Cooper nods to me, and I nod back and mouth the words, “Three, two, one.” We sprint through the clearing. I immediately run to the cage encasing Zavy and Toby. As I run toward the cage, Cooper runs from the trees and I watch as Codian jumps to his feet and draws his sword. He flips his head between Cooper and me, not sure who to attack first. The sight of Cooper, someone he doesn’t recognize seems to panic him even more. He wasn’t expecting an ambush, but he definitely wasn’t expecting someone besides Alexander to be helping me. I turn my attention back to Zavy as I hear the clashing of metal behind me. Codian has chosen his fight, and it’s not with me yet.
“You came for us?” Zavy asks, crawling to the edge of the cage, pulling Toby with her. I pass the necklace through the bars and it glows red.
“Of course I did. Put on the necklace. It’ll let you pass through the bars.” Zavy does and then passes it back to Toby, who does exactly as Zavy did.
“Thank you,” Zavy says, throwing her arms around my shoulder.
“You would have done the same for me,” I brush off.
Suddenly, the sound of clashing metal behind me stops and I whip around to see Codian holding Cooper in a headlock with a sword at his neck.
“Codian,” I start to say as I raise my hands until I remember my gift won’t affect him. Slowly, I rise and walk toward him. At my movement, he tightens his arm on Cooper’s neck and I watch as Cooper struggles to get air to his lungs. He’s suffocating, just like my mother, our mother, had died. Furry and fear mix in my chest as my emotions swell at the thought of her death.
“Adaline,” Codian mimics back to me. I see tears brimming in his eyes and his hands are shaking. Something’s not right. He’s not the confident killing machine I’ve been made to believe he was.
“What’s going on?” I ask, trying to calm him down. Why is he crying? He looks as though something inside him snapped.
“I can’t do it anymore,” Codian says in a hysterical voice. “I can’t do this anymore.” He pauses, then says, “I need you to kill me. Adaline, please kill me.” The tears are running down his face and he’s almost brought his voice to a shriek. I’d be surprised if Paylon and Chadian haven’t heard him.
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
“Paylon’s been controlling me,” he yells out between his sobs. “Since I have this necklace he can’t control me anymore, but I don’t know how to live any other way. I’ve done so much harm to so many innocent people, Adaline. Please, just end this for me.” I imagine all of the awful things he’s been controlled into doing. All the lives he’s ended with a clouded mind full of Paylon’s voice edging him on. I would hate myself, too, when I finally woke up and had to accept the monster I had been. That’s when I confirm in my head that he hadn’t had the necklace on at the camp earlier. He would have asked me to do this then. The thought that Paylon’s control could reach that far makes me sick, imagining how many other minds he’s infiltrated. My guess is the entire army. I had no idea the kind of power he really has.
“Okay, but Codian, I can’t do anything when you have that necklace on,” I lie, trying to buy some time to let my brain process what is happening. Codian slips my sword to the necklace and cuts it from his neck. It flies across the clearing to my feet. Then, he returns the blade to Cooper’s neck.
“Okay. Now do it!” he pushes and I watch as his head begins to tick and his eyes squeeze shut. “He’s taking control back. You have to do it now!” Codian roars at me, and I instantly regret making him remove the necklace.
“Codian, I don’t think this is what you want,” I say, because I honestly don’t want to kill him. I don’t want his blood on my hands. He isn’t what Paylon made him do. I truly believe if he had been given control of his actions, he never would have done those awful things.
“Do it!” he yells, and the blade presses on Cooper’s pale neck. I process how drained Cooper’s face is becoming. He’s not getting enough air. I’m running out of time.
“There are other options. You could just come with us,” I offer, but I know that will never work.
“I swear Adaline, do this or we both die,” Codian says back to me, and I can see how broken he is in this state. I could probably freeze Codian, get Cooper and us out of here and not have to kill him. Somehow I know I’d be hurting him more if I leave him here alive to do Paylon’s bidding. Codian let’s out a shriek of pain as he continues to fight Paylon’s voice that is threatening to return now that the necklace has been removed.
