by Holly Martin
But I couldn’t do that to him. What if today was the day that he would die for me? I wouldn’t risk him like that, I couldn’t. I could probably go along with whatever else the Oraculum put in my hands, but I couldn’t let Seth die. I would let him go. I would close my mind to him and find another way out of this. I held onto him for a few more seconds, because in my moment of despair his voice soothed me. Then I let him go, my bright light winking out in the darkness. I closed my mind to him and to the possibility of being rescued.
21. They all died for me
As soon as I let him go, I suddenly felt a heavy weight on top of me, squashing the air out of my lungs, crushing me into the bottom of the boot.
‘Evie, are you ok, I felt you, you reached out for me, where the hell are we?’ It was Seth.
I felt relief and then guilt flood through me, I was saved but at what cost. Despite the fact that I couldn’t move, I could feel the tears fill my eyes. I couldn’t lose him. I wouldn’t.
‘Evie?’ My silence made him anxious. Despite the close proximity, his hands found my face and neck. He pressed two fingers against the side of my throat first to find my pulse. Satisfied that my heart was still pumping, his fingers moved to my lips to check my breathing. ‘You’re alive,’ he whispered, his hands now moving up to my eyes to see if they were open, his fingers touched the tears and he gasped. ‘Are you hurt? Speak to me Evie.’
I pushed out against the weight on my mind, pushed as hard as I could so I could talk to him telepathically. Now he was so close, his glorious smell filling my nose, his warm breath in my face, it was easier to find his mind, to talk to him.
‘It’s a paralytic, I can’t move, they’ve closed my mind to the Guardians as well. I can’t feel my powers either. You shouldn’t have come. You’re supposed to obey me,’ I growled in his head.
Seth breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Not at the cost of your life,’ he growled back.
‘No at the cost of yours.’
‘Right let’s get you out of here.’ His hands were still on my face, his mouth so close I could feel his soft breath on my lips. I quickly closed my mind again, before he could see or hear my thoughts about kissing him.
His hand travelled down my body to find the lock of the boot and he pushed against it. It didn’t give. Seth somehow found the room to slide off me and then managed to roll me up into a ball in the corner of the boot, my knees touching my nose.
‘Don’t mind me,’ I hissed, in his mind.
Seth ignored me, I felt him stretch out, his feet towards the lock and then one loud bang later the boot lid suddenly flew open. Street lights flooded into the boot as Seth scrabbled up onto his knees. His hand shot out and grabbed a handful of my pyjamas and then as the car screeched to a halt Seth jumped out of the car and was sailing through the air, dragging me along with him. Before he even started making the descent, he had swung me round to hold me in his arms, I flopped uselessly like a rag doll against him as he landed softly on the balls of his feet and took off at a dead run into the woods. The trees whizzed past, a blur of dark green.
A few minutes later Seth stopped and listened. He placed me gently down on the floor and stood back up, his eyes scanning the woods. The moonlight picked out the trees around us.
‘Damn it,’ Seth growled.
I pushed against the weight again to speak to him in his head, it was even easier this time. ‘What’s wrong?’
Seth knelt down to talk to me, his face filled with worry. ‘I can’t protect you and fight them at the same time, there’s too many Putarians in the woods with us, they’re getting closer and I don’t know what to do. The Guardians have heard me and are on their way on foot, but I don’t think they’re going to get here in time.’
Here we were again. Despite everything we had done, we had landed smack bang in the middle of Persia’s prophecy again.
‘Can’t they slide?’
Seth shook his head. ‘They can’t feel you so they can’t slide to you.’
‘But they know I’m with you, can’t they slide to you.’
‘No, your mind is what pulls them in, without that there’s nothing they can do. Look you found me, can’t you do that again, open your mind to the Guardians. As soon as they feel you they’ll be here.’
I pushed against the weight on my mind, straining as hard as I could to reach for Lucas, but the weight just trickled back through, clamping down on my brain again.
