The Sentinel (The Sentinel Series)

by Holly Martin

  It angered me that they held me in such reverence. How could they be so callous to let nearly sixty people die, just to preserve this stupid secret, to preserve me? Their continual watch was oppressive, almost claustrophobic.

  I heard Quinn bark inside and I cursed inwardly that the bark would draw the attention of my Dad again. I scrabbled back inside glaring at him treacherously but he was standing near the door, his heckles raised. He growled then barked again.

  I coughed. The air was so dry in here.

  Quinn barked again and I felt my blood turn to ice in my veins. Something was wrong. Was someone here?

  I grabbed my baseball bat and stood in the darkness behind the door. Running was not an option from the third floor.

  Quinn was pacing in front of the door whimpering, as I coughed again. Why was it so hard to breathe?

  Suddenly I noticed the tendrils of smoke trickling through the crack at the bottom of the door and realised what Quinn had been so upset about.

  I opened the door and ran out onto the landing. The roaring sound that filled my ears was almost deafening. Flames covered the stairs, licking up the walls in a frenzy to consume the whole house. As I looked on in horror, at the photos that were bubbling and curling up in the heat and the carpet melting just a few feet from where I stood, Quinn tugged on my pyjama top, gently but forcibly pulling me back into the bedroom. I was too shocked to even put up a fight. Our only escape route had been cut off.

  I closed the door behind me and silence descended on the room. The door was thick and heavy, but it would only stop the fire for a few minutes and the smoke was already consuming me, making it difficult to breathe. Quinn whimpered as he paced the room. I ran to the window, but as I looked out I knew that jumping from the loft window, three storeys up, would be almost certainly fatal.

  But at least standing next to the window, I could breathe cool, clean air, though the heat of the room was intense. I knew I only had minutes left before me and my beloved pet was burnt alive. What of my parents, my aunt and uncle, had they managed to escape but couldn’t get to me? I turned to get Quinn to the window so he could breathe too, but through the smoke I couldn’t see him. His whimpering was coming from the far side of the room.

  ‘Quinn! Come on, here boy.’ I knelt trying to see his shadow in the gloom.

  Quinn’s whimpering suddenly stopped and I wondered if this was the end, if the smoke had already consumed my dog and I would soon succumb too. I suddenly decided that I wasn’t going to sit here and die, I would try to escape, and if I died trying that was going to be better than dying whilst doing nothing.

  I stood and as I cast desperately around for Quinn one last time, a shape appeared from the haze and I realised with a new sick horror, that I wasn’t alone.

  There was a man in the room with me, a young man I had never seen before. The bedroom door was still closed so where the hell had he come from? He moved towards me. I backed away from him, willing to take on the fire rather than comprehend where this man had come from and for what reason. He grabbed my arm to stop me from running back out the bedroom and I instinctively fought him off. I had spent my life learning martial arts and when it mattered most, my body reacted without thinking. He clearly knew martial arts too, as he easily deflected my first few punches. I didn’t have time to get into a proper fight. Desperately I kicked him in the shins and as he staggered back I flew out onto the landing.

  The fire had reached the top of the stairs now.

  ‘Eve, please, I’m trying to help,’ said the man from my room, approaching me slowly like you might approach a wild animal. ‘Don’t be afraid.’ His voice was croaky, like he hadn’t spoken for some time. His eyes were so familiar, deep pools of melted chocolate. I’d never seen him before, I would have remembered someone so beautiful, but somehow I knew that face. A distant memory clawed at my mind, but it was gone a second later.

  I backed against the wall as he came closer and he reached out tentatively to take my arm. The stench of petrol hit my nose and I knew with horrifying clarity that this was no accident.

  ‘Quinn!’ yelled a voice from below and the man with me looked down through the flames.

  ‘Eli, I’ve got her. What the hell’s going on?’

  I stared at the man in shock. Quinn. This was Quinn?

  ‘Quinn?’ He looked back at me. ‘You’re…my dog?’ Even with the heat almost burning my skin, with mere minutes left before I died, I was still embarrassed about voicing my insanity out loud. He was tall, with shaggy blond hair, the exact colour of my dog’s fur. The brown eyes were so familiar because I had stared into them for the last seventeen years.

  The man nodded, reluctantly. ‘Yes, I’ll explain everything later, but now we need to get you out of here.’

  I shrunk back against the wall. ‘You’re my dog?!’

  Suddenly the air spat out another man at our side. He was huge and towered over Quinn, ferociously. Muscles seemingly screamed from every part of him. He had the grass green eyes of the Guardians but they were fiercely angry filled with hate. Uncle Silas’s warning came back to haunt me, ‘not everyone with green eyes is safe’. For reasons I didn’t know, I didn’t trust this man.

  ‘Eli, thank god!’ muttered Quinn. ‘Where’s David and Marie?’

  My parents. Eli didn’t say anything but the look that he gave Quinn sent ice to my heart. Something was very wrong.

  Had Eli started the fire? Was he here to kill me? There was a smell of petrol about him too.

  ‘My parents, are they here, we need to help them,’ I said.

  ‘There’s no one here Eve, only you and Quinn.’

