by Holly Martin
But such was Eli’s authority, the newcomers didn’t even question it.
‘Caleb, take Seth back to his house now, ensure the Guard is in place and then come back,’ said Eli. Caleb nodded without question and moved to take Seth’s arm.
Seth turned back to me, pain etched across his face. ‘Eve please…’ he whispered.
I shook my head, and forced my voice not to betray how I felt. ‘Seth go, now.’
Seth paused, opened his mouth to speak but then changed his mind. Then he turned and walked out the church, ripping my heart out of my chest and taking it with him as he left. Caleb and Seth’s own personal guard went with him.
What had I done? I had sent away the biggest, most important part of my life. I had completely abused my position and ordered him away. I felt sick. I felt like I had been impaled, the pain was horrific.
‘Are you ok, Eve?’ Quinn asked, gently.
I nodded though nothing could be further from the truth.
‘Right, what’s next in my education?’ I said determinedly.
‘Eve, do you want to leave this for today?’ Persia asked, squeezing my hand gently.
‘No, I don’t,’ I snapped.
She nodded.
‘Sorry.’ I squeezed her hand back.
‘I’d quite like to get back home,’ said Eli. ‘Now that note has been delivered here, it’s obvious the Putarians know we’re here. We’re sitting ducks if we stay.’
Eli cocked his head slightly, waiting for me to argue. But I couldn’t, not now I had promised to do as I was told. But actually I knew he wasn’t just doing this because of the Putarians. Anything I tried with my powers today after what I had just done wouldn’t be particularly successful and it was probably safer for all of us if we called it quits.
I said my goodbyes, took Eli’s hand and slid us home. The other Guardians quickly followed, looking at me as if I was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.
16. My life or his
Tick. Tick. Tick. I had sat watching the clock in the lounge for hours, willing time to stop. Every second that passed by, was another second closer to the moment when my Guardians died. Alexandria would die first, sometime tomorrow. I looked at her, sitting opposite me. She was reading calmly as if she had all the time in the world. Mason would follow in three days. My eyes flittered to him as he sat in the chair, his eyes closed, seemingly asleep or deep in meditation. I couldn’t stand it anymore, I couldn’t bear even being in the same room as them.
I stood up and Mason’s eyes snapped open.
‘I’m just getting some air,’ I muttered. But after my little attempt at ditching them today it seemed I was never going to be alone. He was immediately on his feet.
‘I’m just going into the back garden.’
Mason made to follow me.
‘Look, I know I lost some of your trust today when I ran off. But I promised Eli that I wouldn’t do it again. It’s not a promise I intend to break.’
Eli appeared in the doorway. ‘That’s right, she did. She knows what’s at stake if she does.’
Seth.
‘You have five minutes and then I want you back inside.’
I guessed after the stunt I pulled today, Eli was going to be a lot stricter than normal. I wasn’t going to lose my freedom, but I guessed I had to pick my battles. There wasn’t much point arguing over something like this.
The garden was quite long and the back was hidden from the view of the house by bushes and trees.
I hurried down the path and sat on a bench in the dark. The sky was clear, tiny stars peppering the inky blackness.
I sighed. It had been a long day and the next few days were going to be even worse. If all my Guardians, my friends, family and Seth made it to Christmas alive it would be a miracle.
A noise on the fence drew my attention. A black cat was watching me in the darkness, yellow eyes glowing eerily in the moonlight.
I held my hand out and clicked my tongue to get it to come to me. It stood, arched its back and leapt off the fence towards me.
As it moved through the air, it suddenly exploded in size. I leapt back in shock as a huge lion pounced on me, sending me sprawling on the floor.
Sharp claws ripped my clothes, tore at my skin. I screamed out as teeth dug into my arm. I punched and kicked, landing a good hit in the side of his ribs. He whimpered a bit and I wrapped my legs around him and rolled myself on top. Anger boiled in my chest as I punched the lion several times in the face. He lashed out, catching me in the arm, leaving deep, bloody ravines across my shoulder. I punched again and this time I felt something break in the lion’s cheek. He yelped and I got up and ran. But the lion wasn’t finished with me yet, with a roar he pounced on me again, banging my head heavily on the concrete path as I fell.