I take a breath in and tell myself what I’m doing is right. I watch as I move Codian’s blade to his own neck and watch him drop Cooper to the ground. The sword is shaking and I try to control it with my gift as best as I can. Codian seems to move the blade to his neck more than I do with my gift.
Cooper falls to his knees, gasping for air. Codian mumbles between his cries, “Thank you.” He breathes in one final time and holds in his last breath. Even though I feel that this is wrong and right at the same time I choose to see it through. I hold my breath with him, push the blade through his neck, and watch him fall lifeless to the ground. I gasp for air after it’s over. My hands are shaking at my side and my cheeks are damp with tears. I bend down and pick up the necklace Codian had been wearing. You can’t save everyone, my thoughts echo.
Suddenly Cooper runs to my side, grabs my hand, and runs back toward the woods. We run past my mother’s journal and at the last moment I reach down, pick it up, and shove it and Codian’s necklace under my arm. The last thing I grab is my sword and I return it comfortably back to my side.
“We have to go, now!” Cooper says over his shoulder to Zavy and Toby. They share a glance of confusion, not sure if they should follow someone they don’t know, but when they see that I trust him they oblige. They stand and run to match our pace. Before we leave the clearing I steal a glance over at the three Hounds, huddled and shocked by the tree. For a second I think about stopping to help them, but Cooper’s strong grasp on my arm continues to pull me forward and I lose sight of them.
I don’t even remember crossing the bridge or hearing the rushing water of the river, but before I know it we are crashing through the woods into the clearing where everyone is still sleeping.
“Up!” Cooper yells. “Everyone up now!” Mio and Cinder run out of the tent to Cooper who tells them he’ll explain later, but we need to go now. Everyone grabs their bags they had packed the day before and struggles to get their pillows and blankets rolled up. The group moves in a groggy haze trying to understand what is happening. I find myself wandering over to my own blanket and pillow that I had been given and I shove them along with Codian’s necklace and my mother’s journal into my bag. Cooper runs by me and throws more items into my bag, zips it and stands me up.
He waves Zavy over and I hear him distantly say, “I don’t know what’s wrong with Adaline, but keep track of her.” Cooper takes off and moves around to other members of the group.
“What is this place? Who are these people, Adaline?” Zavy asks me. She grabs my arm and forces me to look at her, her grip squeezing around my arm. I don’t have time to answer her before Cooper calls the attention of the group to him.
“We leave for Libertas now. Garth soldiers are closing in on us and we can’t miss this window of opportunity,” Cooper yells to the group, pulling their attention. Many of them give Zavy and Toby a curious glance, but Cooper pulls their focus back to him. “I know this isn’t how we were told this would happen. We aren’t following the visions anymore.” A wave of hushed worries spread through the group, but Cooper silences them immediately. “This is our best option. Move now before they close in on us and delay us even more. We’ll be moving fast tonight to get as far from them as we can. Keep up, don’t slow us down.” His voice is strong, and I wonder when the boy I played in the woods with grew up to be a leader.
Cooper turns to leave and I grab his arm. “Stop!” I yell at him, louder than I intended. “We have to go after Alexander.”
&nb
sp; “Adaline, we don’t have time,” Cooper tries to explain and I can tell he is already very frustrated with me.
“We can’t leave him. He’s outnumbered. He’ll never get away from them on his own,” I say, and the words come out fast and panicked.
“He had a huge lead on them, Adaline. He’ll be fine. You have to let him see his plan through.” That’s the last thing Cooper says before he turns back to commanding the group.
Everyone falls into line and Cooper leads us out of the clearing and into the thick dark forest. We come out to where the river is and start a steady jog along its edge like Mio had suggested we do yesterday. Was that yesterday? I guess it was just a couple of hours ago. By the grey sky fading above us, I figure it’s early morning now. My eyes train on the other side of the river, in the thick forest where Alexander is. My gut tells me we shouldn’t be leaving him, but I know I need to trust him. He’ll find us. He has to.
