by Ciana Stone
He gave in. Not because he wanted to but because he could tell by the expression on her face and the look in her eyes that she would not budge. And he gave in because it seemed that far more was at stake that his own skin. He would not let the voices be right. He would not die. And he would not let Sara die.
“Fine. Then let’s get packed, okay? It won’t be long before the furniture people will be here. I want to be ready to leave as soon as they arrive.”
“Okay.” She gave him a smile and leaned in to kiss him gently. “We’ll find a way to get past this, Morgan.”
“And live happily ever after?” he asked, trying to tease.
“Without a doubt,” she agreed. “Now shut down that thing on my laptop and let me get it packed.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Neither of them had much to say. They’d agreed that they would only take the cameras and the laptop. Everything else they’d leave behind. That way if someone came to check it would appear as if they’d simply stepped out and planned on returning.
When the clock read two o’clock they were both sitting on the couch, waiting in nervous silence.
The minutes ticked by. A quarter past. Half past. Morgan started to get worried. He reached for his phone to call the furniture store, but Sara put her hand on his arm to stay him. “Give it a little more time.”
At a quarter to three, the house phone rang. Morgan sprang up to answer it. “Yes… Yes, we are… Yes, I’d like to go down and speak with the delivery person before they bring it up. Make sure it’s correct.” He gave a false laugh into the phone. “Yeah, you never know these days…thanks. I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
He hung up the phone. “It’s time.”
Sara stood, looped her purse over her shoulder and grabbed her laptop case. “I’m ready.”
Morgan grabbed his camera case and opened the door. He looked both ways then stepped out into the hall. “Okay, come on.”
Sara followed him to the service elevator. They took it to the basement level, the parking garage. When the doors opened, Morgan pressed a hand against one side, preventing them closing as he looked around the area. Aside from a delivery truck with the name of the furniture store on it, there were empty cars, probably belonging to people who worked in the building.
“Mr. Nicholaus?” the driver of the truck called out.
“Yes,” Morgan replied, stepping out of the elevator.
“Man on the phone said you wanted to check the couch before I take it up?”
“Yes,” Morgan said and paused to look back at Sara. “Stay here.”
She wanted to argue, but the set of his jaw told her to stay quiet, so she just nodded. Morgan started toward the truck, cutting a look over his shoulder at Sara as the driver got out. The moment he did, fear bit her hard and sharp. That was the man in the photo.
The realization that she’d reached the moment of truth almost paralyzed her. Nausea bubbled in her stomach but she forced her legs to move, keeping an eye on what was happening. She hurried toward the front of the truck.
The man was walking toward the back of the truck. With his back to Morgan there was no way Morgan would recognize him. “Be easier if you just climbed in and took a look,” the man said. “Save me from dragging it out if it isn’t right.”
“Sure,” Morgan replied.
The man pulled open the right half of the back door. “You wanna check it out?”
“Yes,” Morgan responded.
The man moved aside and Morgan stepped up into the truck. By then Sara had made her way along the opposite side of the truck, coming up behind the man. She had the perfect vantage point to see the man’s hand as it moved behind him and gripped the gun shoved into the waistband of his pants.
She had to stop him. But how? All she had was her purse and her laptop.
Desperation had her gripping the aluminum laptop case in both hands and raising it up over her head. Just as the man brought the gun around to aim at Morgan, she slammed it down on top of his head.
Time seemed completely out of phase in the next moments. The man staggered and the gun went off. She screamed Morgan’s name at the same instant she heard him shouting her name.
The assailant went down to one knee. Morgan jumped out of the back of the truck. Sara saw the man raising the gun again. She screamed again and dove in front of Morgan.
And pain exploded inside her. She felt her breath whoosh out, heard Morgan scream her name and then blackness closed in around her.
Chapter Nine
“Morgan!” Sara was screaming his name before her eyes opened. Once opened, they grew wider. She was lying on a divan in Grian Ròs Castle.
“Oh no!”
She bolted up, her hands moving to her chest as she looked down. There was no blood, no pain. Her head jerked up to see Danu standing across the room watching.
“I failed,” she said tearfully. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
The thought of it crippled her. Her legs gave way and she sank back onto the divan, sobs racking her body. Suddenly it didn’t matter that she was about to die. She’d failed. Not just the mission she’d sworn to perform, but she’d failed the man she loved.
“I’m…sorry.” She choked out the words between sobs. “I’m so sorry.”
Danu came to sit beside her. She put one graceful hand on Sara’s shoulder. Sara fought to control the sobs and turned to her with tear-blurred eyes. “Go ahead. Kill me. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care.”
“But I do,” Danu replied. “My dear, I did not bring you here to destroy you, but to save you.”
“But why?” Sara cried. “He’s dead! I failed and now he’s dead and…oh god, Danu, I love him and…and now…”
She covered her face with her hands, crying. When at last the sobs turned to sniffles she moved her hands. Danu handed her a pristine white handkerchief. “Dry your face, child.”
