“Incomplete,” said Matt, his tone subdued. “Like a missing tooth.”
“A Sentinel link lasts for life, guys. That’s a long time to feel like a vital part of yourself is missing.”
Noah was visibly struggling with the idea. “Even if we wanted to talk to him, we don’t know where he is or how to contact him, and he keeps the link masked.”
“Don’t make excuses, Noah,” Toby said in a tired voice. “If you want to talk to him, then you know exactly how to reach him.”
Matt frowned. “How?”
“Noah is the Wind of Earth,” Andrea said. “The Winds will always hear his call. Whether Ethan decides to answer is a separate issue.”
“I can’t initiate the Wind Link without his consent,” Noah said weakly.
“But you can always reach him, even if he chooses not to respond,” Matt answered with a hint of excitement. “At least he’d know we’re ready to talk.”
“If we’re ready,” Toby said, his eyes on Noah.
“You’re the one he turned on, Toby,” Noah said. “Do you want me to do this?”
“I’ve known Ethan for more than half my life,” Toby said. “If he’s not part of my life anymore, I want to know why. I want to understand.”
Noah took a deep breath. “Okay.” He closed his eyes and reached out to the Winds. He felt Ethan’s presence immediately. “Hello, brother.”
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Ethan leapt off the bed in his hotel room and whipped his head around, trying to find the source of the voice. “Noah? Is that you?”
“Yes.”
Ethan pulled himself together, his thoughts becoming wary and guarded. “What do you want?”
“We want to talk to you.”
“Since when? Nothing has changed.” Ethan paused. “Wait, I’ve still got the link masked. How did you find me?”
“You’re the Wind of Fire. I’ll always be able to reach you as long as your Gift is awake.”
“Then maybe it needs to go to sleep again,” Ethan retorted. The others could feel his bitterness seeping through the link.
“Can’t you just talk to us, Eth?” asked Matt.
Ethan was silent. “Are Andrea and Toby here, too?”
“I’m here,” Andrea said. “Toby can’t hear us. If you like, I can relay to him what you have to say.”
“Don’t bother,” said Ethan. “I already know what he must think of me.”
“But he doesn’t know what you think of him, Ethan,” Andrea answered. “It’s killing him not to understand how you could hate him so much.”
“I don’t hate him,” Ethan said.
“Then why?” Matt asked. “Why sell him out to those thugs?”
Ethan didn’t answer for a time. “He was a means to an end, a way to hurt the Nexus.”
“That’s your reason?” Noah asked angrily. “You used him to get to the Nexus? They’re machines. What makes you think they give a damn about him?”
“I—I don’t know.” Ethan hesitated. “You really think he’d listen to me? After everything I did?”
“You could try,” said Andrea. “He wants to understand. Do you want me to bring him into the link with me?”
“No,” Ethan answered with firm resolve. “A regular link wouldn’t be enough. If he wants to understand, then there are things I want him to see that he can’t experience through a regular link.” He turned his attention to Noah. “Open the Wind Link. I give you my consent.”
Noah’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? It would mean accepting your place as a Wind. I don’t know how you managed to suppress your power before, but once we enter the Wind Link, our powers will increase exponentially. You might not be able to shutter it away again.”
“I’m sure,” said Ethan. “I stopped being afraid of what I was when Sarah died. After that, I only hid out of habit.”
Noah focused on Matt and Andrea. “Are you ready?”
“If it will settle this, then count me in,” said Matt.
Andrea nodded. “If I enter the Link, then Toby will be drawn to the periphery. Ethan will be able to reach him through me.” Her thoughts grew bitterly cold. “If you try to hurt him, then I will know, Ethan. I will crush your mind without hesitation. Remember that.”
“I understand,” Ethan said simply.
Noah touched the minds of the Winds again and willed the Wind Link into existence.
Armistice Security Training Center, Anchorpoint City, Colorado
To Toby’s psychic senses, the comforting glow of Andrea’s mind exploded into a storm of crystalline shards, fusing with the other Winds into a chaotic whirlwind of brilliant lights as their normal personalities were subsumed into a greater pattern that Toby could almost, but not quite, understand. He was carried along in their wake, drawn to the edge of the maelstrom to bask in their radiance.
Earth spoke to Fire. “Show us.”
Fire opened his mind and the memories spilled out. Ethan’s first meeting with Sarah, his uncertainty while they forged their relationship, the day he admitted that he loved her, the night he told her his secrets, and her acceptance of what he was. The night he proposed in her apartment in New York City, his joy when he slipped a ring onto her finger, rubies for fire and diamonds for love. Making love that night and the next morning before going into the streets for a late lunch, ignorant of the riots that had spread throughout the city.
Toby suffered beside him, as they were attacked by panicked humans, felt Ethan’s rage as he reached for power while she bled in his arms, finding nothing. The other Winds were silent while Ethan huddled against her lifeless body when his Gift finally answered his call, too late, his grief and hopelessness the only things that held him back from releasing her and striking out to massacre the frenzied crowd.
