Reaper stepped out of our way, and we passed him. His eyes were worried as he looked after us. I wasn’t sure if he was worried about what my abilities meant, or if he was still worried he had upset us. I knew he thought we were strong allies, but was he also figuring out we were dangerous ones? Would he come to the same conclusion I had long ago – that I attracted trouble? Did I care what conclusion he came to? A part of me said ‘no.’ Another part – the part that had found something that was missing, when I had gone on the mission with Daniel – said ‘yes.’ Staying here meant doing something I had wanted to do for a long time. And, if anything, Anna being in a box was payback for the imprisonment she had forced on me.
I would let her rot there. She would suffer as I suffered. It was a better alternative than the one I had in mind.
That night, exhausted from the fire I had caused and the emotional upheaval that had followed, I slept for the first time in days. My dreams were not peaceful, however.
The nightmare started out like my normal nightmare – I saw a white rose fall to a bloodied floor and Daniel transformed into a Nightstalker in front of an army of demons. I saw the yellow-eyed man, who I had come to know as Marcus, watching me with his predatory eyes, through a desert landscape, with a limitless army at his beck-and-call, and then I dreamed of my time in the prison – normal nightmares.
But then they changed.
Everything went dark – it was a forever dark, with no escape, no outlet, from the blanket of blackness. I felt my body twisting and turning, searching for a way out of the darkness. I searched, I moved, but the movement was as nothing in the world of dark I found myself in. There was no escape – only time. Time lost in a void. As I struggled to find a way out, I heard whispered voices surround me. They were low and first, but grew in volume. Panic rose in my chest at the sound. I felt the voices surge and transform, to where they pulsed in time to my suddenly racing heart. It filled me up and took over all thought. I screamed out for the voices to stop.
The first thing I saw when I jerked out of sleep was Daniel’s face. He was looking at me in concern, his green eyes reflecting the sharp moonlight that was flooding my room. He had a hand on my face, and I got the feeling he had brought me back from the darkness. I wondered, as I looked into his eyes, if he had eavesdropped on my dreams. The look in his eyes told me he had.
“Is that the darkness you see when you travel with Sara?” Daniel asked me.
“Yes,” I agreed.
“It’s terrifying,” he said.
“Yes.”
He hesitated, before he asked the next thing on his mind. “You’ve seen Marcus?”
“In my dreams only. It started after you left in New Orleans. I didn’t know it was him until…”
“Until?”
“I dreamed a Hobo I met in New Orleans told me not to listen to Marcus. My nightmares have been less invasive since then, but they’re still pretty scary.”
“The man you dreamed of was right. Don’t listen to Marcus. He’s putting the visions in your head.”
I pushed off the bed. “What?”
“Marcus…he can plant visions in a person’s head…he usually does it by getting in to people’s dreams. Don’t you remember his daughter having the gift of illusion? She got it from him…all his children do.”
I looked at him, annoyed he hadn’t shared that fact earlier. “Of all the things to leave out, don’t you think that one was pretty massive?”
Daniel shrugged. “I’ve never heard of Marcus finding someone he hasn’t met before. It’s almost as if…”
“I found him, instead?” I asked.
“Maybe. You are a freak,” Daniel admitted.
“Thanks,” I said.
He moved the hand he had put on my face and touched my lips, his concern written in his eyes. I sensed him wondering what else I would find and how I had searched out something I had never seen. It scared him more than the darkness scared me. He brushed my lips gently with my thumb then stroked the side of my face.
“Do you want to go back to sleep?” he asked. “I can make sure you don’t have any more nightmares.”
I smiled at him coyly and pulled him in close. “No,” I said.
I kissed him. The feel of his lips on mine took away some of the darkness of the nightmare. He pressed his body in to mine, and I forgot about the darkness in-between worlds, and Marcus’ yellow eyes haunting through unfamiliar landscapes.
I forgot about anything that wasn’t Daniel and the moment we were in.
The next morning, we didn’t go to the workout room for our training, like I would have if I was training with King.
Instead, Daniel and I went outside, down the sharp hill the school rested on, to the ocean, where the ship I had noticed on my first day was docked. On closer inspection, the ship appeared to be an old shipping freighter, rusty and older than most of the Watchers I knew. I wasn’t sure how Reaper trusted his life to such a hazard – but then again, Watchers were notoriously brave.
Daniel made me sit in the sand near the dock and sat across from me. I raised my hand in a question, before he could start the lesson.
“What?” he asked.
“At some point in this training do I get a Rocky-esk montage scene, where I get to show how my training is finally paying off?” I asked.
“Only if you bribe the teacher,” he said.
“Awesome.”
I heard the sound of rocks sliding and an aggravated grunt. I turned and saw Alex making her way to us, with lots of tripping and stumbling over invisible obstacles. She was rubbing at her eyes and looked unhappy at the earliness of the hour. When she reached us, she plopped down in the sand next to me and looked at Daniel expectantly. She didn’t speak. We looked at her in confusion.
She grunted again, annoyed we were making an issue of her appearance.
“I want control training, too,” she said. “I’m tired of being scared of my emotions.”
