by Holly Martin
I fell to my knees at his side, automatically trying to stem the bleeding that still seemed to be pumping from his body. There was a hole in his stomach the size of a large melon, the hole was so large I could actually see the cave floor through his back.
I realised I was kneeling on something wet and slippery, and as I shifted back, I nearly vomited at what I saw in the flickering light.
Matthias’s battered heart was on the floor. It had literally been torn from his chest. And then I knew how he had died. It was Adam. The last thing that Matthias would have seen, as he struggled to breathe his last breath, was his heart being torn from his chest and squeezed till it was a bloody pulp. Drops of blood was on his face, blood that had dripped from the heart as it was held in front of his eyes for him to see. And once Matthias had died, the mangled heart had then been thrown to one side like a piece of rubbish.
‘I did it for you,’ Adam’s voice rang out from the darkness.
I backed away from the voice and the grotesque tortured body before me.
‘You saved me from them, and now I’ve done the same for you. I’ve saved you from them,’ he said, then laughed dryly. ‘It also had the added bonus of being really good fun, but mainly it was for you.’
I looked down at my hands covered in fresh blood, at my clothes too. What had I done? I had saved Adam and now Matthias was dead because of me. I slid quickly back to Cain. Most of the others were still there, Leon hadn’t taken them to their positions yet. Though as I stumbled to my knees, I was bitterly disappointed to see that Seth had already gone, obviously part of the increased security needed on the course. I needed his arms around me now, I needed to bury my face in his chest, and close my eyes against what I had just seen.
‘Eve… God are you OK?’ Trey was at my side instantly, his arm round my shoulders.
Lucas was suddenly there too as he checked me over for any injuries. He thought the blood was mine. I was shaking, my body trembling all over. ‘She’s not hurt, not as far as I can see.’
‘Eve, what happened?’ Cain demanded, urgently.
I couldn’t answer, couldn’t find the words to even begin to describe what I had just seen.
‘Cain, what’s wrong with her?’ Leon asked.
Cain shook his head. ‘I don’t know, her mind is racing… I can’t get a read.’ He took hold of my chin forcing me to look at him, his face was fierce. ‘Eve, tell me what happened.’
Quinn was suddenly at my side, he tutted angrily, as he pushed Cain firmly away from me. ‘Cain, do you not have any children, any younger brother and sisters?’
‘What’s that got to do with anything?’
‘Do you honestly think, what she really needs right now is you jostling and shouting at her?’
‘Well how am I supposed to know what she needs? She’s not speaking at all, I don’t know what’s happened,’ Cain said.
‘Does it matter,’ Quinn said, quickly taking me in his arms, he held me tightly against him, giving me exactly what I needed. I clung to him, sobbing. He didn’t ask what had happened, didn’t talk to me at all, he just held me, enveloping me tightly in a big bear hug until eventually the tears stopped. When I looked up from his chest, Seth was standing next to him, looking at me with concern. Quinn gently rolled me into his arms, but the tears had abated now and though Seth hugged me to him tight, I was ready to talk.
I pulled away to face Cain. ‘Matthias is dead. Adam killed him.’
‘What?’ Cain stepped forward. ‘You should have said something before, we could have done something to save him…’
‘Cain, Adam burnt a hole through his body, a huge gaping hole,’ I showed him with my hands. ‘And then he ripped out his heart, probably with his bare hands, and squeezed it to a pulp. He was dead when I got there, there was nothing that I could do.’
‘How do you know it was Adam?’
‘He was there. As soon as I landed, I tripped over Matthias’s corpse, there was blood everywhere, but I could tell he was dead. Then I saw the heart, mangled and squashed, and just thrown on the floor,’ I swallowed, uneasily. ‘Adam said… he said he’d done it for me, that as I had saved him from the Oraculum, he was going to save me from them too.’
I expected a look of confusion from Cain at that, as I had no idea what Adam had meant, but instead he and Leon exchanged looks of worry. I had found something out that I shouldn’t.