Sara swiped at her face, blew her nose and let her hands drop to her lap, staring at them miserably. “Can I stay here?” she asked in a weak whisper. “Please? I can’t…” Another fit of weeping claimed her. “I can’t go back. Please, can I stay?”
“I’m afraid not, my dear.”
Sara looked up at Danu with shock and disappointment. “Why?”
“Because Morgan Nicholaus needs you,” Danu said with a slight smile. “Darling girl, you did not fail. You threw yourself in the path of the bullet that would have ended his life. You succeeded, risking your own life for his.”
“Then he’s alive?” Joy flooded her. “He’s not dead?”
“He is indeed alive. Although at the moment rather…frozen.”
“Huh?”
Danu’s musical laugh emerged. “Well actually, the entire planet is on momentary hold.”
“You can do that?” Sara breathed in awe.
“Occasionally,” Danu replied and waved her hand in dismissal. “As can you, my dear.”
“Me? So that really was me?”
“I told you once before, Sara. Your abilities far exceed what you believe them to be.”
Sara shook her head again, amazement shining in her eyes. “Okay, that’s a bit much for me right now. I don’t understand why you brought me here if Morgan is alive.”
“I brought you here to heal you. And to answer.”
“Answer what?”
“Why, all of the questions that have plagued you, of course.”
“You mean you know…you know who my parents are?”
“Yes.”
“Please, please tell me. Was my mother the woman who died in Morgan’s arms? Was her name Hope?”
“Yes.”
“But Morgan said that no one survived the explosion. I painted it and all I saw—”
“Perhaps this would be easier if you merely listen,” Danu interrupted softly.
Sara nodded without comment. Danu stood and glided across the room to the window, taking a seat on its wide ledge.
“When I told you I had awakened to rebuild my army,
I did not lie. But you are not the first of my Hussies in this time. Nor are you the first I have sent to safeguard Morgan Nicholaus. There was another before you.”
“My mother?” Sara asked.
“No, unfortunately it was your mother’s fate to die that day. Morgan’s father pulled her from the wreckage and went back to save her child. You. He managed to get you out of the wreckage moments before the explosion. He heard the whoosh of the fuel igniting, and did the only thing he could think to save you. He tossed you.”
“Tossed me?”
“Yes. As hard as he could. You landed on the side of the road. There was a steep embankment. You rolled down it. Before you’d stopped your tumble, the wreckage exploded and he was killed.”
“But you said you sent someone to save Morgan.”
“Yes. She was the one who called for help. She was also the one who saved you.”
“Nadine?” Sara exclaimed.
Danu smiled. “Nadine was en route to the town where Morgan lived. She approached the wreckage from the opposite side, got out and worked her way along the side of the road to where Morgan and Hope lay. When the wreckage exploded, she threw herself over them. She was wounded, but not so much that she couldn’t make her way back to you.
“She waited with you in her arms until help arrived. No one questioned that you were her child. It was assumed. She thought it best not to offer the information. Once Morgan was transported to the hospital, Nadine put you in her car and changed destinations. She settled into the house where you grew up, and when asked simply said that she adopted you after your mother died.
“But…but…there are no parents listed on my birth certificate. No records. How did she…” Her eyes brightened. “You did it. You…fixed things.”
“In a manner of speaking,” Danu said with a chuckle. “Had it remained unaltered, Nadine would not have been able to adopt you. The man who fathered you was killed in an automobile accident before you were born, but was survived by a brother. Unfortunately he was fated to die from alcoholism five years ago. You would have been raised in an environment of abuse. I could not allow that.”
Sara stared at her in amazement for a few moments, and then frowned. “That doesn’t explain my…ability.”
“Your lineage does,” Danu replied. “Hope was of an ancient line that stretches back almost as far as my own. Her people possessed unique skills. Not every generation inherited the gift. You did.”
Sara nodded. She opened her mouth then closed it, unsure whether to ask what was next on her mind.
“The voices,” Danu said.
“Yes. His life has been so hard, Danu. Filled with…with demons. How do we stop them?”
“My dear, the voices were not something from outside of Morgan but a manifestation of his own mind. The day his father died, Morgan suffered a…fracture in his spirit. He blamed himself. His father had promised that to be the day that would change his life forever. Morgan internalized that statement and created a host of demons around it, tormenting himself for his father’s death. He lived. His father died. He blamed himself.”
“But how can it be stopped?”
“Love.” Danu returned to sit beside her, taking Sara’s hands. “And answers. He needs to know what his father meant when he said his life would be forever changed. Once he knows the answer, the demons will vanish.”
“And what is the answer?” Sara asked.
Danu got up and went to fetch a small wooden box. She placed it in Sara’s lap. “Tom Nicholaus saved for more than a year to purchase this. A rather famed photographer of the time died and his estate was auctioned off. Tom heard about it and went to the family, asking to purchase one of the cameras. They wanted more than Tom had, but agreed to hold it for one year so that he might raise the funds.”
Sara opened the box and looked inside. The camera lay in a cradle of molded foam. “This? This is what his father thought would change his life?”