He wouldn’t give up. None of them would ever give up. A furious rage exploded in my veins.
As the lion fixed his mouth round my throat, as the teeth broke my skin and pain seared through me, I pressed my hands against the lion’s chest and fire burst from them. The lion roared in pain as I burnt him but he fastened his teeth harder, still refusing to relinquish his hold. Furiously, I felt the heat in my hands get hotter and I pulled everything I had to burn him.
The lion howled and I saw the fire burning through his back lighting a searchlight in the sky. He went limp on top of me and I wriggled out from underneath his grip. A second later he melted into the bloody, burnt dead body of a man. No a boy. He could be no older than fifteen. There was a hole the size of a watermelon through his chest. I backed up against the fence, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I had killed him. I had ended his life. I couldn’t breathe. What had I become. I was supposed to be the saviour of life not the destroyer of it. My stomach retched and as I did I felt my body go limp.
I stood over my body in shock. I was dead. The lion had killed me. I hadn’t noticed how badly I was injured and now it was too late. I suppose it was divine retribution somehow; I had killed him, he had killed me. The eyes of my body were still open, transfixed on the burnt corpse.
‘Eve, damn it I said five minutes and I meant five minutes,’ I heard Eli say as he walked towards me. Had it only been five minutes. Five minutes ago this boy was still alive. Five minutes ago I wasn’t a murderer and I wasn’t dead.
Eli rounded the trees and froze. Instantly he was at my side.
‘Eve, are you ok?’ His hands checked me over. ‘Crap. Is this your blood or his?’
I was sure, any second now, he would realise that I was dead.
The next thing he scooped my body up into his arms, like I was a small child and carried me back to the house. I watched him go and turned my attention back to the corpse. I felt numb from what I had done. My own death didn’t really bother me, I had long since accepted my demise, but I did feel bad for my Guardians. But I was now a murderer, a cold killer.
I drifted back towards the house, not really sure what else to do. My body was on the sofa, surrounded by some of my Guardians.
Mason ran for the door. ‘I’ll get Jasmine.’
It was a bit late for that; I couldn’t be brought back from the dead.
‘Drive there, slide back,’ ordered Eli as Lucas checked me over himself.
Caleb and Alexandria shot into the room and with a nod of Eli’s head, they disappeared out the back, probably to deal with the body.
‘Her wounds aren’t serious. Some of the cuts are pretty deep but there’s nothing life threatening,’ said Lucas.
Apart from the fact that I was dead, surely they would notice that soon.
‘What about the wounds on her neck.’
‘No arteries have been cut. Eli these are bite marks, what the hell was it?’
‘I don’t know, he had already shifted back when I got there.’
Lucas looked back at me. ‘Eve, are you ok?’
Clearly not.
‘Is she drugged?’ asked Eli.
Lucas sniffed me, as he looked into my eyes. ‘No.’
‘Eli,’ Lucas shook his head in confusion. ‘She’s not in there.’
‘What?’
‘You know I can sense her, well, what I can feel isn’t coming from here.’
‘Where then?’
Lucas stood up and closed his eyes. He suddenly turned round and looked directly at where I was floating.
‘You can see me,’ I gasped, ‘I’m a ghost?’
But evidently he couldn’t hear that because he didn’t respond.
‘Astral Projection?’ asked Eli, looking in my direction as well, my dead body clearly forgotten.
‘Evidently,’ said Lucas, and then telepathically, ‘Eve, can you hear me?’
‘Yes. Lucas, what’s going on, am I dead?’
‘No, you’ve projected. Astral Projection. Your body is fine, you’re still breathing, though it’s very shallow, you’re not seriously injured. But your consciousness has left your body. I take it this wasn’t something you were trying to do deliberately.’
‘No.’ As relief surged through me, I returned to the problem in hand. ‘Lucas, I killed someone. A boy.’
