it out, if you need me to, but I don’t think you can use the East River.”

  Crash sighed. “We’ll need to pull out a map and take a look around, but tell me. How the hell did you get Zoe all the way to the Bronx without getting overrun by rotters? Isn’t the whole city crawling with those things by now?”

  Wow. Parrish hadn’t even been thinking about that but Crash was right. How had he done that? Was it possible things weren’t really as bad as they seemed?

  But the boy smiled like he knew a secret no one else knew.

  ”It’s a long story,” he said. “Let’s just say we travelled across rooftops and were able to avoid almost all of the rotters. I wish I could tell you the city was better than you think, but it’s horrible here. So many are dead. I haven’t seen any survivors in a while.”

  “Rooftops?” Parrish whispered.

  “You can fly,” Karmen said, practically jumping up and breaking their connection.

  Parrish barely held onto her hand.

  “I can’t believe I’d forgotten it, but seeing you again like this tonight,” Karmen said. “I remember. David can fly.”

  Parrish’s eyes grew wide. She could hardly believe it, but then again, they all had incredible powers. What an awesome one to have when you were stuck in a huge city, though.

  “That’s freaking crazy,” Crash said. “Can you really?”

  David nodded. “I think so,” he said. “It started with me running really fast. I was able to get food and bring it back to the apartment without any of those things catching up with me. But then, when I sensed the guardian close by, I knew I needed to get to Manhattan. I was forced onto the rooftops, but that’s when I realized I could do more than run fast. It’s hard to explain, but I can control the air. I can ride it, like a bird. At least for a little while.”

  Parrish looked again at the symbol on the fatalis stone that represented the fifth. A spiral.

  Air.

  It made sense.

  They all did, in a way.

  Lightning for Crash, and he could not only control and communicate with electricity and technology, but now he could also shoot lightning bolts and streams of lightning from his hands.

  A cross for Noah. Healing and shielding. Crosshairs for accuracy.

  A flame and a rose for Karmen. Beauty and fire. Passion. Manipulation. Being able to reach inside someone else’s mind and control them or hear their thoughts.

  Now a spiral for air and flight.

  But what did her infinity symbol mean? Parrish thought maybe her symbol should have been a sword or a weapon of some kind.

  She knew the infinity sign was for her. Some deep part of her recognized it, but she still wasn’t quite sure what it meant.

  “So, you flew all the way to Manhattan, picked up Zoe, and then made it all the way back to your apartment in Concourse Village without being detected by the Dark One or the witch we knew as Lily?” Crash asked.

  “I never saw the witch, but I was careful to stay hidden from the eyes of the rotters,” David said. “I think if the Dark One saw us, she would have come for us already.”

  “I think she would have, too,” Parrish said. “So, for now, we hope and believe she doesn’t know where you are. She seems to know where we are, though. Even though we’re traveling now, I have a feeling she can sense us or the stone. Or both. If we come to the city, she’ll know we’re there.”

  “Lily’s probably there now, too.” Karmen said. “Maybe that’s part of why the Dark One came after us yesterday at the compound. She sent Lily to get Zoe, and it didn’t work. She must have been pissed.”

  “She wanted me to believe she already had Zoe,” Parrish said. “I don’t think she knew we could communicate, but I guess I let that cat out of the bag. I told her I knew she didn’t have my sister and that she didn’t know where Zoe was. She seemed surprised by that.”

  “Well, that’s good in a way,” Noah said. “It proves she doesn’t know everything, and it shows that we might be able to rattle her if things don’t go according to her plans.”

  “What do you know about the island?” Parrish asked. “Have you been dreaming about it like we have? About getting a purple stone there so we can get our memories back?”

  The boy nodded.

  “The fatalis stone must go back to the Island of Memories,” he said. “Tobias was supposed to lead us all there, but I can’t sense him in this world. Do you know what happened to him?”

  Parrish explained Lily’s confession about killing Tobias when they’d both come through the portal.

  “That’s what broke my magical seal,” David said, shaking his head. “All that careful planning, destroyed in an instant. We must get to the island to reseal this world from her magic.”

  “What will happen when we get there?” Crash asked. “Do you know or remember?”

  Crash had obviously picked up on the same thing Parrish had. David was wiser than any of the rest of them. He remembered things no one else had, even though he’d been alone for longer.

  “I’ll explain more when we’re together again and have more time to talk,” David said. “There’s so much to tell you, but you’re right about our memories. They will all come back from our first lives once we get to the island. And so will the seal on this world. It will cut off the Dark One’s magic, and the virus will end.”

