by Holly Martin
*
I watched as Seth, Eli, Lucas and Isaac carefully lowered my body into the coffin. It would have only taken one of them but it was a symbolic gesture.
Seth knelt, kissed my head, then placed the lid on the coffin.
The funeral had taken a lot longer than I would like to organise and I was desperate to get back inside my own body and heal myself. I just hoped my daughter was OK and though Lucas had assured me on several occasions that she was, I wanted to feel her for myself.
I looked around the grounds, every single Guardian that lived in the fort was there watching the proceedings. There were many people from the villages, many of the Zeki and Donum I had met several months before here to pay their respects. I felt bad about deceiving them like this but there was no way I could trust all these hundreds of people with the truth. Somehow the Putarians would find out and they would never stop hunting me down until I was wiped from the earth and probably my children too.
There were several other people amongst the crowds that were actually probably Putarians judging by their dark clothing, come to see if the rumours were true.
I turned my attention back to the funeral. My Guardians stood round the coffin for a few moments, seemingly lost in their own individual grief, though I knew they were waiting for Mason to remove my body from underneath the coffin. They slowly and carefully built a bonfire of dried branches around the coffin in a tall pyramid.
When it was complete, and the coffin could barely be seen they each took a burning torch and lit the branches. The fire licked hungrily at the twigs and sticks, and soon the whole pyramid was a light, the flames reaching into the sky, and amidst the wood, the coffin also caught fire.
I’d seen enough and now it was time to return to my body, we had to leave here tonight, they’d be no time to hang around.
I woke up and realised I was in Mason’s arms as he sat in one of the cells underneath the burning mound. For a brief second, I felt nothing, numb, confused at the absence of pain, then it came back, the agony searing through every breath, burning through my skin, my heart pounding furiously against my chest. The pain was so bad, so agonizing, that for a second I cried out, before I managed to stop myself. Mason clamped a hand over my mouth, just in case, but I nodded and he released me.
I writhed in pain, in his arms as I tried to focus my energy on healing myself, but I couldn’t do it, I was exhausted and the pain was the only thing I could think of.
A sudden tiny movement in my stomach jolted me to my senses. The movement was so tiny, barely even noticeable, like the feel of a butterfly fluttering its wings against the inside of my belly. But suddenly I was acutely aware of her, of only her, and the pain became a secondary thing, a distant ache. I shielded my baby, hoping to cut off any pain that I was feeling from her. I had to do this, I had to heal myself, if for no other reason than for her.
I pulled everything I could, which wasn’t much in my exhausted state, and focussed all my strength into my healing energy, purging my body of all the pain, and then I let my powers wink out. I slumped back in Mason’s arms, closing my eyes, waiting for the dizziness to pass.
It was silent, in the cell. Seth and my Guardians were still saying their goodbyes to the empty burnt coffin, they couldn’t just run off and leave the funeral, though I could feel Seth’s impatience. I wondered what they were doing now, the coffin would most likely be ash by now, but some of the Guardians might want to talk to Seth. They had to be covert about coming down, they might not even be able to come down together. Eli, Lucas, Quinn, Persia Izri and maybe some of the others were going to follow us in a few days. They would stay with us for a while. I had no idea whether they would stay forever. This was so complicated and I felt horribly guilty about deceiving my Guardians like this, but the secret had to be preserved, if I had any chance of a future the less people that knew the better.
‘I’ll miss you,’ Mason said, quietly, interrupting my thoughts.
I opened my eyes and looked at him.
‘You won’t come with us? You and Rhesa would both be very welcome,’ I said, my voice croaky.
Mason smiled. ‘I’ll visit, definitely, this isn’t goodbye, but I think I’m ready to start my own life now.’
I nodded, smiling sadly. ‘I think so too, you’ve given me so much, and I’ll always be grateful for that, I’ll miss you too.’
I stood up shakily and Mason helped me.
‘How much longer do you think they’ll be?’