Lucas’s face softened. ‘I know. Any chance you can get back in your body and we can talk about this properly?’
‘How do I get back in?’
Lucas was clearly stumped about this.
‘Is she ok?’ asked Eli.
‘Yes. She’s upset about her first kill.’ Lucas flicked on his mobile. ‘I’ll just give Persia a quick call.’
Eli stared at where I was floating then turned his attention back to my empty body. I could hear Lucas talking quietly on the phone, telling Persia I was fine. Then he came back to me.
‘Persia says you need to visualize waking up.’ He shrugged helplessly.
I stared at him for a moment, then back at my empty body. Eli was kneeling next to my body and I watched as he took my hand, squeezing it gently in his own. At this rare moment of compassion from him, I wanted to wake up.
And I did. I sat up blearily and relief washed through Eli’s face.
‘Sorry,’ I said, squeezing his hand in return.
His jaw set angrily. ‘I said five minutes Eve, you’ve been gone about fifteen by my reckoning.’
‘Not gone, just not here.’
‘Stay here, don’t get up,’ Eli said and marched off to the kitchen.
I watched him go as grief and guilt washed through me again. I let my head fall into my hands, but when I closed my eyes I could still see the bloody corpse, lying dead and burned in the back garden. I felt sick. ‘I murdered him with my bare hands.’
Lucas knelt in front of me and took my hands from my face.
‘Eve, if you hadn’t killed him, he would have killed you. He came into your garden, your home with the intention of killing you. You defended yourself.’
‘He was a boy, Lucas.’
He tenderly stroked a hair out of my face. ‘A boy sent to kill you. A boy that thought he would have a go at claiming the bounty. He was going to kill you for money. There are many reasons to kill; in revenge, in defence, neither of them are great but to kill for money is the lowest, most disgusting reason.’
I shook my head, angrily. ‘He just wouldn’t stop. I tried to get away. I punched him and kicked him and he wouldn’t stop.’
‘Then there was no choice. Your life or his.’
‘It doesn’t make it any easier,’ I whispered.
‘His won’t be the first life you’ll take before the end,’ said Eli, handing me a can of coke.
I looked at him in horror. ‘And that doesn’t make it any easier either.’
Suddenly Quinn ran into the room. He took one look at me and pulled me up into a hug. I clung to him, holding him tight until the ache in my heart receded slightly. Lucas was right, there was no choice.
I sighed into Quinn’s chest as I looked down at my red Converse trainers. ‘I want to go home Quinn. This Oz is not what it’s cracked up to be. The munchkins are super strength beings, Toto turned into my brother, the wicked witch of the west has hundreds of assassins ready to kill me and the lion just nearly ripped out my throat.’
Quinn held me tighter. ‘Yeah Kansas is looking more and more appealing.’
‘They have Shape Shifters in Kansas too,’ said Eli, with a degree of confusion.
‘Bloody Shape Shifters,’ I said, looking up at Quinn.
‘Yeah, sorry about that.’
*
Lucas came into my room later that night as I lay staring at the ceiling.
‘Persia wants to talk.’ He held the phone out for me. I took it and he left the room.
‘Hey,’ I said, quietly.
‘Hi, how you doing?’
‘I’m ok.’
‘You’re not, but you will be.’
I sighed.
‘I killed someone Persia. Have you ever killed someone?’
That wasn’t fair, she was trying to be supportive.
‘Yes. When I was nine.’
My mouth was suddenly dry.
‘A Putarian. He tried to kill my family. I stopped him.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be. At first I was just happy that I stopped him. I was nine; I don’t think I fully understood what I had done. It took a few days for it to sink in, then I think I cried for a week. You’ll never forget it. But when I think about what could have been, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.’
I didn’t have anything I could say but Persia nobly changed the subject for me.
‘Astral Projection eh Eve?’
‘Yes, apparently.’
‘That’s incredibly rare.’
‘Have you ever… Projected?’
‘No. Yes. Once on a ley line.’
She obviously felt my confusion as she pressed on.