  Parrish gasped and nearly dropped Karmen’s hand.

  “End?” Parrish asked. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure of it,” he said. “It won’t save the people who are already dead, but the virus itself will be gone. I believe the rotters will all die. I’ve been trying to remember if there was some way we could still save them with the stone or with our own magic, but I can’t think of anything. I’m hoping the island will help me to remember something that can save the dead in this world, but if nothing else, we can still save the people who are left.”

  “And the other world?” Karmen asked. “The place where we came from? What do you remember about that?”

  “You’re not any more p
atient in this life than your first,” David said, laughing. “I won’t have to tell you about that place. You’ll remember it for yourself, I promise. Maybe we’ll even be able to go back there after all of this is over but for now we need to find each other. We’ll be stronger together than we ever could be apart.”

  Parrish nodded.

  “We’re ready to do whatever we need to do,” she said. “We can’t exactly fly over rooftops, but we should be able to get one of the boats here up to Manhattan. Is the East River the only body of water that goes up near the Bronx?”

  “No, there’s also the Hudson River,” David said. “But I don’t know if there’s a clear path through there or not. Like I said, I can check it out tomorrow during the day, if I’m careful. There are less undead out during the day.”

  “That will take too long. We need to get together as fast as possible. Besides, it’s way too dangerous,” Parrish said, panicked at the thought of being away from Zoe for even a few more days. “Now that the Dark One knows you have Zoe, she’s going to be looking everywhere for both of you, and she can see through the eyes of any zombie now. She can speak through them and control them individually.”

  David shuddered.

  “Her powers are growing fast.”

  “That’s why we have to move fast, too,” Noah said. “Crash, do you think you could pull up some surveillance cameras in the area and get a good look at the Hudson all the way through?”

  “Probably,” Crash said. “If not, I could definitely pull up some satellite footage and see what it looks like through there.”

  “If it’s clear to take a boat up through the Hudson River, we need to identify a good spot to dock the boat and meet up with you both,” Parrish said. “It’s probably best to stay in contact, and that way the second we get the boat into the city, you and Zoe head over the rooftops to meet us somewhere in between. The faster we can get together and get back to the boat, the faster we’ll be out of the city.”

  “Plus, once we’re in the boat, the Dark One won’t be able to reach us,” Crash said. “Or at least as far as I can tell, none of those things can swim or are smart enough to drive or navigate their own boats.”

  “Maybe if she took direct control of one of them, she could chase us that way, but we could face one better than an army,” Parrish said.

  “We’ll have Lily to contend with there, too,” Karmen said. “We can’t underestimate her, either.”

  “Good point,” Crash said.

  “I think it’s smarter for me and Zoe to sneak across rooftops and wait for you near the water,” David said. “When you pull up to one of the docks, we can just jump in.”

  “Too dangerous,” Parrish said, shaking her head. “I don’t want you both out there and exposed for that long, just waiting for us.”

  “You said yourself the Dark One could sense your movements and tell where you were,” he said. “I don’t think the same is true for the two of us. As long as we can move undetected, we should be able to get into the boat before the Dark One even realizes we’re there.”

  “He’s got a point,” Crash said. “The second we step foot on land, she’s going to have a thousand of those things coming after us, and they’re not going to stop coming. We’ll be fighting the entire way to that apartment. How many blocks are you from the Hudson, in general?”

  David seemed to think it over for a while. “I’m not sure,” he said. “We’ll have to get over the Harlem River first. That’s maybe ten blocks away. Getting over the bridge isn’t easy there, but we made it through once already. It would be harder for you than for us.”

  Parrish didn’t like the sound of this. She didn’t want two little kids making the most dangerous part of the trip alone.

  “I think once we get over to the other side, it’s another fifteen blocks, maybe. It depends what part of Manhattan,” David said. “But if the wind is right, I don’t think I’ll need to worry about the bridge.”

  Well, that got her attention.

  “You can just fly over the river without the bridge?” Parrish asked. “Are you sure?”

  “I haven’t tried it yet, but yes. I think I can do it.”

  Her heart nearly dropped through her stomach.

  He thought he could do it? With her sister on his back or something?

  If he hadn’t safely gotten her all the way from the Four Seasons to the Bronx without being detected by the Dark One, she wouldn’t have trusted him at all.

  “How far was it from the hotel to your place?” Parrish asked. “I just want to get some kind of reference in my head for how dangerous this is going to be. How many blocks?”

