‘Wait here.’ He entered one of the rooms. The heavy door swung closed until the last inch, where it slowed to a stop to prevent fingers being trapped, giving me no chance to glimpse the room.
Adam returned less than a minute later with a black winter coat. I slipped my arms into the jacket, the sleeves so long I needed to push them up to release my hands. Even though the coat remained unzipped, I quickly heated up. The thick padding made it impossible to move with ease, and I followed Adam with my arms stuck out at my side.
We stopped in a large foyer at the guard station, which blocked our way forwards. Adam spoke to the men behind the thick screen for a moment before giving his thanks. I couldn’t pay attention. Now that I was so close to the sky, I needed to see it with a desperation that astounded me.
I jumped when a loud whine sounded out, like the dying scream of an old air raid siren. The clear door opened, and we passed through to another foyer. I expected to exit the double doors before me, but Adam gripped my arm, turning me into yet another corridor.
He opened the door and weak sunlight flittered in, bringing a freezing wind with it. I shivered and zipped the jacket up. I needed to see the real sky, not the unmoving picture that had made up the landscape in my personal hell. Adam held his hand out, indicating for me to go first. ‘It will be faster from here.’
He manoeuvred me through the single door, and there is was—the sky. A beautiful, moving, larger than life, sky. God, I had missed it so much.
Adam turned right to follow a paved path, but I didn’t follow. I stared up, marvelling at the changes as strong winds hurried the scattered clouds along.
When Adam re-joined me, I realised that I smiled. Not the half-fake smiling that seemed to take up my life now, forced actions to help those around me feel better. No, for the first time I could remember, I laughed in perfect joy.
‘Look.’ I pointed at the sky. ‘The clouds are moving.’ His confusion caused me to laugh again. ‘They are actually moving and are in so many different shapes. And there is wind.’ I held my hands up in the air, turning on the spot. The wind cut blades into my face and through my trousers, but each gust blew away the webs of the motionless prison. I was free.
Adam waited, confused yet smiling as I spun around like a little girl. I shouted up, ‘You are finally moving!’ before jumping up in the air with a sense of victory, as if it was by my will alone that the clouds scurried across the sky.
I dragged my eyes from the sky. I had a small audience. Three men in camouflage stood to the side, each smoking a cigarette.
‘You go, girl,’ one of them shouted.
Adam took my arm, leading me up the path, away from the men who were already on their way back into the building. The butts of their cigarettes, glowing with red embers, danced down the pavement as the wind carried them away from the building.
We turned the corner into what had once been a carpark if the white painted lines were any indication. It was empty of vehicles as tents of all sizes had taken their place. When I heard my name called, my legs trembled in surprise.
Bill came from the largest tent and hurried towards me. He stopped, looking me up and down as if searching for the damage Cleas had caused. He would have to look a little deeper to see the chaos left in that psychopath’s wake.
My old friend smiled and threw an arm over my shoulder, leading me into the camp. ‘I was beginning to think that the witch lied when she said you were fine.’
More Damiq came out of their tents, all of them staring at me as they whispered amongst themselves.
‘How are you all here?’ I stared at the growing crowd. ‘And who are all these people?’ About a hundred Damiq surrounded us, I couldn’t see one that I recognised from Nicolai’s camp.
‘Word spread.’ Bill led me further into the impossible, never-ending camp. How had the soldiers allowed this to happen? We reached a clearing in the tents, large enough to stands the crowd of following Damiq. A small fire, raise from the ground with stones, burned in the middle, surrounded by several empty chairs. ‘They all heard about you.’
Adam guided me to a chair. I silently thanked him for sensing that I’d started to wane. ‘What about me?’ I grimaced. What new prophecy could the Damiq have come up with now? As if being their Sharur wasn’t enough.
‘How you fended off Cleas, saving the Prime Minister and everyone else who was there.’
I blinked at him in surprise and looked at my hands clasped in my lap, my cheeks warming. ‘It was a group effort. There were a lot of people shooting, and they helped fight them off.’