‘It’s because I know you so well Seth, you’ve always been easier to find than anyone else. I can’t find them now, the drugs are too strong.’
Seth stood up alert and listening. ‘They’re coming in from all sides, Eve you have to do something, I can’t protect you against all of them, the Deus are as strong as I am.’
Then he listened again, but this time I knew he was listening to the other Guardians.
He laughed dully at whatever they said. ‘She certainly won’t appreciate that.’
‘What Seth?’ I asked.
‘Alexandria has had a suggestion, something that might break the bonds on you.’
‘Do it,’ I said.
‘I don’t think you’ll like it. It won’t work anyway.’
‘Seth I’ve got nothing here, if you have an idea to get us out of this mess, however implausible or unpleasant, just do it.’
‘I never said it would be unpleasant,’ Seth muttered quietly.
‘SETH!’ I roared.
‘Ok, ok.’ Seth suddenly knelt down, took me in his arms and kissed me, tenderly on the mouth.
‘Seth what are you…’ I stopped talking, as my heart pounded furiously against my chest, my blood raced through my veins. And as before my powers surged through me, they didn’t just bubble beneath the surface, they roared. I glowed, a bright searchlight scoring through the darkness. I had thought about kissing Seth a lot since the first time, but hadn’t expected it to happen again when we were both faced with certain death. But I reflected if we were both going to die then kissing Seth was a fantastic finale. I looped my arms round his neck and kissed him back. Seth suddenly pulled back, smiling.
‘Interesting, I never thought for one minute it would work.’
‘What?’ I asked, and suddenly realised that I had spoken that instead of thought it, that my arms were wrapped tightly around Seth’s neck, that I could blink again finally, and more important than that, I could hear the Guardians again. The constant humming that I had so wished that I could get rid of was now like a welcome chorus.
Suddenly we weren’t alone in the woods, with a soft swishing sound Guardians appeared out of nowhere, Eli, Caleb, Alexandria, Mason, Lucas, Matthew and three others from my outer guard. Mr Curtis, Mr Kennedy and maybe ten others I didn’t know. All of them appeared, coiled ready to pounce.
I scrabbled to my feet. I would fight too. My mind still felt weighted down, but if I could hear the Guardians then maybe I could use some of my other powers. I could do something to help. Silently Eli directed some of the Guardians off into the trees to head the Putarians off, the others hung back to form a circle around me and Seth. As I flexed my powers in my head, I felt a wave of nausea surge through me, my body was still fighting the drugs it would seem. Eli looked at Seth and Seth nodded. He grabbed me and swung me up into his arms.
‘Seth no I can fight too,’ I protested.
Seth ignored me, his eyes fixed firmly on the woods. The sound of running feet started to get louder, coming from all sides, then there was the sound of fighting and screaming, yelling, roars of pain. Seth’s grip tightened on me. Eli seemed to be following the fighting in his head as suddenly he pointed in the direction that Lucas had gone and Seth flew in that direction with Alexandria at his side. Within seconds Seth passed Lucas, standing over the mangled body of one of the Putarians but he didn’t slow down he ran on with me in his arms. Seconds later a blood stained Lucas fell in at Seth’s side.
As they ran through the woods, I was struck with how the Guardians moved as one, like birds flocking and swo
oping together fluidly in the sky. When Seth veered left, heading for a steep hill, Lucas and Alexandria veered left at the same time. They kept climbing the hill without breaking stride, without stopping until they broke the peak. Only then did Seth stop, but he didn’t release his hold on me. He listened, whether to the other Guardians that were still fighting in the woods or for anyone following them. Whatever he heard he relaxed.
‘The fight is over,’ Lucas said, still poised and alert as he scanned the horizon.
Seth gently stood me back on the floor, but the wave of nausea and tiredness that I had been fighting for the last few minutes suddenly flooded through me and I sagged against him. Seth caught me, looking at me anxiously.