Zavy and I have brought up the rear of the group. Toby is a little in front of us trying to keep his tired legs moving. I can barely make out the backs of Cooper, Mio, and Cinder’s heads at the front of the group. I see Mio and Cinder glance back to us and know that Cooper is telling them about tonight’s events and our new additions.
“Where’s Alexander?” Zavy asks, her voice drawing my focus.
“He’s the one who knocked the tree down. He had to go and distract Paylon so that I could free you. He’s supposed to meet up with us,” I say in between deep breaths.
“Adaline,” Zavy says, her breathing hard. “I need answers.”
“It’s a long story,” I tell her.
“Please, Adaline,” she pushes. “I need to know what I’m getting Toby and myself into.”
“Okay well, my father brought all these people out in the woods to wait for me to come to them in seven years because he was a Future Holder and he predicted this would happen. So all these kids have been sitting in the woods waiting for me to come here and that,” I say and point to Cooper, “Is my brother.”
“Your what?” Zavy asks shocked.
“Like I said, it’s a long story.” Zavy doesn’t ask any more questions and I know it’s because we are both having trouble running and talking at the same time. I’m not sure how long Cooper expects us all to run, but I just tell myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
I look down at my hands and panic when I see them encrusted in blood. It reminds me of how they looked after I stitched Alexander’s leg up. Caked in red thick blood. I blink my eyes hard and then my hands appear clean.
“Kill me,” I hear Codian’s voice echoing in my head. I keep blinking and seeing my hands bloody and then clean and then bloody. “Kill me. Kill me. Kill me.” Over and over and over again. I take in a deep breath of cool night air and force my mind to focus on running. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Breathe in. Breathe out. Right. Left. In. Out. Right. Left. In. Out. I fall into a steady pattern as the sounds of our feet smacking against the wet mud consumes me.
Chapter 16
I can see hints of daylight breaking through the trees when Cooper finally calls for us to take a break from running. I close my eyes and try to slow my heart rate. It pounds, shaking in my chest, waiting to burst. I watch as Cooper reaches to the side of his bag and unclips a water bottle. I look at my own bag and find my old water bottle still clipped there.
I unclip my water bottle and drink it slowly until it’s empty. I look around at the rest of the group and see many of them are filling their water bottles up at the river. I assume they would know what water is safe to drink so I go to the water's edge and dip the bottle into the water. The cool and clear water runs into the mouth of the bottle and over my dirty fingers washing away the dusty brown layer that has coated my skin.
I put the cap on my bottle and lay it and my bag down on the river’s edge. I pull my sword out and examine it. Dark dried blood cracks on the blade. My breath is caught in my throat. I instruct myself to clean the blade first. I rinse it in the river and the blood washes away, but it doesn’t make me feel any better.
I untie the worn white shoes and take off the thin socks I had found in the bunker, and walk knee-deep into the water. Even though there is no blood to wash off of my body from murdering Codian I still feel as though my skin is caked in it. I rinse my legs, arms, and face with the cool water and do my best to bring my heart and brain back to being steady. When I’ve calmed myself and feel numb instead of broken I walk out of the river, grab my things, and find a place to sit in the shade. I walk to the edge of the forest and sit next to a tree letting my legs relax from the hours of running they’ve just encountered.
“I can’t even feel my legs,” I hear Zavy say as she collapses to the ground next to me, acting overdramatic as usual. Quiet Toby follows and softly sits down next to her.
For the first time, I notice that my bag feels heavier than normal. For a second I pass it off as exhaustion messing with my head but I take it off and confirm its fuller than before. I unzip the backpack and unpack its contents. On top, I find the necklace and my mother’s journal that I shoved in before we started running. Under that, I find a neatly rolled blanket, a small pillow, a clean t-shirt, and a pair of shorts. Cooper must have added them to my bag after I had fallen asleep. Maybe while I was still in shock from killing Codian he found time to pack my bag. I vaguely remember him coming by me before we started running, but my mind was elsewhere at that moment. It’s a gesture that makes me feel safe but small. I’m glad my older brother is back to look out for me, but I can’t rely on that. I need to be able to take care of myself.