‘That is not what I heard.’ Nicolai came out of the nearest tent. ‘I heard that their guns were most ineffective against the number of priests that attacked.’
I stared at the Damiq leader in surprise. ‘What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be looking for a new location to reside in?’
His shoulder hitched, barely a shrug. ‘I have people who are capable.’ He settled in the chair next to me. Adam and Bill each dragged a chair towards us, drawing in close. The rest of the Damiq stayed back though continued to stare and whisper.
I looked around, trying to get an estimate of how many Damiq camped in the carpark. If each tent was full, there were hundreds. ‘Who else came from your camp?’
‘Only Parker,’ Nicolai said. ‘He is around here somewhere.’ He scanned the area, searching for signs of Parker. When he couldn’t see him, he shrugged and continued. ‘The rest are from other camps in England and Wales. Our intention was to find out which unit the imposter originated from.’ He shook his head, his eyes tight with worry. ‘No luck there, but as you can see’—he waved his arm around, indicating the tents—‘we acquired a few followers on our journey, people who want to see the Sharur.’
I groaned. How could I ever convince him that I wasn’t their prophesised one and neither was my child? ‘But how are you all here? How have the government allowed it?’
Adam chuckled. The sound sounded so natural, it creeped me the hell out. Since when was he best friends with the Damiq? ‘They had no choice.’
I raised my brows in question. ‘Eris or Maria?’ They were the two feistiest people I knew. It could only have been them.
He smiled. ‘Neither.’
‘We just turned up,’ Bill said. ‘Adam here gave us the location and, as we weren’t that far away with all these lot, we decided to pay you a visit.’
I scowled at him. ‘You mean, you decided to protect me.’
‘Same difference.’ Leaning towards me, he grinned. ‘Me, I just come for the tea as the Damiq don’t have it stocked anymore.’ He winked at me. I managed a small smile in return.
I turned to Nicolai, chewing on my lip. ‘So, the government haven’t tried to harm you at all?’
Nicolai shrugged. ‘They threatened to. But even in this strange new world, they understand that a soldier always follows their commander.’ He dipped his head in respect. ‘You are that commander.’
My insides clenched up and I thought I might vomit. Why didn’t he understand that I couldn’t be the person he wanted me to be? I might have information that would help, but I was in no condition to lead. I could barely keep myself in check. I indicated to the tents surrounding us. ‘And they all came because you believe that I am the Sharur?’
He smiled. ‘Some had already joined our journey. Not many, though. Until word of your success against Cleas spread.’ He laughed, and for a moment, I saw the happy-go-lucky person he might have become if he hadn’t been stranded in a child’s body his entire life, and a leader for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
The Damiq pushed towards me, their eyes bright as they chatted with excitement. They wanted so much from me, so much I would fail at. How could I help them? What was I, a screwed-up human, meant to offer them? The only thing I could lead was myself into trouble. Did they not see that? How didn’t they see that? They had spent weeks waiting for me to awake from a coma, not sure if I had lost my mind. Hell, I still didn’t know if I�
�d lost my mind; it was a distinct possibility. I shifted closer to Adam, my chest tight. God damn it, I was going to get them all killed.
Adam scanned the Damiq as they closed in and pulled me from the chair. ‘It is time for the conference.’
I paused, looking around at the expectant faces surrounding us. What did I say? What could I say? ‘Thank you for coming,’ I managed in more of a squeak. My brain went blank, and I turned from them, hurrying down the path to the entrance.
Adam caught up with a smirk. ‘Smooth.’
I scowled at him. ‘I have no idea what to say. I can’t give them the guidance they want because I have no idea what I am doing.’
After logging back into the compound and returning my coat to the cloakroom, we travelled the rest of the journey to the conference room in silence. The General was already sat in the large room, as were Maria, Eris and the witch I presumed was Fi. There were just as many soldiers, not that they stood a chance with Eris around, but there were fewer men in suits. Maybe we hadn’t been the last to arrive. The monitors all showed a moving D.O.D. logo that bounced from side to side.