‘It is believed that the earth’s energy, its magnetic field passes from the earth’s core to the surface and this forms magnetic lines around the surface of the world. Probably to do with fault lines, but also to do with the magnetic force passing through pockets of water, and different rocks, minerals and lava. This might make certain areas warmer, or cooler. Hundreds of years ago, many sacred sites were built along ley lines, in order to cultivate the earth’s energy. Some believe that where ley lines cross, there is more psychic energy. The Donum believe that when we stand on the ley line crossing, we can link our power with that of the earth.’
‘And you projected on one?’
‘Yes. Different ley lines affect the Donum in different ways and I projected. Just for a few minutes. Eve, my uncle can project, at will. He says he will teach you how to do it, properly and safely.’
‘He will?’
‘He’s wanted to meet you for a long time actually, but I’ve put him off in the past. I didn’t think you would want people coming to stare at you like an animal in the zoo. But now, well I don’t know anyone else that can project. He is very powerful; he might be able to teach you a few other skills. The thing is, he doesn’t want anything to do with the Oraculum. Would you be willing to meet him without your Guardians?’
‘No,’ I said, without hesitation. ‘Not after everything they’ve done for me, I won’t try to deceive them like that and there’s no way they’d let me go alone.’
‘I understand. I said it wasn’t a good idea to do that, especially with the number of people that want you dead. Hang on.’
The line went muffled for a moment, then Persia came back on the line.
‘He has a place in mind. It’s not far from here. He says it’s somewhere the Oraculum can’t find us.’
I picked at a loose thread on my duvet cover.
‘I know he sounds paranoid, but the Oraculum have not exactly been kind to him. He’s my Uncle, Eve. I trust him completely.’
I smiled. ‘Then I trust him too. That’ll be great.’
‘The day after tomorrow, if that’s ok. It’s his birthday tomorrow, so we’re kind of having a family do.’
‘You’re close
?’
‘Very.’
‘Then I can’t wait to meet him.’
*
I lay in bed in the early hours of the morning. I hadn’t dared go to sleep for fear of seeing the corpse of the man I killed and in case I inadvertently pulled Seth to me again. I felt lonely without him. When I was a child and I had nightmares, I used to cuddle up to Quinn, when he was a dog, and his warmth would always soothe me.
I got up and wandered out onto the landing. Lucas was outside as normal. It would be weird now if he wasn’t. The house was almost silent, though I could hear the sound of the TV on low downstairs.
‘Going somewhere?’ asked Lucas.
‘To see Quinn.’
‘I think he’s asleep.’
‘It doesn’t matter.’
Lucas didn’t question this, he just moved to stand outside Quinn’s door instead. I pushed the door open and peered round. He was sprawled out fast asleep on the bed. There was a sofa in this room so I crept in and sat down on it. Being with Quinn made me feel instantly calmer. His coat was thrown over the arm of the sofa, so I wrapped it around me, as I curled up in the corner. It smelt of him and I breathed it in, feeling sleepy.
When I woke, it took me a few minutes to realise, I was lying in Quinn’s bed. I rolled over, wondering where he was and found him asleep on the sofa. He’d obviously woken up during the night and realised I was there and moved me to the bed, then took my place on the sofa. As I stirred he woke up and grinned at me.
I frowned at him. ‘Why did you move me?’
‘Because I reckoned the sofa wasn’t very comfy, I was right, it’s a pain in the neck, literally.’ He rubbed his neck.
‘Well that’s my problem, not yours, I’ve got a perfectly good bed in there, if I choose to come and lie on your sofa, that’s down to me, I don’t expect you to lose a night’s sleep over it.’
‘Which begs the question, what were you doing on my sofa?’ He smiled, not put out at all by my little rant.
I blushed. ‘I couldn’t sleep, it made me feel better being with you.’
He frowned and I rolled over away from him so I didn’t have to see his concern. I looked out the window instead. ‘Rain, I hate the rain,’ I changed the subject. ‘Plus it kind of puts a dampener on my training too.’