Across the clearing, I hear Cooper and Mio are arguing about the lack of weapons they grabbed last night. I notice there are only two swords, a couple of spears for fishing, and one bow with a set of arrows. Cooper gestures my way and I’m sure he’s blaming it on me. If I hadn’t snuck off last night we wouldn’t have been forced to leave in such a hurry. I watch as Cooper, Mio, and Cinder turn and start walking over to us so I repack my belongings and zip the bag closed.
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Mio says as he, Cooper, and Cinder sit across from Zavy, Toby, and myself. “I’m Mio, and this is Cinder and Cooper. Apparently, Adaline thought it would be a good idea to go against my advisement of not bringing any other guests with us.”
“I wasn’t going to leave them,” I say as I take another sip of my water.
“Well, I hope you’re glad you went and saved them. Hope it was worth losing Alexander,” Mio says, disgust in his voice.
“He’s not dead,” I say and hold Mio’s stare.
“You don’t know that Adaline. All I know is that the plan was to get you and Alexander to Libertas, and now you’ve gone away from the plan to rescue your friends and Alexander is gone.” Mio carefully lectures me, trying to keep his voice steady so the panic won’t rise in the rest of our group.
“He’ll meet up with us. He said he would,” I say more to reassure myself than anyone else because he should have been here already. He was supposed to cut straight across to the river.
“Well I hope for all of our sakes that you’re right,” Mio stands and walks away. We watch as he walks over and starts talking with James and Bren, and then they disappear into the woods to find food for today.
“I’m sorry about that,” Cinder finally says, breaking the silence in her sweet voice. “He just doesn’t like it when things don’t go the way he plans.” She pulls a large bag off her shoulder and hands Toby and Zavy each a blanket, pillow, and change of clothes. The same extra items I had found in my bag. I know Mio may not agree with me bringing them here, but it’s a good sign that they are treating them like everyone else and sharing their supplies. I don’t know if that was Mio’s idea or Cinder’s.
“Yeah, I can see that,” Zavy says harsher than she probably intended. “Sorry. Thank you for these,” she says taking the items from Cinder. “I’m Zavy and this is my brother Toby.” Cinder just lets a small smile fall on her fac
e. She nods her head and gets up to go check on the others.
Zavy and Toby pack their supplies into their bags. I notice each of them still have rations from the bunker as well as additional clothes. They were smart to pack those. I hadn’t thought to do that. I guess that shows how different we are. Zavy and Toby have been surviving off of nothing but the woods for seven years. They know when they come across clean clothes not to take them for granted. I wonder what other items around the bunker Zavy saw as treasures while I only saw as useless.
“What were you thinking, Adaline?” Cooper mumbles with his head hanging in his hands.
“I was thinking my friends were in trouble, and they needed my help,” I say strongly.
“Do you realize if I wouldn’t have followed you, you and Alexander would be dead?” Cooper says, looking up and meeting my eyes.
“What do you want me to say? Thank you?” I ask sarcastically.
“No, I want you to stop making selfish decisions. Do you realize how many lives you put in danger?” Cooper asks, and I can see the fear in his eyes from when Codian had almost killed him.
“I didn’t ask you to follow me,” I tell him.
“Well, I kind of had to,” he says under his breath.
“No, you didn’t. I didn’t make you do anything,” I shout back to him because I can tell this is becoming more than the fact that he followed me last night. This has to do with the fact that he’s had to give up his entire life to make sure I survive.
We hold each other’s gaze for a long time until Cooper finally says in a weak voice, “I had to. I’m your brother.” Cooper stands and walks into the woods in the direction that Mio had gone, and eventually everyone else returns to making small talk.
“Well, that was a warm welcome,” Zavy scoffs.
The Markings Page 16
