Alex was shaking with her anger. I wasn’t sure if she was shaking because she wanted to hit him, or because she was getting worked up enough to change. I couldn’t take the risk.
“Alex…” I said.
“What!” she demanded.
“You’re angry. You should go get some air. I’ll call him some names for you.”
She glared at me. The light overhead reflected off of milky white irises. She saw the fear and trepidation in my face and took a deep breath. She glared at Reaper again.
“You’re a bigger liar than I thought,” she said to Reaper.
Without waiting for a reply, she stormed past us and down the dirt hall leading to the stairs.
Reaper was just as angry. He moved over to the desk and, with his back to us, slammed his fist down on to the wood surface. The table broke in half, its contents falling to the floor with a resounding crash. He stood over the ruined desk for a moment, breathing heavily.
“Are you finished?” I asked him.
“Don’t tell me you agree with her,” Reaper warned me. “I’m not in the mood.”
“I don’t agree with her, actually,” I said. “If this wasn’t your party, I’d be down there kicking some butt,” I said.
Reaper sighed and some of the anger drained out of his body.
“Alex is just worried,” Daniel told Reaper.
“She has a funny way of showing it,” Reaper said.
“I’ve only ever seen Alex yell at people she cares about,” I said.
“Care!” Reaper scoffed.
A knock came from the open door. We all turned and saw Moira and River outlined by the frame.
“What is it?” Reaper asked, gaining back his composure as quickly as he had lost it.
The two women stepped inside the room and carefully shut the door behind them.
“First, you have our support,” Moira said. “We side with you…I will gladly challenge Quinn, should you fail.”
“Thank you,” Reaper said.
“Second?” Daniel asked.
“We came to caution you,” Moira said. “River was Elizabeth’s confidant before she died…”
River looked sad, but she was in control of her emotions – what she had to say was more important than her sadness.
“Before she died, Elizabeth told me that she thought Quinn was being used,” River added.
“Used?” Reaper asked.
“She had no doubt Quinn was the one to pull the trigger and to take K.J.’s life, but she was also convinced that someone was making him promises. Someone with a lot of power,” River answered.
“Define ‘power,’” I said.
River seemed to understand what I was asking.
“Not physical ability…clout…can fulfill any promise. The ability to makes dreams come true, either daydreams or nightmares one…” River said.
“Reaper is the most powerful person in the Saints,” I said. “Trying to make yourself look good by staging a fight?” I teased him.
“Not likely. Elizabeth was my friend,” Reaper said.
“The possibility that Quinn is not the only…traitor among us is something we should all consider,” Moira said.
“Thank you for passing on this information to me,” Reaper said. “If you hear anything else…”
“We will keep our ears open,” River said. “I owe it to Elizabeth.”
Reaper nodded in appreciation, and Moira and River left. When the door was safely shut again, Reaper let out a long sigh.
“I’m a failure,” he admitted.
“Why?” Daniel asked.
“The mission of the Saints was that it would be an organization that operated under the radar of the brothers and Marcus, but provided hope and new lives to our kind. Spies…traitors…the Saints have turned in to nothing more than a power play.”
“It’s also a group that rescues thousands of people each year, including me, and, one that has more people who are loyal to the cause than against it,” I pointed out.
“One roadblock is not a failure,” Daniel agreed.
Reaper grunted noncommittally. “What do you think, Daniel? What’s our next move?”
His question made me realize how much Reaper had come to depend on Daniel in the short time we had been around. It was illuminating – and made me realize that the Saints needed Daniel as much as Daniel needed the Saints.
“Fight Quinn, win the fight and carry out the mission you have been planning. If all goes well, it’ll be the beginning of a new beginning for all of us,” Daniel said, as if it were as simple as the words it took to speak the deeds.
Reaper laughed, throwing his hands up in amused acceptance. “Fine. Sounds good, my friend.”
Daniel held out his hand. “You will win this fight, Ash, I promise.”
Reaper shook Daniel’s hand, and I sensed a private message pass between them. Daniel acknowledged the message with a knowing twinkle in his eyes then turned to the door. He held it open for me. I hesitated before leaving. I searched for the proper thing to say. It felt impossible. Would the next time I saw him be as Quinn was killing him?
“Quinn is ambidextrous,” I blurted out, as Reaper stared. “He tries to hide it, by favoring his right side, but he’s brutal with both hands. I’ve seen him in the training room…So, don’t let him fool you.”
“I won’t. Thanks,” Reaper said.
“Yeah,” I said.
I moved beyond Daniel to the dirt hall, and left Reaper to prepare for his fight in private. As Daniel shut the door and moved to stand on the opposite side from King, I couldn’t help the feeling that he was locking Reaper away in his tomb. He was foretelling a future where Reaper died and we were left to run away…again.
I had to hope that Reaper had earned his leadership the old-fashioned way and that his fighting skills were incomparable to any Watcher I had ever met.
The alternative was deadly for all of us.
Chapter 16
Alex was crying.