‘Seth’s on his way down here now but he’s taking a bit of a long route so he isn’t spotted sliding to you.’
I nodded. ‘I hope everyone believed the funeral. It’s hard to imagine that I’ll be able to live the rest of my life without the Putarians or the Reapers sneaking up on me.’
‘You should be very safe on your island, it’s hundreds of miles from any other land.’
‘If the Putarians find out I’m there, they’ll stop at nothing to get to me.’
‘That is true, but there are many of them up there now, if they had any kind of inkling that you’re alive they would be attacking now.’
I paced across the cell nervously. I just needed Seth there with me and then we could leave together.
Suddenly Leon appeared in the cell with me and a second or two later Cain appeared too though Leon looked surprised to see him, obviously they hadn’t come together.
‘Well this is a surprise to see you alive,’ Leon said. ‘Though I would have preferred to have been told the truth rather than find out through a prophecy. Did you know about this Cain?’
‘No, I presumed she had died too,’ Cain said and I stared at him in confusion.
Leon smiled as he addressed me again. ‘Well we owe you a debt of gratitude that you managed to stop Adam from destroying the world and our apologies that you had to do that in the first place. If we had not meddled and tried to create the two of you then none of this would ever have happened. So thank you.’
‘Of course. I was created to save the world and I’ve done that now.’
‘Yes, you were specifically made to save the world and as that job has been taken care of your purpose has been completed,’ Leon said. ‘I’m sorry that it has to come to this but you have seen what madness and greed can do, and what can happen when someone with great power is left unchecked. It’s not a risk that we can take. Goodbye Eve.’ His hands glowed white with an immense heat.
‘What, wait,’ I said, desperately trying to raise my shield but it just kept winking out. I wasn’t sure if I was too tired to do anything or whether my powers were really gone for good. Mason stepped in front of me, forcing me back against the wall. Loyal to the very end but there was no way I was going to let him die for me and I knew the Oraculum wouldn’t be bothered about killing him too.
‘I’m sorry too,’ Cain said, his hands glowing white as well. Power ripped from his fingers punching a hole straight through Leon’s throat. Leon scrabbled around in shock, clutching his neck as blood poured from the gaping hole before he collapsed dead on the floor.
I whirled round to face Cain, wondering if he still planned to kill me himself. The last living member of the Oraculum, would he let me live. Could he risk it?
He smiled at me sadly. ‘Go and enjoy your life Eve. You have my word you will not hear from me again.’
I stared at him, unable to move, barely able to believe what I was hearing. He was letting me go.
Seth suddenly appeared in the cell. He had a huge grin on his face which quickly fell off when he saw Cain standing there and Leon lying dead.
He stepped between me and Cain but I moved to stand by Seth’s side, taking his hand. ‘It’s OK.’
Seth looked down at me and I nodded. I turned back to Cain.
‘You’re letting me go?’
‘Of course I am. That’s all I ever wanted was for you to be able to move on from this and live a normal happy life. Go now and take it.’
I nodded and reached forward, wrapping my arms around
him and hugging him. He was giving me everything I ever wanted. He hesitated for a second and then hugged me back.
I turned round and hugged Mason and I heard Cain talk to Seth. ‘Take care of her.’
‘Always.’
‘Say goodbye to Rhesa for me,’ I said to Mason. ‘And the others. Tell them they are welcome to visit any time.’
‘I will. Take care of yourself Eve and enjoy the rest of your life.’
I grinned as I took Seth’s hand and closed my eyes and pictured my island. I hoped that I had enough power to get to my island but as I stepped through and felt the sand beneath my feet and the warmth on my skin I knew I had done it.
This was my home now and my future started here.
Chapter 21
I woke with a jolt. I quickly reached round to the back of my neck, fingering my short hair, and sighed with relief. The length of my hair helped to ground me in my reality. In my dreams I had long hair, but in my waking life my hair was short, a long fringe swept over my eyes and it was short and spiky at the back.