The memories flashed forward while months passed, and Ethan used the emotional control he had been taught to master his grief to the point where he could hide it from even his closest friends. They saw his decision to funnel money to the terrorists, the choice to allow Toby to join them on tour so he could dig up more intelligence on the Nexus through an Armistice insider. They felt his rage explode when Toby told them of his link to the Nexus, threatening to consume him in wrath before it finally burned hideously cold, turning to a frigid, calculating hatred.
They saw his advance knowledge of the terrorist attacks and his conscious decision not to share the information that Armistice Security had shifted the location of Toby’s wedding. Toby watched Ethan’s final conversation with his contact in the Organic Underground, and the weeks afterward, while the other Sentinel drifted, rootless and alone, from city to city in Europe.
They were all silent when the memories faded. No one spoke as Fire reached into his pocket and drew out a small velvet box, opening it to reveal a gold ring set with rubies and diamonds.
Fire wept.
Earth, Water, and Air surrounded him in their silent sympathy. Finally, Fire raised his mental gaze and focused on Toby. “Now you understand.”
Toby was silent for a time. “You protected me at the end. Why?”
Fire dropped his eyes to stare at the ring in his hand.“Your masters took away that which made life worthwhile. You were never my enemy, only them. The other hosts were to have been spared, but not you. They would have struck at you, no matter how many innocents would die for your death to be assured.”
Toby regarded him soberly. “Ethan, the Nexus attacked for revenge, but they chose to hold back their final stroke. They didn’t have reasons anywhere near as pure as mercy, but they held back. Your revenge killed a lot of people, but you held back from pulling the trigger yourself, when you easily could have gone through with it. How are your actions any different from theirs?”
Fire glared at him, his eyes blazing. “They killed her. Do you dare to ask me to forgive them?”
“Brother,” said Water, “your grief clouds your thoughts. The crowd killed your lover, not the Nexus.”
Fire dismissed him. “They we
re afraid.”
“No, brother. They were angry,” answered Air. “They could have chosen reason over rage to address their fear, but they did not.”
“Nor did you,” Earth said implacably.
Fire collapsed to his knees, clutching at the ring. “I am lost, alone in the dark. How can there ever again be light, when she is gone?”
Earth, Air, and Water held Fire in their psychic embrace while he howled with loss. Finally, he fell silent, shuddering in their arms. “Be at peace, brother,” they said, their voices blending into one.“We will never leave you.”
“Lost…” he whispered back.
Toby laid his psychic touch on Fire’s shoulder.“We all knew her, Ethan. We saw her through your eyes. She would never have wanted you to kill in her name. You’re not a murderer yet. Come back to us. You won’t be alone anymore. We can find a way out of the darkness together.”
Fire raised his bloodshot eyes to meet Toby’s. “I would have given them your blood to dull my pain. Your blood, your lady’s, your son’s. Do they matter so little to you that you are so quick to forgive?”
“I forgive nothing,” said Toby, drawing his hand back. “But I can’t say I’d have done anything differently if our positions had been reversed.”
Fire got to his feet and regarded Toby with a level gaze. “I thank you for the offer. I shall consider it.”
The Wind Link shattered when Fire withdrew from the fusion. Noah, Matt, and Andrea collapsed, gasping.
Toby remained the only one still on his feet. “Icarus,” he subvocalized, “tell Nexus White that I will relocate to the Citadel whenever it assigns me quarters.” He sighed. “Ask if it can arrange for something with a view. I’m going to be there for a long time.”
“I’ll pass on the message,” answered the AI. “May I ask what brought about this change of heart?”
“Magic requires sacrifice. It’s time I accepted the consequences of my actions.”
CHAPTER 35
February 2043; Marina District, San Francisco, California; Two weeks later
Layla stood with her hands on her hips, surveying the half-packed cardboard boxes strewn over the floor of Toby’s bedroom. “Amazing,” she said. “How can just one man accumulate so much crap?”
“Hey, don’t insult my threads,” Toby chided, taking down another set of clothes from the closet and throwing them haphazardly into one of the boxes. “I spent a good chunk of my life building this collection.”
She snorted. “I know. It’s pathetic.” She began pulling books off the wall shelves, noting the film of dust that clung to them. “How many of these have you actually read?”
Toby glanced up for a moment and then went back to the closet for another armload of clothing. “I’ve been busy lately. I read when I have time.”
She set the books down carefully in another box, then pulled some more off the shelves. She casually read the back covers before laying them in the box with the others. “I don’t know why you refused to have Armistice Security pack up the apartment if you were worried about infiltrators from the Underground. Surely that would have been more efficient than pressing your friends into service?”
“They volunteered.”
She laughed. “No doubt, they wanted to help. I’m sure the opportunity to ridicule your belongings was merely a welcome bonus.”
Toby scowled at her in mock disdain. “Don’t you have a government to run?”
“I think this is an opportunity for me, as well. It is seldom I get a chance to improve my knowledge of the man I married.” She finished one shelf and started on the next.
Toby stared at her. Then he pulled a thick volume bound in dark green leather from the shelf on the opposite wall. He held it out to her. “If you want to learn about me, then you might want to start here instead.”
She raised an eyebrow and took the book from him, noting that the spine and covers were blank. She opened it to the first page and found it covered with his handwriting.