I heard her before I saw her. She was in an unused classroom, sitting on a desk, when I tracked down the sound of her tears. She didn’t look surprised to see me. I sat down next to her, and she put her head on my shoulder. Her tears kept tracking down her face.
“I like him,” she admitted.
“I figured,” I said.
“He’s going to die,” she said.
“No,” I disagreed.
“He’s going to fight Quinn in a fight to the death,” she pointed out.
“I have faith Quinn will be doing all the dying,” I said.
“Faith!” she mocked me.
“What else do you call hope?” I asked.
“Hope,” she pointed out.
“Eh,” I said. “Honest time?” I asked her.
“Go ahead,” she said.
“He’s not Eli. He’s not perfect, but he’s not Eli. You might have joined with Eli, but you have a choice with Reaper. Don’t waste the choice, because of fear,” I said.
“Eli! What a mess he’s left of us!” she said.
“No kiddin,” a voice said from the doorway.
Spider and the kids were hovering in the hall. They looked worried at the sight of Alex’s teary face. Twitch came forward and put his hand on her face in silent support of her emotion. She smiled at the touch and picked him up. She cuddled him close and wiped away the last of her tears. Twitch smiled and touched my hand briefly in a ‘hello.’
“Do we need to beat someone up?” Ethan asked her.
“I’ve got too much of that going on as it is,” Alex said.
Cora was still focused on the mention of Eli. She twisted her red around her finger in restless emotion. “Do you think Eli’s okay?” she asked. “Do you think he thinks about us?”
Alex and I exchanged a look. “Yeah, I’m sure he does think of all of you,” Alex said.
“He just didn’t like us enough to hang around,” Spider said spitefully.
“Just because he has personal problems doesn’t
mean he doesn’t love you,” Alex told them.
“Then, he’s weak,” Spider said. “Running away is weak.”
“Speaking of running away…” I said. “I need you guys to go away for a little while.”
“Because of the fight?” Sprint asked.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“I’m not missing that for the world,” Spider said. “I’ve already got a betting pool going on the winner.”
“And if Reaper loses?” I asked.
“You just told Alex you don’t think he will,” Sprint pointed out.
“Eavesdropping is a nasty habit,” I said.
“We’re thieves and con artists…eavesdropping is the least of our nasty habits,” Sprint said.
“Could you do it as a personal favor?” I asked. “For me?”
“What if you get abducted again when we’re not looking?” Cora asked.
“I’ll try not to,” I said. “Please? I know Ellen would love to meet you all…and she can get Naomi to make you guys the best pancakes in the history of the world.”
“History of the world?” Ethan asked doubtfully.
“Part one,” I agreed.
“Huh?” Cora asked.
I sighed. “Never mind. I need a yes or no,” I said. “Will you ignore my very personal favor, or will you hang around and potentially put everyone, including Twitch, at risk?”
“Nice,” Alex complimented me.
“We’ll go. But only for the pancakes,” Ethan said.
“Okay. I’ll call Ellen and let her know to expect you. Do you think you could drive there?” I asked Ethan.
“Please!” he said, looking affronted.
“Sorry. I’ll write down the address for you. I’ll call you when it’s safe to come back.”
“Okay. We don’t have to leave right this moment, do we?” Ethan asked.
“No.”
“Okay, 'cause I think they’re having that girl’s funeral in a minute. She died fighting that mean dude, so we should probably, you know, hang around and pay our respects,” Ethan said.
“That’s very thoughtful,” Alex said.
I thought they might have really been hanging around as support for Alex. It was obvious Twitch’s presence was calming her down considerably. Ethan hadn’t survived so long on the streets by not being able to read people.
People started filing by the door in groups and singly. There was a gap in the people walking and another group went by carrying Elizabeth. There was no singing; no Preacher to sing a final dirge for the dead. People did their mourning in private. The silence was deafening.
While the funeral mimicked K.J.’s in the tradition and ceremony surrounding it, there was a profound difference. The circumstances surrounding it made it impossible to fully focus on the sadness of Elizabeth’s murder. The intrigue and the fear gripped people more than her broken body being carried out to a lonely pyre. I heard people talking about Quinn and Reaper’s fight in low tones, hushed out of respect, but full of worry for the future of the Saints.
I stepped behind the last of the people, to pay my respects; the kids and Alex followed me. I listened to the conversations around me, wondering if the unsaid things I was thinking was on their minds as well. If Quinn won, how would our world suffer? How would the humans suffer? The idea weighed me down.
The crowd gathered around a hastily erected pyre as Elizabeth was set down. River took a silver lighter with angel wings on either side out of her pocket. River’s blue eyes filled with pain as she spoke.
“Elizabeth believed in two things: courage and loyalty. She died defending both. We must remember her for her dedication, her bravery and her commitment to truth… On a personal note, I encourage you all to remember her loyalty and to whom she entrusted it. She would not like for her death to encourage you to forget that our mission is about hope and freedom. Those two things matter more than ego. That is what we stand for. That is who we are. Remember Elizabeth and remember how she died.”