“I think if I were inclined toward psychology, I could make something of that,” I said.
“It’s too early,” Alex groaned.
“You could go back to bed,” I said.
“Hush, Daniel’s about to start teaching,” she said.
She went back to looking at him expectantly.
Daniel shrugged, accepting her presence, and started with the lesson.
“This is a trick I learned from Beatrice. She taught me how to keep my mental shield up and control the anger. She used her mind control on me, but since I don’t have her gift, I’ll do it the other way.” He looked between us. “You’re going to have to let me in to your minds. When I’m in, I’m going to try and control you. Try and block me.
“I don’t know why, but this sounds painful,” I said.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Are you?” I asked back.
He put his hand out and touched me on the arm. I felt the gentle caress of his thoughts, before they turned hard and unforgiving. He started trying to winnow through my thoughts, control what I was thinking, and make visuals I didn’t want form in my mind. I fought against his control. It took me a minute but I finally managed a shield he couldn’t bust through in place. I had learned that sort of control in the pit. It wasn’t the same thing as controlling my anger.
Daniel nodded approvingly when he felt the shield.
“Good job. Do it again,” he said.
He practiced on me, until he felt I had it down pat then practiced with Alex. She seemed to master her block quicker than I had. Maybe, it was because she was more determined – probably because when she turned, she had even less control than I had.
When we were done with our mental training, Daniel made us practice mediation. We sat and we practiced thinking of nothing. It made me feel as if I was crawling out of my skin. Thinking of nothing was not my forte. After an hour of mind-numbing mediation, we practiced karate. I did so eagerly, but Alex was more reluctant.
“Can’t we just shoot them if they come at us?” she a
sked.
“Sure, but what if you run out of bullets?” Daniel asked.
“I’ll run away…or, you know, turn in to a monster,” she said.
“If I have to meditate, you have to learn basic self-defense,” I told her.
“Clare…” Alex started to protest.
“Alex…get off your butt and learn how to throw a freakin’ punch,” I commanded.
Her eyes wide, she stood, and joined me.
“Alright.” Daniel paced in front of us. He stopped in front of Alex and showed her how to form a fist. Then, he showed her how to punch. He told her to practice, until she got it. He moved over to me next. He knew my knowledge went beyond throwing a punch.
“Try and take me down,” he said.
“Gladly,” I said.
We danced around for a minute, before I made my move. I went in for a low kick. He danced out of the way and took me to the ground, though he was much gentler than Jackson had been as a teacher. If Jackson had taken me down, it would have been at the expense of a bruise or a cut; he didn’t believe in mollycoddling his students.
Daniel’s karate style was also very different – where Jackson had been about head-on attacks and powerful take-downs Daniel was about redirection and coming at a person from the direction they expected least. He used the other person’s momentum and power against them. It was a fluid style and so very like him.
He helped me back to my feet. As he did, I was suspicious. I put my hands on my hips and looked at him in a question.
“Do you remember when you lost that fight with Jackson and it meant we could all come with you to New Orleans?” I asked.
“Yes,” Daniel said. “How could I ever forget?”
“Did you loose on purpose?” I asked. While Jackson was a very good fighter, it was obvious from that one move – and the vision I had seen of him fighting – that Daniel was better.
Daniel’s face was a study in confusion. “Lost…on purpose? Me?”
“Uh-huh,” I said, not buying it.
He gave in to the look on my face. “You were going to follow me anyway. I figured having Jackson and Margaret to protect you was the better option.”
“Yeah, that worked out…” I said.
He made a face, aware that his plans didn’t always go the way he intended. He moved into an aggressive stance. “Again.”
We practiced until lunch. Alex learned to punch, block, and kick. Even though she was reluctant, she picked up the moves quickly. I learned Daniel’s style of fighting, adding it to what I had already learned. It was a healthy addition.
At lunch, Spider came down from the school. He had a sandwich for Alex in one hand and a coin in the other. He played with the coin restlessly. He sat down in the sand next to Alex and grinned up at me.
“You look good with a little sweat on you, doll,” he told me.
“Hush,” Alex said. “Clare’s practicing to control her inner awesome.”
“She’s done practicing for today,” Daniel said.
“Yay,” I said dryly.
I sat next to Spider and pushed him playfully. “How was stealing last night? Did you have any fun?”
“Sprint and I went out with one of Reaper’s guys. The guy might be a Watcher, but he wasn’t great at stealing. I told Reaper I wanna be on my own or with the kids only. I don’t need some dude holding me back.”
“It’s for your own protection,” I said.
“Doll, no offense, but I’ve never noticed being ‘safer’ around your kind. They usually bring more trouble,” Spider said.
“He’s got a point,” Alex said.
“He usually does,” I said.
Spider smirked and looked at Daniel. “Reaper is looking for you.”
Daniel nodded. “Okay. I’ll see what he wants.” Daniel pointed at Spider. “Flirt with my girl and I’ll make sure your ugly face is the least of your concerns.”
Spider held out his hands. “I can’t help it if she flirts with me, man. I’m irresistible.”
Daniel’s face showed his skepticism. “Right. I’ll be inside if you need me,” he told me.