‘I’m ok Seth.’ I righted myself. ‘It’s just the drugs. I can still feel the effects though my mind seems to be fighting them. What happened there, why did the drugs suddenly wear off?’
Seth blushed furiously and Alexandria grinned at him.
‘It was your idea Alexandria, you explain,’ Seth muttered, turning away from me with embarrassment.
‘You have all those powers in you Eve but your human emotions are powerful forces too. Love, desire, passion are very, very powerful. The blood pumping round your body in response to Seth’s kiss was enough to stimulate your other senses and shake off the paralysation. At the very least I thought it might be enough to lift the block off the part the Guardians could sense. As it happens it did both,’ Alexandria explained.
‘Oh,’ I said quietly. I had been convinced that I could fight my way out of that situation with the powers in my mind. In the end it was my completely inappropriate feelings for Seth that had saved me. I glanced across at Seth but he was looking away from me.
Suddenly the air was filled with the soft swishing again, indicating the arrival of the Guardians, Eli, Mason and Caleb. My own personal guard was now complete.
Eli went straight to me. ‘Are you ok?’
I nodded, glad of the distraction.
‘The Putarians that were after you are dead.’
‘All of them?’
Eli nodded. ‘What happened Eve, how did they get to you?’
I remembered back to the house, the noise and chaos. ‘There was shouting at the house, Caleb told me to slide to the church.’
Caleb looked at me in shock. ‘I swear to you Eve, that wasn’t me, I was downstairs when they broke in.’
Eli nodded. ‘I can confirm that, he fought by my side.’
I sighed. ‘A shape shifter then, how did he get to my room?’
‘He could have got in as a spider or something, we wouldn’t even have seen him, and then when he was in place the others broke in, to cause a distraction. It worked too, we were so intent on fighting them off we didn’t even notice you had slid. It was only when we could no longer sense your mind, that we realised that you had gone,’ Alexandria explained.
‘They were waiting for me at the church, I was so stupid. I saw shadows moving and just assumed it was you guys, that you had slid to me. They had some drug, some chemical on a cloth that they forced over my mouth. It blocked my connection to you, made my powers inaccessible, made me paralysed. There was a man called Corben…’ I saw Lucas and Eli exchange angry glances. ‘He wanted to kill me, they all did, they all cheered when they saw he had me.’
‘It was a big elaborate plan, starting with getting us to move house so we would be more vulnerable to an attack.’ Eli sighed angrily. ‘It was Abe, it had been from the start.’
‘No!’
‘I sort of had my suspicions. Not at first, I just thought he was young and impetuous. But of late. I knew someone was betraying us but I couldn’t figure out who. When the Outer Guard came to us, before you slid, he fought against us. I killed him myself. The attack on your parents’ home, the Putarians finding out where we were training, the notes, they were all him, or aided by him.’
Betrayal burnt deep in my heart.
‘Was he not pledged to me?’
‘I don’t know, I thought he was. Samuel chose him for you.’
The Guardians went silent, all deep in thought.
‘But they’re all dead, this Corben that you seem to know, he’s dead too?’ I asked, remembering his eyes filled with joy at the prospect of my death.
Eli shook his head, angrily. ‘He wasn’t among the dead, he must not have followed you into the woods.’
I swallowed, nervously. He lives to try to kill me again another day.
‘I’m not sure how you will take this but some of your other Guardians are dead too. Your teacher Mr Curtis, Matthew, two others that you didn’t know,’ Eli said, quietly.
I felt numb. Although I had barely known these Guardians I felt grief flood through me at their loss.
‘What were their names?’ I whispered, choking back the tears. Seth was next to me, his arm round my shoulders
‘Kyle and Loren.’
I nodded feeling numb and cold as my body melted into Seth’s. Four more deaths on my hands.
‘What now?’ asked Seth over my head.
‘The Fort I think.’ Eli flicked open his phone, and tapped out a quick number, then wandered a short distance away from us to make the call.
I hugged Seth tightly to me, burying my face in his chest to block out the pain. I heard Eli come back.