“I’m going to do it,” she read. “Tonight. It’s the perfect opportunity. How bad could it go? At worst, she says ‘no’. Well, no, that’s not the worst. Not really. She could always rip my throat out with her claws, just to make a point. Still, I won’t know until I try. And who knows? She might say ‘yes’.” She turned her attention to the date at the top of the page. December 17, 2041. Nick’s wedding day. The day he asked her out.
She flipped to the page marked with a slip of ribbon, about three quarters of the way into the book. December 17, 2042. “A year ago, she said ‘yes’. Today, she’ll say ‘I do’. Please God, don’t let me screw this up. I want her to be happy. The first night, she asked me if I thought I was the man for the job. I said she could do worse, and so could I. I know I was right about me. I could have done so much worse, so easily. Let me be right about her, too. A hundred years from now, I hope she looks back on us and remembers me fondly.”
The rest of the pages were blank.
She lifted her gaze to meet his eyes, watching her anxiously. “Why did you stop writing?”
He suddenly appeared calm and completely at ease. “It’s what you said after the wedding. ‘Peace, Leshir. I will never leave you.’ After that, there wasn’t any need to write it down anymore. I knew you’d keep the memories for me.”
She closed the book and stroked her fingertips across his cheek. “Thank you, Tobias.”
He shook his head. “No, Leshir. Thank you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “For what?”
He grinned at her. “You said ‘yes’.”
She worked a spell in her mind, and the book glowed with a bright green light, and then disappeared—teleported to her Sanctum at the base of the House Curallorn stronghold beneath the ruins of Cahokia, along with the greatest treasures she had gathered over the millennia. “If you do not mind, I will read it another time, when I can give it my undivided attention.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Tobias—” she began, but was interrupted by a loud musical tone from the teleport gateway in the living room, announcing an incoming traveler.
They both hurried to the door when they heard Nick’s voice.
Toby walked into the living room to see his brother talking to Noah, Matt, and Andrea in a harsh whisper.
“Nick!” Toby said with surprise. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be watching Antonio.”
Nick faced Toby. “I left him in Anchorpoint. Rory and Take are standing guard over him.”
Layla strode forward imperiously. “You left our son protected by the former Wind of Earth and one of the strongest vampire lords in existence. What has happened that caused you to take such precautions and then leave his side?”
“Ethan Clark flew into New York City about two hours ago,” Nick said, his face creased in anger. “He signed off on the Armistice Declaration and sailed through the Test of Reason. Legally, they had no basis to refuse him provisional citizenship. That gives him free passage throughout the Armistice Zone, not including the Hidden Cities. He doesn’t have the access codes to pass the jumper block around Anchorpoint, so Antonio is probably perfectly safe, but I didn’t want to take chances in case he changed destinations to misdirect Armistice Security.”
“What do you mean, ‘changed destinations’?” asked Andrea.
“He jumped directly from New York to the San Francisco chapterhouse. He’s probably already on his way here.”
Organic Underground Headquarters, Chicago, Illinois
Reese looked up when one of his subordinates entered his private office. “What is it?”
“One of our automated listening devices just updated. There’s activity in Tobias Jameson’s apartment in San Francisco. We reviewed the recordings. He’s definitely on site, but they appear to be packing up. It looks like he’s on the move.”
Reese slammed his fist against the desk. “Damn! That’s the only vulnerable point he frequents that isn’t locked up by Armistice Security. If he leaves, we’l
l never get to him.” He typed furiously at the keypad in front of him. “What assets do we have in place in San Francisco that are ready to attack on short notice?”
“Currently, almost nothing that can be brought to bear without a few hours’ preparation. We may not be able to move against him in time.” The operative frowned. “There’s one dormant asset that’s recently shifted position, however. It appears to be entering the target area.”
Reese paused in his work. “What dormant asset?”
“Ethan Clark’s car. It was impounded for parking violations after he left the country and has been stationary for the last two months. It began moving again less than an hour ago.”
Reese stared at him. Then he began to laugh.
Marina District, San Francisco, California
Ethan looked through his grimy windshield, noting a cordon of Armistice Security agents surrounding Toby’s apartment building. Standing on either side of the front door were Nick and Layla. He pulled over to the side of the street and got out of his car, which was covered with dust.
Ethan walked toward the cordon alone and unarmed, noting the layered jumper block as soon as he entered its influence. When he reached the line of Sentinels, one of the agents gestured him forward. “They’re waiting for you at the door, my Lord. I hope you’re not here to cause trouble.”
“No trouble, agent,” answered Ethan. “I just want to talk to them.”
The agent nodded gravely. “I hope so, sir. It would be unfortunate if we were forced to kill one of the Winds over a misunderstanding.”
Ethan didn’t answer; he just walked past. A quad of Sentinels peeled away from the cordon to keep pace beside him. Ethan ignored them.
When he reached the door, he faced Nick. “I’m not here to fight.”
“Glad to hear it,” said Nick. “So why are you here, then?”
“I want to talk to Toby and the others.” He took a deep breath. “It’s time we settled a few things.”
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