‘Did he say anything else?’ Leon said, awkwardly.
‘No. What did he mean that he was going to save me from the Oraculum?’
‘No idea,’ Leon said a bit too quickly as Cain looked away embarrassed.
Nathaniel suddenly appeared out of the air looking furious and my Guardians tensed around me.
‘She did this,’ Nathaniel said. ‘She killed Matthias.’
‘What?’ I stepped back in confusion.
‘Of course she didn’t,’ Cain said, pushing him away from me.
‘She has his blood on her hands. She killed him like she killed Helez.’
‘That was Adam not her,’ Cain said, though I knew Nathaniel didn’t believe that. I didn’t know why Cain believed that, but it was the truth. Adam had took control of my body and forced me to kill Helez. Though I understood Nathaniel doubting me in the case of Helez’s death, how could he possibly think that I had killed Matthias?
‘I have his blood on me because I found Matthias dead and I was trying to help him,’ I said, suddenly furious.
‘She killed Sebastian too, how else would she know how he died. She’ll kill us all, you mark my words. She’ll come for us all.’
I saw Leon watching me warily, surely he didn’t believe any of this crap.
‘This is ridiculous, I don’t have to listen to this.’
I stepped back towards Seth, suddenly feeling betrayed. Seth looked down at me with concern and then nodded.
‘We’re going home,’ Seth said. He didn’t need to feel me like Lucas did, he knew me so well now, he knew what I wanted or needed just by looking at me.
Cain didn’t protest like I expected him to, he nodded, still not looking at me, his attention still on Nathaniel.
I reached out for my Guardians and slid us all back to the fort. I sat down on the bed as my Guardians filtered out, leaving only my personal guard, Quinn and Trey behind.
‘He’s killing them to get to her,’ Quinn said.
I shook my head. ‘He could have killed me in the cave if that was his plan, or at the very least he would have tried.’
Seth put his arm around me. ‘Are you OK?’
I nodded. ‘I don’t think it will ever get easier to see a dead body. I know I wasn’t that close to Matthias, but he was loyal to me. It was sickening what Adam had done to him, he didn’t kill him outright, he made him suffer, and ripping his heart out… It was disgusting. I think the worst part was knowing Adam had done it for me, that if I had let Cain kill him, then Matthias would still be alive now.’
‘What did he mean that he did it for you?’ Lucas asked.
I shrugged.
‘Cain and Leon knew what he meant by that, something is going on,’ Trey said. ‘I don’t trust them. And with Nathaniel still against you, I think we should stay away from them. Or if we continue with this obstacle course a Guardian should stay with you for the whole time so they can’t do anything to you. I’d be happy to accompany you.’
‘I bet you would,’ Isaac muttered so quietly I barely heard him, though I’m sure my Guardians with their super sensitive hearing heard him perfectly.
‘The Oraculum are not going to hurt me. They are training me for the end of the world. They won’t kill me before the end comes.’
‘I agree with Trey, something is going on,’ Eli said.
‘What were Cain and Leon talking to you all about before I left to do the course?’ I asked.
‘Just that we had to be vigilant against an attack from Adam, and that if he turned up we were to kill him instantly, regardless of your wishes,’ Lucas said, honestly.
I sighed. ‘I know nobody believes me, but we are supposed to work together at the end. We can’t risk the world by killing him.’
‘And we won’t risk you either. If he comes to you, we won’t raise a finger against him, as you have requested but if he tries to hurt you, he’ll be dead,’ Eli said.
I nodded, reluctantly. If he was killing off the members of the Oraculum, it could easily be his plan to kill me at the end. And with only four members of the Oraculum left alive, that meant there was only four layers of protection between me and him. I just had to hope that at some point over the next seven days we could put our differences aside.
*
I decided to go out for a run later that day, I was restless doing nothing and practising my powers again seemed somehow redundant.