‘We need to get to one of the fields down there to get the helicopter.’
I felt Seth nod, then I felt his warm breath next to my ear. ‘Can you walk Evie?’
I nodded weakly. We started to slowly make our way down the hill, my Guardians in such close formation round me that I could barely move forward without touching them. I felt dizzy though the drugs and the grief made me seem detached from my body, from my legs. After the third time I stumbled, drunkenly, down the hill, Seth swung me up into his arms and carried me the rest of the way, ignoring my feeble protests.
We finally broke the trees and walked out into the moonlit field, the wind softly swishing the long grass around us. Soon a vibrating sound indicated the imminent arrival of the helicopter. A great black shadow blocked out the moonlight as it landed not far from where we were waiting. It was huge, looking more like a small plane than a helicopter. It was matt black, even as the bright moonlight flooded the field, it was almost impossible to see. Seth put me down so we could climb on board more easily. Eli directed me to a seat in the middle and I sat down feeling empty inside. Seth fastened my seat harness around me, then sat down next to me, taking my hand.
The helicopter took off smoothly. It was so loud under the rotors that it would make talking impossible.
So even my home wasn’t safe anymore, even with five Guardians and a shape shifter I wasn’t safe. I suddenly thought about Quinn.
‘Are Quinn and Persia coming?’ My voice sounded flat in my head.
‘We’ll send the helicopter back for them tomorrow,’ Seth replied.
‘Were they ok in the house, with the fight?’
Seth laughed out loud. ‘We were fighting the Putarians when suddenly this great Grizzly Bear was fighting with us. He literally threw the Putarians against the wall. Quinn can get pretty mad sometimes eh? And Persia, well, I seriously wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of her. She’s ferocious.’
My friends, my brother had all fought for me and I had ran away. I had thought it the best for all of us. To slide out and then pull them to me, but that action had resulted in four of my Guardians being killed. Next time I would fight alongside them. A thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘You were fighting in the house?’
‘Eve don’t start. I swore to protect you, as Eli said, you can’t order us not to protect you. In a situation like that when you were under attack, all the Guardians in the area were called.’
‘But I ordered you to not come near me…’
‘Your life must be protected at all costs, it supersedes all orders.’
It had all been for nothing. He had still continued to fight for me and when it came down to it, when
he was called to fight alongside me, he came because my salvation was more important than my orders, than my silly demands. There really was nothing I could do to save him. I looked out the window away from him, into the darkness. We were above the sea now. I could see the silver ribbons of moonlight glinting off the water below, as if there were hoards of treasure buried beneath the waves.
Suddenly I could see another shadow outside the window, in the distance, something fast flying through the clouds towards us. I leaned forward in my seat to get a better look and Eli, seated at my other side did the same, to see what I was looking at.
‘What did you see Eve?’ he said in my head.
I shook my head. ‘It was a plane, I’m sure of it, but it was so small.’
Eli looked at me, his eyes widened in fear. He obviously communicated with the pilot as we suddenly dipped down so we were skimming over the waves. Then I saw it clearly. It looked like a harrier but about half the size, as it fell in at our side. Eli was on his feet faster than was possible. The helicopter swerved violently away from the plane and Eli didn’t even lose his balance. But the manoeuvrability of the plane was much more agile than our oversized helicopter and within seconds he was on our side again.
‘I take it he’s not one of ours?’
I didn’t need to see the wary glances between my Guardians to know he wasn’t.
‘Corben. He must have seen us take off in the helicopter, he must have arranged this.’ Eli explained.
‘Do we have any weapons on board?’
Eli shook his head. ‘It’s designed for transport not combat.’
My heart hammered against my chest, was there no end to this madness. The Putarians would never stop until I was dead. Eli opened the door to the helicopter, the plane was so close I could clearly see the features of the pilot, the features of a furious hate. And then in a moment of pure insanity, and pure precision Eli leapt from the helicopter and landed on the nose of the plane.