  He paused again.

  “More than eighty, but I’m not sure of the exact distance.”

  Parrish nearly fainted.

  He’d carried Zoe eighty blocks across New York City?

  Okay, she needed to shut up and just let him make some decisions about what was best. She obviously had not understood the extent of his abilities.

  “Eighty blocks? Man are you serious?” Crash asked. “Damn, okay. Do your thing, boss. We’ll meet you at the river. You with me on this, Parrish?”

  “It still scares me, but yeah. I’m with you,” she said.

  David nodded. “Then, let me ask you for one more thing,” he said. “Patience. I understand you are anxious to be reunited with your sister, Parrish, but careful planning will pay off for us in this instance. It’s supposed to rain for a few days, too, and I don’t think your journey through the water will be as smooth as you’d need it to be. Give me a few days to check out the rivers with my own eyes. We can communicate every evening like this, and Crash and I can work out several routes and plans in case things go wrong.”

  Parrish looked to Noah, and he nodded.

  She sighed. She did not like the idea of having to wait a few more days, but this was not a stroll through D.C. or Philly. This was New York. David was right. They needed to make as much of a plan as they could.

  Besides, a few days would give them time to practice their powers a bit. Test different things and maybe have an actual shot at getting out of there alive.

  “Okay,” she said, finally. “We’ll do it your way.”

  They spent the next half hour discussing their plan and deciding on a time to talk again tomorrow evening.

  “We’ll talk to you tomorrow, then,” Parrish said. “I love you, Zoe. I’ll see you soon.”

  Tears flooded to the surface as she said it, realizing just how close she was to seeing her sister again.

  Please, God, don’t let anything take this away from me. Not after everything we’ve all been through.

  “David, promise me you’ll keep her safe,” she said.

  “I’ll do everything in my power,” he said. “I promise.”

  “It’s going to be okay,” Zoe said. “We’ll all be together soon.”

  “Good night,” David said. “Don’t give up hope. We’ve survived worse. Trust me.”

  His image wavered and then disappeared.

  Parrish let go of the hands she’d been holding and fell into Noah’s arms, unable to contain her tears.

  Zoe was truly safe, and it wouldn’t be long now until they were all finally reunited.

  Twenty-Four

  Crash

  Crash spread out what was left of his equipment on the kitchen table and booted everything up.

  He really should have taken time to look for some better tech along the way.

  Between the cracked screen on Karmen’s old iPhone and the junky keys on his laptop, he was already missing his sweet rig back in his old apartment.

  He’d spent so much time and money building that computer setup, it had broken his heart to leave it behind.

  Now, though, there was billions of dollars of useless tech and computer equipment just laying around in people’s cars and houses. If it wasn’t dark out, he would have been tempted to go around to some of the fancy houses in this neighborhood and see what he could find.

/>   Maybe that’s what he’d do tomorrow morning, if he could convince Noah to go along with him. His strength might come in handy if Crash found a few nice systems.

  There had actually been a decent computer in one of the rooms down here, but he didn’t feel like going into a bedroom all by himself. He’d spent enough of his life alone in small rooms.

  Besides, he was hoping Karmen would stick around and hang out.

  “Where are you two lovebirds going?” he asked as Parrish and Noah slipped around the corner toward the stairs.

  It wasn’t like he really needed to ask, but he did want to make sure they had a plan for who was going to keep watch through the night. He had a lot of research to do, and he wanted to make sure it wasn’t all going to fall on his shoulders.

  “We’re going to try to get some rest for a while,” Parrish said. “We’ll be in the master bedroom. First door on the left up the stairs.”

  “I’ll be back down in a few hours to take over the watch for a while,” Noah said.

  Crash lifted his chin. “See ya then. Get some rest.”

  He cleared his throat and glanced at Karmen, who was going through some fashion and design books in the massive living room. He’d turned on a few of the lights here in the main open living room and kitchen area, and he’d also turned on the lights out front so they could see if anyone was approaching from the road.

  So far, though, it was ridiculously quiet.

  He wished that was comforting, but these days, quiet was terrifying.

  “So, want to help me look at footage of New York?” he asked.

  She shook her head and turned a page in the book she was reading. “I think seeing what New York looks like right now is only going to scare the crap out of me,” she said. “Besides, I don’t know how you’re going to see anything from a satellite at night.”

  “These satellites are always taking pictures,” he said, typing in some coordinates and hacking into a few government websites.