I ran outside with Lucas, Trey and Quinn. Eli’s rules said I had to have two Guardians with me at any time. With only a few days left until the end of the world, the Putarians and Reapers were getting desperate to get to me before I could do the job I was created for. It made sense to be extra cautious. Although I had more Guardians living in the fort with me than I’d ever had before, as some of those were the ones that had left me when I had broken all bonds to me, and some were the ones that had served the Oraculum and Adam, I didn’t trust them all and neither did Eli.
Trey ran on a little way ahead while Lucas and Quinn ran either side.
‘What will you guys do when the end of the world has been and gone, presuming that I succeed and manage to save the world and I’m still alive afterwards, what do you think you will do with yourselves then?’
‘What will your plans be?’ Quinn asked.
‘Seth and I will move to the island. The fort doesn’t feel like home for me and I want to get away from… well everything, the Oraculum, the Guardians who don’t know which side of the fence they want to play on this week, the constant threat from the Putarians. The island is safe and I think I will live out the rest of my days there.’
‘Then we will move to the island too,’ Lucas said, as if this was the most obvious answer in the world.
I glanced at Quinn and he nodded though I had strongly suspected that he would come with us, I wasn’t sure what my personal guard would do.
‘You wouldn’t want to start your own life somewhere, maybe get married to Persia, start a family?’ I asked.
‘We can still do those things on your island,’ Lucas said, simply. ‘Wherever you go, we go. Trey had that part right.’
‘Your commitment to me was to make sure I’m alive to face the end of the world, once that part is done, your commitment would be done too.’
‘I cannot speak for the other members of the personal guard but for me my commitment to you is for the rest of your life.’
I smiled. I wanted them to have their own lives, I didn’t want them to feel they had to watch over me for the rest of their lives, but I did like the fact that they would come to the island with us. They were my friends and I’d miss them so much if I was to leave them behind.
Trey disappeared into the trees up ahead.
I slowed to a stop and Lucas and Quinn stopped by my side.
‘I love you,’ Quinn said. ‘You’re the only family I have and I know you want time to be with Seth alone but there’s plenty of room on that island for all of us to live there too.’
I reached forward and hugged him. ‘I love you too, and you’d be very welcome. You both would.’
I stepped back and looked up at the statue of the cloaked lady.
‘It’s weird to think it will all be over in a few days,’ I said, flexing my arms above my head.
‘Are you looking forward to it,’ Lucas said, his eyes scanning the surrounding bushes. Constant vigilance.
‘Not really, what if I can’t do it, what if the world is destroyed. I suppose it’s the uncertainty as well, I have no idea what I will be fighting against—’
I was suddenly silenced as Lucas slammed into me so hard that I was sent flying through the air, but then I saw the reason why, as a knife flew from the bushes with such speed and ferocity that it was just a metallic blur. I crashed into the floor at the same time that the knife embedded itself in Lucas’s stomach.
Chapter 6
‘No!’ I screamed, though Lucas barely even noticed.
With the knife still sticking out of his gut, he ran forward to meet our attacker. A man burst from the bushes, his face filled with a furious hate. He barely saw Lucas, he only had eyes for me.
Lucas grabbed hold of him and broke his neck brutally, letting his body fall to the floor. Another man ran screaming towards me and I scrabbled up, ready to defend myself, but Lucas was on him too, punching him in the face so hard that he must have died instantly, but before his body hit the ground another man burst from the bushes. Quinn exploded into a huge bear, one swipe at the man’s throat and he was down on the ground too. Up ahead I heard Trey fighting with someone else but suddenly there were loads of them in the clearing with us coming in from all sides.
I quickly reached out for the bond of Lucas, Quinn and Trey and slid us all to the roof of the fort. I ran forward as Lucas sagged to the floor, falling to my knees by his side. I carefully pulled the knife from his stomach, healing him as I did so.
Lucas closed his eyes.
‘Hey!’ I grabbed him firmly round the chin. ‘Wherever you think you’re going, you can think again.’