My dreams were filled with death and destruction, whereas my waking world was quiet, peaceful.
I rolled onto my back and reached out to the other side of the bed, it was empty. Of course it was, I always woke up to an empty bed.
My body was different in the waking world too. Whilst asleep, my body was lithe, strong powerful, now as I lay in bed I looked down at my belly, it was fat.
I sat up and got out of bed.
I wandered out of the bedroom and into the hall. The house was empty, my family had gone out by the sounds of it, leaving me alone in the house. I smiled, another difference to my dreams. In my dreams I was never left alone for a second.
I quickly got washed and dressed and wandered outside onto the cliff edge. The bright blue sea sparkled in the sunlight as I walked to the rough rock steps that would take me down to the beach.
Seth was on the beach, wrapped in the arms of a beautiful girl with dark hair, Liberty. He kissed her, lovingly as he held her tightly in his arms.
Seth was such a huge part of my dreams, my protector, constantly by my side. But not in my waking world, there was no need for such close surveillance.
Seth laughed at something Liberty said to him, then spotting me, his smile slid off his face. He gently removed Liberty from his lap, and the girl stood up and ran for the sea. She was young, sprightly and beautiful, her long dark hair streaming behind her like a banner as she ran. I looked down at myself. I was fat, by comparison.
Seth moved swiftly, running up the stairs to stand in front of me.
‘Hey baby,’ he smiled.
I put my hands on my hips, scowling at him.
He moved closer. ‘Why are you looking at me like that, wait how long have you been up here, did you see what me and Liberty were doing, is that why you’re scowling?’
My eyes narrowed. ‘I was actually scowling because you left me in bed again, you promised you would wake me.’
Seth laughed, taking me in his arms, he kissed my forehead. ‘I couldn’t do it baby, I couldn’t wake you, you were sleeping so peacefully, I couldn’t bear to disturb you,’ Seth started doing loud snoring impressions into my head.
I giggled, then remembered what he had said about Liberty. ‘What do you mean what you and Liberty were doing, Seth were you—’ I was interrupted with Seth kissing me, tenderly, on the lips, and as always when he kissed me, the rest of the world melted away and there was just him and me and nothing else mattered.
He stopped and pulled away. ‘What were you saying?’
I smiled, as I reached up to kiss him again. ‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘Anyway, you weren’t going to try these steps on your own were you? I’ve told you I don’t want you walking down these steps on your own, they’re not safe,’ Seth said, easily swinging me up into his arms.
‘Seth, am I not heavy?’ I asked as Seth, galloped easily down the steps.
Seth shook his head. ‘Not one bit.’
We reached the beach and Seth continued to carry me over to where he had been sitting. Izri smiled at me as Seth put me down gently on the sand, then sat down next to me.
‘Morning Eve,’ she grinned, before diverting her attention back to the sea, where a lion and Persia were playing with three small children, diving in and out of the waves with them.
Liberty suddenly ran along the beach towards me, throwing herself into my arms, peppering me with kisses. ‘Mama, come see what we did, it’s beautiful.’
I hugged her tightly to me, breathing in her glorious woody scent. ‘Hey sweetie, have I told you today how beautiful you are.’
Liberty giggled. ‘You tell me that every day.’
‘Because it’s true. Now what were you and your Dad doing before I got up?’
Liberty shifted awkwardly.
‘Were you fighting?’
‘Just… training,’ Seth said, awkwardly. ‘She was perfectly safe, I’d never hurt her, you know that.’
I nodded, smiling through my scowls.
It was ironic that Seth had been the one that didn’t want me to fight with Zach, and now he was teaching Liberty to fight and I was against it. I didn’t want anything from my dream world to enter the blissful perfect existence we had created for us here. There would never be a need for Libby to use these skills that Seth was teaching her, not here. But although Libby had no knowledge of the outside world, of Putarians, Reapers, and bounty hunters and never would, Seth thought it was better to be prepared, just in case.