  ‘But…’

  Without another word Eli grabbed me up into his arms and marched back into the bedroom.

  ‘I’ll come back for you in a second,’ he said to Quinn as he walked purposefully to the window.

  ‘Don’t worry about me, I can just fly down.’

  ‘I think seeing you naked once you’ve shifted is one shock too many for her tonight.’

  Eli knelt and gracefully stepped out onto the roof and without hesitating he leapt off into the darkness.

  I screamed, knowing we were both plummeting to our deaths, and braced myself for the impact that never came.

  Seconds later I felt the man’s hold lessen and I was placed on the floor. I stood in horror as he leapt back up in the air, landing easily on the roof. He ducked back through the window again to get Quinn.

  Blood tearing through my veins I eyed the secret gate at the back of the garden. Eli couldn’t be trusted. My dog that had spent every night since I was little lying on my bed was actually a man. I felt sick and I knew it was time to run.

  Without looking back I fled. I hit the button behind the bird house and tore through the gate that flew open. Silas had seen this coming and I thanked him silently for the precautions he had put in place.

  ‘NO!’ I heard Eli roar behind me.

  I hit the other button to release the second gate, grabbed the keys and was out on the street a second later. I jumped into the car, started the engine, slammed it into first and flooring the accelerator I shot up the road.

  To my immense surprise, by the time I had reached the end of the road, a silver Land Rover was closing the gap between us. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw Eli leap onto the side of the Land Rover like he was windsurfing. The silver car didn’t even slow down as Eli opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat.

  I pushed the car to go faster. As I approached the traffic lights at the end of the road, the red light threatened me to stop, but I shifted the car into fifth gear and sped through them. The car behind me didn’t stop either, easily keeping up with my renewed speed. I turned left into a smaller side road and then turned right and right again to head back onto the main road, in an attempt to shake them off, but they were so close they didn’t lose sight of me for a second. Speeding along the dark and empty streets, the silver car was suddenly joined by a police car, blue lights flashing fu
riously as it drew level with me.

  How could I explain this to the police? ‘Hi officer. The man chasing me in the car behind has super strength, I think he started the fire in my house to kill me and for reasons I don’t understand, this is the second attempt on my life in the last week. There’s also a shape shifter in on this madness and he’s slept on my bed for the last seventeen years. If you can find them there are Guardians somewhere who are here to protect me. I’m sure they’ll explain everything to you, or maybe not as they certainly won’t tell me anything.’

  I hesitated for a moment. Was Eli one of my Guardians? He had rescued me from the fire. But his eyes had been filled with so much anger. And then there was Quinn, my dog, definitely not a Guardian, he wasn’t big enough nor did he have the grass green eyes. Eli knew him, were they in on this together? Silas had always looked at Quinn with hatred and suspicion. Had he known that he wasn’t really a dog at all? I looked across at the policeman who was waving at me to pull over, but as we drove the street lights lit up the grass green eyes of the officer and I knew he was one of them too. I slowed a bit; if he was a Guardian he was here to protect me, to save me from Eli. I looked back towards the policeman and was thrown by the look of furious hatred from him. The police were with Eli, they wanted me dead.

  I put my foot back down on the accelerator again and took off through the town. The cars followed, only inches from me. Soon the town was left behind and I was speeding through the quiet country lanes. A third car, a large red Audi, pulled out in front of me, slowing down, forcing me to do the same. The patrol car drew level with me, boxing me in and the sense of claustrophobia added to my fear. There was no escape.

  The police car slammed into my car, causing me to wobble dangerously as I fought to gain control. The occupants of the red car were clearly not happy with this and swerved in front of the police car, taking out half of its bonnet as it did so. The police car didn’t show any signs of slowing down.

  Taking advantage of this distraction I veered violently to the left, I swerved off the road and ploughed across a field. The car responded beautifully, it was built to be off road. Unfortunately so was the silver car that was still following me. The two other cars chased me too. I’d lost their immediate proximity but they were soon catching me up. I tore down the hill, flooring the accelerator. There was another road at the bottom and I aimed for it.

  As the hill flattened out and I neared the road, the moonlight glinted off the surface and my heart crashed into my stomach as I realised it was actually a river that I was about to drive into. There was no time to stop, and as the car hit a small bank and took off, I had time to pray that my uncle had fitted the car with some kind of wings. The river was easily six or seven metres wide and I held my breath as I waited for the car to crash into the icy water. To my upmost surprise the car landed slickly on the other side and I swerved quickly to avoid the approaching trees. I sped along the river, my three car entourage keeping level with me on the opposite side; clearly none of them were stupid or brave enough to try jumping it like I had done.

  Suddenly realising the river had given me the advantage, I slammed on the brakes. The other cars were travelling so fast that when they all did the same they stopped a few hundred yards up the field from where I had come to a stop. The policeman was already out the car and in an impossible move leapt high in the air and landed on my side of the river.