The lighter flicked to life. River touched the flame to the wood. The flame surged up, engulfing the wood and the body in a matter of seconds. River pushed her way through the crowd, unwilling to watch Elizabeth’s body burn. Moira followed after her. The silence around the fire was palpable.
I couldn’t bare it. The same guilt that had attacked me earlier plagued me again. If I had been quicker, Elizabeth would still be alive. I should have done more. I should have listened to my instincts.
I turned away from the funeral and went to where Daniel and I trained. I sat down in the sand and watched the shipping barge bob in time to the waves lapping against it. I was there for only a minute when I was joined by another. Instead of Alex, who I had been expecting, it was River. She sat down next to me and looked out over the barge.
“It’s not your fault,” River said.
“It’s not yours, either,” I said. I laughed once, without humor. “We should throw an ‘it’s not your fault’ party, so we can all feel better.”
River smiled. “Maybe when Quinn is dead.”
“Maybe…”
“I came to warn you specifically,” River said.
“About what?”
“You know all that business about Elizabeth suspecting someone else holding Quinn’s leash…”
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Elizabeth only suspected someone, because she overheard Quinn talking about you on the phone. It sounded as there was a plan in motion. This challenge could be part of it.”
“The only group who would plan out an elaborate capture is the Seekers. They’re the only ones who track people down, so to speak,” I said. “They tracked me for two years once.”
She looked intrigued by the news I had been tracked for so long, but unsurprised I had chosen the Seekers as the culprit. “The thought has crossed my mind,” she agreed.
“Awesome,” I said.
“Just be careful…and stay with your friends. I know you can fight, but don’t take any chances you don’t have to.”
“I usually don’t have to take chance anywhere. It doesn’t matter who I’m with or where I’m at, chance finds me,” I said.
“So you should be doubly careful,” she said. “I do not wish to bury anymore friends.”
“Yeah, me neither,” I agreed.
River looked at me with an expectant expression on her face. I realized she wasn’t going to leave, until I returned to the school. I sighed and stood, accepting her protectiveness as par-for-the-course after what had happened with Elizabeth. Everyone would be feeling more protective; it was only natural; even more so for River, if she held some unspoken debt to Elizabeth’s mission.
River was only content when I was in the common area with the kids and Alex and surrounded by members of Reaper’s generals. The generals, excluding those guarding the doors to Quinn and Reaper, kept moving from one group to the other, to discuss what had happened and to go over their next move. They encouraged the lesser members to be strong and wait out the fight…they encouraged loyalty.
I watched them, wondering if a traitor was in their midst. Shawn had admitted to Elizabeth to taking Quinn to Compton, but that could have been in the hopes that Quinn would kill Elizabeth; it could have been a setup. If I had to suspect Shawn, didn’t I also have to suspect Sara? They were twins, inseparable when they weren’t carting people to their various destinations. If one was betraying the group, the other had to be involved. But why did that feel too easy? Preacher was gone, but what better alibi than being away? He could run things from a cellphone. River seemed adamant, but could her story of another spy be a means to trick me later? Moira was impossible to read…King had been at Lorian’s house when I had first met him. They all seemed like likely suspects; the nature of their work made suspicion only stronger.
The doubt, the questions, circled my mind for hours. It had me feeling tense and a scowl dominated my face. The kids maintained their banter and joking, to keep things light, but even they didn’t mess with me or try to pu
ll me out of my thoughtful repose.
Finally, as dusk descended on the school, the kids left, taking with them their laughter and their distraction. The number of people at the school swelled in size as others from all across L.A. came to watch the fight – even those who normally kept to secluded lifestyles were curious what would happen. Word had spread quickly and there were more than a few people interested in the outcome of the fight.
It was as the new people mingled in with the familiar faces that I realized Spider hadn’t left with the kids. He ran around the room, making connections and forging deals. I contemplated forcing him to leave, but I knew him better than to think it would do anything beyond make him more determined to stay. He had made up his mind…just like I had made up mine. I would just have to keep an eye on him once the fighting started.
Not long after the kid’s departure, the Watchers in the room started to move out of the common area in pairs and groups. They moved down the halls, creating lots of noise throughout the school. Jokes, music, playful flirting and banter circled the fall air. The feeling in the air was charged and full of excitement; it was almost as if I was the carnival or some other festive event. I got up, to follow them to the source of their coming amusement, but Alex didn’t move.
“I can’t watch it,” she admitted when I turned back for her.
I understood the feeling.
“Okay,” I said.
She bit her lip but didn’t answer. I could tell she wanted to change her mind and join me, but her anger and her fear kept her in place.
I joined the people moving downward, feeling odd at leaving her alone. I had to see, though. I had to know how the fight turned out. Ahead of me, Spider circled around people, collecting bets on the match. He looked completely natural – everyone accepted his presence, as if he had always been a part of the Saints.
Daniel and King were gone when I got to the dirt tunnel. The silver door was open and empty. The ruined desk was the only proof that Reaper had been in the room. I followed the crowd through the tunnels, curious about the one room in the school I had yet to see. My curiosity was not disappointed.
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