Danu laughed. “Tom saw more than most. He’d watched Morgan for years, seeing how the child would stare at things, framing a shot up with his little hands, completely unaware of his actions. Tom knew that Morgan was destined to be a great photographer. To give him a start on that road, he saved and in the end withdrew all of the savings he had to purchase that camera.”
Sara felt tears stream down her face. To think of the love Morgan’s father felt for his son, and how willing he was to spend his life savings to give Morgan something that would fulfill his life, was almost heartbreaking.
“If only Morgan could know,” she said and closed the box.
“He will. Once you tell him,” Danu replied, and held out her hand for the box.
Sara wished she could keep it. Give it to Morgan. But she didn’t question Danu and returned the box to her.
“Thank you for giving me the answers, Danu.”
“Thank you for becoming one of my Hussy Warrior Hunters, Sara.”
Sara snorted, feeling a measure of her humor return. “Some Hunter. I think maybe I’m still in the discovery phase, just blundering through.”
Danu laughed lightly. “Dear Sara, we are all in the discovery phase.”
Sara’s smile faded. “I…Danu, it just dawned on me. How could saving Morgan after he took those pictures change destiny? He saved the candidate’s life. I guess that’s the destiny-altering part. But he wasn’t in danger before that, so…”
Danu smiled gently. “I wondered how long it would take you. Saving that woman’s life was not how he will affect destiny, Sara.”
“Then how?”
“Close your eyes,” Danu instructed, and when Sara did, touched her lightly with one index finger, between Sara’s brows.
For a moment Sara felt nothing. Then the Sight took her. Only this time it was different. She was aware of where she was and what was going on around her while watching the images play in her mind.
She saw Morgan, holding a baby in his arms, leaning down to kiss the child’s cheek. Then she saw him guiding a small boy on a bicycle, running along beside, holding the handlebars. She viewed him taking photos as a handsome young man accepted a diploma, and that same young man kissing his bride. Images came one after the other, telling of Morgan’s life to come. The last one was of the young man, matured and confident, sitting in the Oval Office.
Sara’s eyes flew open in surprise. “So if he didn’t live, his son wouldn’t be born and wouldn’t one day be President!”
“Which means that your job is far from over, my dear,” Danu replied. “Your mission is not one that ended when you stepped in the path of that bullet. You’ll safeguard Morgan throughout his life.”
Sara thought about it. She’d safeguard Morgan while some other woman lived with him, bore his child and grew old with him? A scream welled up in her throat, pressing for release as her chest seemed to constrict, preventing her from getting air. No, this couldn’t be. She’d die for Morgan, but there was no way she could live her life watching him love another from afar. That was too much to ask.
“Oh god, I can’t, Danu. I can’t watch him live his life with someone else. Just kill me and be done with it. Don’t ask this of me.”
Danu shook her head. “Close your eyes again, Sara.”
She did and this time what she saw had her gasping and her eyes popping open in excitement. “Me? I’m…”
“So it seems,” Danu answered.
Sara was bursting with excitement. She knew she loved Morgan, and believed him when he said he loved her, but she’d never thought that far ahead. Never imagined that such a future lay in store for her.
It filled her with a joy that was indescribable, and a new strength that made her feel confident.
“Do I detect a bit of the Hussy emerging?” Danu asked.
Sara grinned at her. “Well, Hussies are strong, independent women who aren’t afraid of who they are and what they need to do, right? Women who embrace their destiny and live it to its fullest.”
“Absolutely. And have you reached that st
age, my young Hussy?”
“You know, I think I have,” Sara replied.
“Then there is cause for great joy. A Hussy is born. Now, my dear, it’s time.”
“For what?” Sara asked.
“For you to go back,” Danu replied. “Are you ready?”
“Oh yes,” Sara said immediately then felt a rush of sadness. “Wait! Will I get to come back? Here, I mean?”
“Well of course, silly duck,” Danu replied, using the same phrase Nadine had used when Sara was a child. “Any time you like.”
“How?”
Danu winked. “That, my dear, is the next lesson you’ll have to figure out.”
“But—”
“All in time, Sara. All in time.”
Danu’s words rang in her mind as she found herself back in her own world. She was slumped back against Morgan, who was sitting on the pavement of the basement. Her laptop case was clutched tightly in her arms. The assailant was lying a few feet away, blood staining the pavement beneath his head.
“Sara, Sara!” Morgan was calling her name over and over.
“I’m okay,” she said. “Is he dead?”
“I don’t think so. You whacked him pretty good, but after he fired he just collapsed. I think he’s still breathing.”
She nodded and turned to face him. “We need to call the police.”
Morgan held up his cell phone, started to dial then stopped. “Sara, you saved me. You damn sure didn’t do what I asked you to do. And I’m glad you didn’t.”
“Me too,” she agreed with a smile and tapped the front of her case. “But I think something besides me saved you.”
Morgan looked at the case then up at her. “I can’t believe the bullet didn’t pass through the computer.”
“I’d like to see a PC do that,” she quipped, suddenly feeling free and happy. “Now make that call.”
Morgan shook his head and pulled her to him for a quick hard kiss then dialed 911.