He walked off, and the three of us were left alone on the beach.
“What’s with the coin?” Alex asked around her food.
Spider stopped fidgeting with it and held it up. “I found it when I got back from stealing,” he said.
“You just… found it?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he agreed with a shrug. “It was on my dresser.”
Curious, I snatched it from his hand and looked at it. It wasn’t like any coin I had ever seen. On the front was an angel with a sword in his hand. On the back were the words: You’re next. The feeling those words left in my stomach were far from happy.
“You’re next?” I asked.
“For what?” Spider asked back.
“That’s what it says here,” I said.
“Oh,” Spider said. “It looked Greek to me.”
“More like Latin,” Alex said, taking the coin from me.
“Have you made someone angry?” I asked Spider.
“Me? Please!” he said.
“I’m serious,” I said.
Spider let out a long sigh. “I may or may not be in the middle of trying to organize a certain…route for the movement of goods and this may or may not make people not like me,” Spider said.
“What kind of goods?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said.
“Spider…”
“Weapons…whatever deadly, dangerous goods someone might need,” he replied.
“You’ve managed to do this already?” I asked. “You’ve been here three days.”
Spider shrugged. “I saw a need, and I filled it.”
“Anything else?” I asked.
He hesitated. He saw my expression and knew the truth was better than a lie. “I may have been asking my associates about a certain Watcher we mutually dislike,” he admitted. “Learning about him, you could say.”
I knew he meant Quinn. Spider wasn’t the sort to let the issue of Quinn lie delicately. It was in his nature to gather whatever information he could…so he knew the best way to handle the problem. It was possible, though, that he had asked the wrong person the wrong thing.
Alex handed the coin back to Spider. She hadn’t missed the reference to Quinn.
“I’d keep an eye out, if I were you. Someone’s not above threats,” she said.
“Most around here don’t threaten,” I said. “They promise.”
“So…I’m doomed?” Spider asked sarcastically.
“You keep me informed,” I said. “And don’t act like you don’t need help. We’re here for you.”
Spider’s face turned sad in an instant. I wasn’t sure why. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. He flipped the coin in the air and caught it again. “See you dolls later.”
He jumped up and headed back to the school.
“I’m gonna have a talk with Reaper…see if he knows about those coins,” I said. “Maybe, it’s a thing with the Saints – an initiation thing.”
“Did you forgive him?” Alex asked. “About Anna,” she added.
I shrugged and didn’t answer her question. “Thanks for yelling at him for me.”
“It was my pleasure,” she said.
I turned to look at the school. “I can’t believe she’s really in there. Sitting in a box…” I said. “I hope she rots in there until forever.”
“I think Reaper is planning an attack,” Alex said slowly. “He hasn’t said so, but the information I’ve been sorting has a lot to do with defenses and the like. River keeps disappearing to an unnamed location and coming back with more pictures and data for me to sort.”
“I wonder which bad guy he’s aiming to attack. There’s so many…” I said.
“Well, if Anna has a way to get close to Lorian…” she said.
“Yeah,” I said.
“I wonder what Anna wants to forget…” Alex mused quietly.
&
nbsp; “Probably all the people she’s tortured and killed,” I said.
“Probably,” Alex agreed easily, though her face showed her disagreement. “I’m going to ask Reaper if I can get on with the attack thing he’s planning with Anna,” she said. “I want to make sure he doesn’t lie to us again.”
“You think he will?” I asked.
Alex nodded. “Sometimes it’s necessary in his position…besides, he’s got shifty eyes.”
“Shifty eyes?” I asked with a laugh.
“Something about him rubs me the wrong way,” she said.
“Something?” I asked.
“He just…” She shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Talks too much?” I asked.
She smiled. “Maybe. I’m going to keep an eye on him, that’s all I know.”
“I don’t doubt it,” I said.
Alex wrinkled her nose at my teasing, and we went back to watching the ocean.
Daniel and Reaper were waiting for us, when Alex and I got back to the school. They looked very somber as we approached. Alex frowned at them, while I tried hard not to react to the somber expressions. Daniel’s somber expression had never bred anything beyond fear and danger.
“What is it?” Alex asked.
“Is it true Spider found this in his room?” Reaper asked, holding up the coin Spider had showed me.
“That’s what he said,” I said. “Did he give it to you?”
“I saw him tossing it around,” Reaper said.
“And you look sad, why exactly?” I asked.
“Not sad – worried,” Reaper said. He flipped the coin as Spider had done. “We give these to people we’ve marked.”
“Marked?”
“For death,” Reaper said. “It’s a warning to others.”
“What kind of people are we talking about?” Alex asked quickly.
“Murderers mostly,” Reaper said.
“We’re all murderers here,” I said pointedly.
“Murderers who choose murder actively and willingly…without cause,” Reaper corrected. He eyed Alex at my words. I saw him contemplating whether or not I meant her as well in the ‘murderer’ category.
“So, what?” I asked.
“These don’t end up in random people’s bedrooms on accident,” Reaper said. “They end up there on purpose. Someone here doesn’t like your friend.”
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