Pots of tea and coffee steamed on the table, alongside a stack of cups and saucers. I looked at the tea with longing before helping myself to water. My limbs already shook, and caffeine would make it worse, especially as I hadn’t had a cup in weeks. I would treat myself to one later, when I didn’t feel sick with nerves. I managed to catch Maria’s eye and waved her over. She finished talking to the witch before heading my way.
She gave me a tired grin as she looked me over. ‘You’re looking better.’
I still felt as weak as a kitten, but experiencing food, a shower, and the sky had brought some life to my tired soul. Seeing all the Damiq outside had the opposite effect. They had every right to fear humans, and to be camped out in a government facility would bring nightmares, even when awake. Yet they were ready to blindly follow me, a person they didn’t know, into the jaws of the lion. Why would they do that?
Could their behaviour truly be because of some damn prophecy, one so vague, it could mean any hybrid? We now knew that I wasn’t one of a kind, that other hybrids, such as Seraphine, existed. How did that knowledge not cause them to doubt?
‘What have you concluded?’ Adam asked Maria, indicating to Eris and the witch.
She shrugged, a deflated action that spoke of defeat. ‘I can tell you with certainty that someone has definitely used persuasion on the Defence Minister. His memories of the night Ana brought up are too vague for his brain not to have been tampered with.’ She sighed as she rubbed her palm across her eye. ‘But unless I am to scour every minute of every day of the rest of the big-wigs, I can’t tell if anyone else has been persuaded by my idiot cousin.’ She cursed under her breath. ‘Grandmamma is going to throw a fit when I tell her.’ She turned to me, her expression pleading, her eyes shadowed with memories of our fight through the Fae ridden hotel which Damien locked us in. ‘Are you sure it was him?’
I glanced at my clenched hands, wishing I could say different. ‘Sorry, I'm sure.’
She cursed again, this time louder, and the room fell silent as everyone stared. When nothing else of interest occurred, they soon turned their attention back to their conversations.
Maria muttered another string of curses. ‘I am going to hunt that fucker down and kill him.’
Adam gave her a narrow stare, similar to the looks I had received off my father many times while growing up. ‘That will have to wait. You began this whole mess. You will help finish it.’
‘Mess?’ What trouble had Maria had gotten herself into now?
Maria snorted. ‘He’s just snarky because he doesn’t agree with us working with the government.’
‘There is no us as of yet, witch. There is them and the Siis. You may soon have to decide where your true loyalties lie.’
Maria pulled a face at him and turned to me, putting her back to him with no concern. She seemed to be cockier than I remembered. Then again, I suppose all the weapons surrounding us helped boost her confidence.
Before I could ask further questions, the General asked us all to take a seat. Everyone crowded to my side of the table, giving them all a view of the screen. I tried to pull the heavy chair out when the middle screen flashed and the Prime Minister came into view, wearing a crisp blue suit and red tie. The cut I remembered from his forehead had already healed.
‘Good afternoon, Prime Minister,’ the General said.
The Prime Minister acknowledged him before scanning the room with his eyes. His gaze settled on me. ‘Ms. Martin.’
I schooled my expression, hiding all signs of my anger. ‘Glad to see that you survived, Prime Minister.’
‘For a while, I wasn’t sure I would. They came with a force and powers we were not prepared for.’ He paused as if trying to find the right words. ‘Can you tell me…tell us I mean, how you defeated that Siis?’
Everyone in the room stared at me, their curiosity greater than their lingering fear.
‘He wasn’t defeated,’ Eris reminded us.
The Prime Minister ignored her. ‘Please. We need all the help we can get against these cr—’ he glanced at Eris ‘—beings.’ Nice save. Eris wouldn’t have taken well to being called a creature.
‘You were there. It was a group effort.’
He scanned the room before settling his direct stare on me once more. ‘Do not underestimate yourself, Ms. Martin. You did something, something that made the light in you and the’—he glanced at Eris again—‘Siis become visible.’