He smirked, forcing his eyes open. ‘I wouldn’t dream of it Eve, I couldn’t leave you, you’d get into too much trouble.’
I continued to pour my healing power into him, feeling him get stronger, and watched as the colour returned to his cheeks. Then I let my powers wink out.
‘Thank you,’ Lucas smiled.
I smiled. ‘That’s the best part of my powers. The flying, the fire, the sliding, all of that is very cool, but undoubtedly the best skill I have is the power to heal, to save lives.’
Trey offered me his hand to help me up, he looked furious which was the first time I’d seen him anything but happy.
‘They got too close,’ Trey said. ‘It should never have happened.’
Lucas got to his feet and a second later Eli and Seth arrived on the roof.
‘We should have been called. Damn it Eve, how many times do I have to say it, if you’re in trouble, you call us.’
‘It was seconds Eli, and I felt it was better to get us all out of there than to call more of my Guardians into the fray so they could get hurt too. I thought there were Guardians patrolling the woods, how on earth did the Putarians get that close?’ I quickly turned the tables back on him.
‘I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. You two should have called us as well,’ Eli redirected his anger on Trey and Lucas.
‘Lucas had a knife hanging out of his stomach whilst fighting two other men off. He was a little preoccupied.’
Eli looked at Trey and he raised his hands defensively. ‘Hey, I wasn’t exactly standing idly in the bushes. I had my hands full too.’
Eli’s frown didn’t lessen any. ‘I’ve sent Guardians into the forest to deal with them. They won’t be a threat anymore.’
There would be more. There would always be more.
‘I’m going to my room,’ I said, quietly.
I walked off the roof whilst my Guardians continued to argue. I knew the footsteps that were following me closely belonged to my husband. I shut the bedroom door behind me and Seth took me into his arms.
‘The sooner we can go live on our island the better. The Putarians, the Reapers and all the bounty hunters who want a piece of the money will never stop trying to kill me. Even when I’ve saved the world they won’t let me rest.’
‘They’ll never find us on our island. We’ll be safe there.’
I leaned my head against his chest and sighed. ‘I really hope so.’
*
Lying with my head on Seth’s chest, I watched the snowflakes swirl and dance in the air later that night. I knew Seth was
awake too as he never slept when I did, electing to sleep for an hour or two during the day when I was practising my training.
It was beautiful out there, the glittering flakes making a sparkly blanket as far as the eye could see. And I had to remember that. The world was a cruel and dark place with so many people trying to kill each other. But there was light in the darkness, the world held so much beauty, and there was love and kindness and hope. I would fight for that.
Somewhere in the fort, a clock chimed midnight and Seth ran his fingers through my hair.
‘Happy Christmas baby,’ Seth said and I looked up at him and smiled. He was my light in the darkness and I would fight for a world with him in.
‘Happy Christmas.’ I leaned up and kissed him.
He ran his hands down my back pulling me closer and as I closed my eyes I felt my powers fizz through me. Now I was more aware of my powers, the limitations of them, I knew that this surge of power when I kissed Seth most likely came from the power of the earth bubbling along the edge of my own sphere of power. Somehow, when I was at my happiest or my most angry the two sources of power merged into one. It was at that time that what I could do with my power was almost completely limitless. I was stronger now than I had ever been but my own power had limits. This well of power from the earth was something that I was only just beginning to understand. I wasn’t sure if I could control it and what I could do with it, but I knew that if I was going to succeed in saving the world, I would need to learn how to harness it.
I focussed my attention on what Seth was doing, his hands caressing across my back as he kissed me when suddenly there were shouts outside in the corridor.
I sat up but Seth was already on his feet and running out the door. As the door swung open, I saw the corridor outside was already filled with smoke.
I leapt up and followed him out, my personal guard and several other of my Guardians were already amassed outside their rooms but at the end flames were already licking their way up the edges of the entrance to the corridor.
Without warning the flames engulfed the corridor, roaring towards us at a tremendous speed.