  I made to get out the car but Eli was already by my side, appearing from the air. He slammed the door shut, his weight buckling the car door and breaking the glass. Other men leapt across the river as easily as if they had stepped across a small puddle. But instead of running for me, they ran for the policeman. My Guardians? But was Eli one of them? Not waiting to find out, I scrambled to the other side. I leapt out the car and burst into the woods, running as fast as I could through the darkness. I was a fast runner; this much I knew, and with the adrenaline coursing through me, I pushed myself faster than I had ever ran before.

  I wove through the trees and jumped over bushes. The trees whipped against my face, the fingers of the branches grabbing my clothes and pulling me back, but I ran on. I leapt over a small stream and scrambled up the bank on the other side. I paused for a moment, listening to see if I had anyone following me and despite the speed I had torn through the woods I could distinctly hear at least two different people fast approaching my location. This was hopeless. There was never going to be any escape from them.

  I could feel the anger, the shock, the fear boiling inside my chest, a burning ball of rage that seemed to suddenly consume me. My fingers twitched and for a second a flash of blue light seemed to flicker in my hand. But I was distracted from this as the next second two men broke the trees on the opposite bank of the stream, Eli was one of them.

  ‘NO!’ I screamed in fury, instinctively putting my hand up. A blue bolt of lightning shot from my hand and exploded in a sphere across the stream. The men were blown back from the force of the explosion and I staggered away from what I had done, not sure how I’d even done it. I ran on into the darkness, but running for a different reason now, running to get away from the shock of what had just happened.

  With disbelief I heard the men still running after me. I looked back over my shoulder to see how close they were, when suddenly I slammed into a body so hard I would have fallen over if a pair of strong hands hadn’t held me. I screamed and struggled against my captor but the grip only tightened. A hand pressed over my mouth.

  3. I think I’m losing my mind

  ‘Evie, Evie, it’s me.’

  I stopped struggling immediately, recognising the voice of Seth, plus he was the only one that called me Evie. His hands released me. ‘Seth?’ I whispered.

  ‘Yes,’ Seth whispered back, theatrically. ‘Why are we whispering?’

  I was very aware that the woods around us were silent. I couldn’t hear the footsteps behind me anymore. What did that mean? Had they given up? Unlikely. But maybe they didn’t want to show themselves in front of Seth. They would be watching, veiled in the darkness.

  ‘Seth what the hell are you doing here?’ I hissed.

  He laughed. ‘I could ask you the same thing.’

  His laugh sounded so good. I wanted to wrap myself in his arms and cry, but it was far from over yet. I could see the gleam of something metallic behind him. ‘Is that your bike?’ I asked.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Get me out of here and I’ll explain everything.’

  ‘Your chauffeur awaits m’lady.’ He motioned toward the bike like a game show host showing off a fabulous prize. He hopped on and I threw myself on behind him, holding tight to his waist as he kick started it and took off through the woods. He skilfully manoeuvred through the trees at some speed. I knew the men would be following us, but maybe Seth could lose them on his bike.

  ‘Seth faster!’ I yelled over the noise of the engine and I smiled as the bike sped up.

  We hit the road a while later and I kept an eye on the woods behind me, waiting for the men to break the trees. But as we rounded the bend and the trees disappeared from view, the road behind us stayed empty.

  ‘Where to?’ Seth called. ‘We can go to my house, my Dad’s away.’

  ‘That sounds good to me,’ I yelled back. He nodded and now the open road was in front of us, he gunned the bike even faster. I yelled with relief as the wind tore through my hair.

  As I held him tightly, pressing my face against his jacket, his warmth and familiar woody smell calmed me. Seth Hamilton. I thought about my life with him, how he had always been there for me, even now when I needed him most. I had known him ever since I had started school at the age of four. The first day I couldn’t find my lunchbox, he had split his lunch with me. A few days later I had fallen off the climbing frame and he had caught my leg before I had hit the ground. This had kind of set a precedent over the next few weeks. I’d fall over on the playground and he’d be there to pick me up. When one of the other children was mean to me, he punched t
hem in the face. But he had seemed to do all this with a weary acceptance. One day I had accidentally spilt my milk over him. Seth, dripping from head to toe, had laughed loudly, mostly at my expression of horror. We had been best friends ever since.

  He slowed down as he took some small side roads to get back to his house.

  ‘What’s going on Evie?’

  I felt my body tremble as the adrenaline finally started to leave it, though partly it was from the cold; I was in my pyjamas on the back of a motorbike in the middle of a winter’s night.

  ‘I don’t know. Do you know anything about Guardians?’

  He shook his head and I sighed. That was going to be a long explanation.

  ‘I think someone’s trying to kill me, either that or I’m losing my mind.’

  We drove alongside a bank of trees that separated us from Seth’s house. I could see the houses in his road, sleeping peacefully in the darkness, but to my surprise his house was lit up like a beacon. There were cars parked outside and lots of people standing on the grass and in the open door.

  ‘Is Trey having some kind of party?’ I asked. I’d only met his brother a few times; he was a lot older than Seth and had more important things to do than hang out with us when we were kids.

  Seth didn’t answer, I could see him slowing down and looking as well.

  Suddenly I saw the silver Land Rover through the trees, the red car with its back smashed, its door open as the occupants leaned on the outside. Eli was there as was Quinn.