I looked at Eris warily; I didn’t need her creating a fuss now. Was my ability a secret she would prevent me from saying? She merely looked back, her smile light, her true feelings unreadable.
I sighed. What did it matter now? The cat was out of the bag and, if I went forward with my plan, everyone needed to be abreast of the details. The time for secrets had passed. Anyway, Eris and I were going to come to loggerheads soon enough. If that day was today, then so be it.
‘Can you tell me how?’ the Prime Minister asked.
I wished I could understand it myself. ‘Sorry. I only know it works.’
He sighed with disappointment. ‘Would you mind if we did tests?’
Eris bolted up in her seat as if a pole had been rammed through her spine. ‘Not a chance.’
Maria smirked from behind her hand while Adam’s lips tightened with annoyance? Resolution? Something I couldn’t catch as it passed so quickly.
‘I'm surprised you already haven’t.’ I stared at Eris in question.
The Prime Minister smiled a little, though, I didn’t miss the strain in his eyes. ‘We wouldn’t have progressed with tests without your permission.’
Eris snorted and relaxed back in her seat to spin a pen over her fingers. ‘You were given no chance to.’
My gaze flittered between the Prime Minister, Eris, and Adam.
It was the General who clued me in. ‘Our medical team were refused entry to your room once your guard arrived. Only Doctor Miles received permission to monitor medication with express permission to take no samples. She is fine, by the way. Recovered from her injuries.’
I pressed my lips together, trying to bury my laughter. Not for the doctor, I was relieved she was okay, but his words tickled me. My guard? I wanted to peek at Eris to see her expression but wasn’t sure if it would lurch the laugh right out of my throat. Suppressing my amusement, I turned back to the Prime Minister with other things in my mind. ‘We will discuss that later. Right now, we have more important things to talk about.’
‘Of course.’ The Prime Minister folded his hands on top of each other.
‘Though,’ I continued, ‘before I tell you the reason I asked for this meeting, I have a quick question: What did you tell the press about what happened?’
‘That the same cell of terrorists Dallinger and Creed belonged to attacked us.’ He said it smoothly and without hesitation, with no guilt for the lie.
‘Neat and tidy as
always,’ Maria muttered from the corner.
I ignored her. Maybe things weren’t so great in paradise after all. ‘So, another… what is it called? Noble lie?’ I was beginning to realise that the Siis weren’t the only secret the government kept, all in the name of protecting the public. That idea wouldn’t serve them well in the coming future.
‘You have to understand—’
I held my hand up, silencing him. ‘I don’t really care about the reasonings, I heard them all from Tabert. But I will warn you this, Prime Minister, the time is coming when the decision might be taken out of your hands.’
Everyone watched me in silence, so many of them with suspicion as if my words had been a threat.
The Prime Minister was the one to break it. ‘Maybe you should get to the reason we are all here.’
‘Cleas has a plan.’ I had spent most of my time since waking trying to piece together everything I knew from the memories, but still, my information wasn’t that comprehensive, and I didn’t want to dive back into Cleas’s mind to find out more. ‘I can only give you vague details on the plans and, to be honest, I don’t know how much that can help you.’
‘Go on,’ the Prime Minister said.
I nodded. ‘First, you need a better insight into Cleas, and the best person to give you that is Eris.’
Eris’s eyes widened, the spinning pen forgotten. ‘What? Why me?’
‘You trained with him at the beginning. You know him better than most.’
Her eyes laid heavy on me, and I could almost hear the cogs in her brain moving as she tried to figure out how I had such knowledge. ‘I barely spoke to him.’ She continued playing with the pen, though her eyes still showed a trace of confusion.
I thought of the woman I had seen in Cleas’s mind, stood at the end of the line, her face drawn and determined. I didn’t doubt her.
‘Maybe not, but you must have heard him speak of his intention to humans.’
She had to have heard something. As much as the government’s feelings for Eris were a mixture of fear and mistrust, they were more likely to believe her over me when they realised where my knowledge came from.
Noble Lies Page 28