Liberty enjoyed it too, so I supposed it was harmless.
Seth, sensing my consent, kissed my neck, as he tried to change the subject. ‘Did you have bad dreams last night?’
I shook my head. ‘Not really, my memories not dreams. Our last night in that other world, with Cain and Leon?’
Seth nodded with understanding, he looked at me waiting for me to talk about it if I needed to.
‘I think about Cain sometimes, I wonder if he’s still alive, wonder… if he thinks about me.’
Seth smiled. ‘I bet he does.’
I hadn’t seen Cain since that night, he could have died, as he predicted, or he could still be alive somewhere. I missed him, technically he was my father, grandfather to my children, though we’d never had that kind of relationship. Though Cain had sworn he would never raise a finger against me, or come after me, and though I trusted him, it wasn’t just my life that could be at risk if I contacted him again, it was the life of my children and I was never going to do anything to risk them.
Seth had made me promise too. When we had first come to the island seven years ago, I had slept almost solidly for five days. Seth had woken me periodically so I could eat and drink, and when I had stirred, opening my eyes for a few seconds, Seth had been at my side, never wavering in his love for me.
Eventually when I did stir, and wake properly, Seth and I had walked down the beach, our new home. He said he wanted to talk.
‘Eve I want you to promise me something, that you will never leave the island again, that you will never risk your life for any reason ever again and under no circumstances are you to contact anyone outside of the bond, including Cain.’
After everything that I had put Seth through over my time in that other world, all the torment, the stress, and worry, I promised him without hesitation.
‘In return, I promise I will never leave you, that I’ll be by your side until death parts us,’ Seth said.
This was a bit of an odd promise, he had already promised me this on our wedding day.
Seth pressed on. ‘But if you break your promise,’ he swallowed uneasily. ‘If you break your promise, then I’ll have to break mine.’
It took a few seconds for my brain to catch onto what he was saying. ‘You’ll leave me?’
Seth nodded.
I took a step away from him, incredulous. ‘You’ll leave me?’
Seth was quicker though, as I stepped away from him, his arm was around my waist pul
ling me back towards him. ‘Evie, I love you, I love you so much, I want to grow old and grey with you. I want to wake up with you wrapped in my arms every day. But the last year has been torture. To see you broken, beaten, tortured, stabbed, kidnapped, poisoned, it destroyed me, it killed me. I can’t go through that for the rest of my life. I only put up with it before because I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel. It’s over now and I won’t let you risk your life anymore, or the life of our children,’ Seth’s hand rested protectively over my tiny bump, our first child. ‘No matter what happens, if Cain tracks you down and gives you some new problem to deal with or if Persia’s family are kidnapped by the Reapers or Zach breaks his neck, I want you to promise me you’ll never leave here again. And if you don’t promise or you break that promise, I will leave you.’
‘That’s blackmail,’ I said, angrily.
Seth shrugged.
‘And what about our children, you’d leave them as well, you’d forsake your children?’
‘I wouldn’t be forsaking anything, it’s you that would be forsaking our happy little family unit by choosing to leave here. Besides, I’d visit them, but if you were risking their lives as well, I’d have to take them with me.’
‘So I’m stuck here then?’ I looked around at the cloudless blue sky, the golden sands, the turquoise sea, lapping onto the shores and realised how silly I sounded.
‘No, you can leave whenever you want, I’m not tying you up, like a prisoner. If you wish you can leave now, but I wouldn’t come with you, nor would I be here when you came back.’
I turned away from him, angrily and stalked up the beach. But I only got a few metres away when I stopped. What was I doing? This future, being on the island with Seth for the rest of my life was the only thing that kept me going when I was fighting with Adam. It was the only thing I wanted, to spend the rest of my life wrapped in the arms of the man I love. To raise our children here, in paradise, with my friends and family around me, without the fear of being attacked every day. Why was I fighting against it?