03 Saints

by Lynnie Purcell

  “And?” I asked.

  “And?” she asked back.

  “You’re about betray me aren’t you? It figures, I never liked you as much as the others. Ghost, though, he’s a surprise. I thought we were friendly.”

  Grace didn’t look happy at my blasé attitude. Ghost looked even more uncertain. He avoided my eyes.

  “You’re going to take a little nap,” Grace said. “When you wake up, the Saints will be gone, I will be pretending to be you, and Marcus’ people will have you all safe and sound at their headquarters here in town...they’re on their way here as we speak.”

  “That sounds like a lot for one nap,” I said.

  “You should watch that mouth of yours,” she said. “It can get you in to all sorts of trouble.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Apparently…”

  Grace smirked. “You’re going to be so easy to mimic. All I have to do is act like a brat.”

  “Mimic?” I asked.

  She tilted her head to one side, as if I were a particularly interesting painting, then her face changed. It wasn’t a gradual thing, more like a slap in the face: sudden and shocking. One second I was looking at Grace’s sunny face, the next I was looking at mine. It was alarming, and what she was suggesting was straight out of my nightmares. I tried to maintain my cool. It wasn’t easy.

  “Is that how my nose really looks?” I asked her.

  “Is that how my nose really looks?” she asked back, mocking me.

  Her voice was perfect. It was my voice. I couldn’t tell the difference.

  She snapped her fingers and pointed at me. Ghost came forward, his hand outstretched. I pulled my knife out of my boot but, like Lorian, I was too slow. Ghost had the advantage of preparation. He grabbed my wrist and twisted the knife out of my hand. A touch was all he needed.

  In the next instant, I felt a wave of exhaustion travel through my body. My knees hit the ground, and I toppled face first in to the grass. Before I lost all sense of consciousness, I saw Grace pick up my knife from the grass and rip my father’s necklace off my neck. She had obviously noticed me playing with it. She didn’t notice my newest addition, however. The ring remained on my hand.

  She turned back to Ghost, an evil smile on my face. “Looks like it’s time for us to part ways. My father, Marcus, thanks you for your help.”

  Right before the world went dark I saw her stab Ghost in the heart with my knife. She callously stabbed him again after he had fallen, to be sure of him then kicked him over the edge of the cliff. Her murder finished, she pulled a piece of the house over to cover my body, so the Seekers could find me later.

  The world went dark.

  The thing about Ghost’s world of sleep was that there were no dreams. There was nothing to mark the time or trap me in a world of terror. There was nothingness. No sense of consciousness. It was almost a relief in a way. No pain…no fear of pain. Just…nothing.

  But even nothing couldn’t last forever.

  The next thing I was aware of was the feel of sunlight on my skin and the sense of a person holding me in their arms. The feeling lasted for a while. I struggled against leaving the warm, blissful nothing of Ghost’s dream world. I wanted to stay and dream in peace, rest. I felt so tired, so willing to sleep. But the sense that I should wake up, that I was needed, was too powerful. There were things to do, and I had to be the one to do them.

  I woke up finally, feeling foggy. The world spun – I wasn’t sure if it was an after-effect of Ghost’s gift or if it was from falling out of a house. It didn’t really matter. I blinked again and tried to focus. I felt a warm caress of thought try and help me find my mental balance.

  “I feel dizzy,” I said to no one in particular.

  “Oh, thank God!” I heard Daniel say in my ear.

  It was then I realized he was the one holding me. His mind was what had urged me to wake up.

  “You would be the one to wake me up from the best nap I’ve had in ages,” I said groggily.

  He laughed and held me tighter. As he did, I saw that the others were gathered around me. Reaper and River were standing next to Alex. Alex looked relieved, while River and Reaper shared the same look of relief and anger. King was on Reaper’s other side. Moira was a bit removed from the others, but even she was looking at me in relief. They were all covered in dust, grime, and blood. Seeing Alex covered in blood was shocking. She didn’t seem to notice the silver coating her hands and face.

  “You okay?” Alex asked.

  “Not really…” I said. “Where’s Grace? She’s pretending to be me…She’s Marcus’ daughter… I heard her say she was…”

  “She’s…not doing well,” Daniel said.

  “And by that, he means he killed her,” Alex clarified.

  “You killed me?” I asked.

  “It wasn’t you!” he exclaimed.

  “How’d you know?” I asked.

  He looked at River. “It was River who figured it out, actually.”

  “Reaper and River,” Reaper added.

  “River and Reaper, you mean, because you just kind of thought about things…” River started to correct him.

  “Just tell the story,” Alex commanded.

  “Remember Elizabeth telling me about another spy?” River asked. “One she thought was pulling Quinn’s strings with promises of power?”

  “Yeah, of course,” I replied.

  “Reaper took my warning seriously. Quinn gaining as much power as he did was ridiculous. I mean, it was Quinn,” River said. “So, he thought what would anyone gain by letting Quinn have power of the Saints…we’re a group that’s not a big threat on the grand scale. Everyone knows this.”

  “Except for today,” I added, figuring we had won the battle from the way they were gathered around me and the quiet that had descended over the house.

  “Right. So, the question of why give Quinn the Saints was weighing on Reaper, and he got to thinking. The attacks didn’t happen until after you arrived. Quinn was a brat, but he was a loyal one. He would only do something if he felt there was a genuine threat to the Saints. Someone was spreading lies about you being a threat. It had to be connected. The only person that really wants you bad enough to stage a coup is Marcus,” River said.

  “You figured that out, did you?” I asked Reaper.

  “Yes,” Reaper agreed. “I also figured out that whomever Marcus had sent also wanted control over the Saints to accomplish what we accomplished here. He wanted to use our name to get rid of the brothers. That way his hands stay clean should something go wrong. It was very clever.”

  “Except that you beat Quinn,” I said.

  “Marcus has a habit of underestimating me,” Reaper said.

  “Why didn’t Grace just abduct me at the school?” I asked.

  “She needed to study you. Grace always studies the people she mimics,” Reaper said.

  “It’s a good thing you don’t walk around barefoot,” River added.

  “How do you mean?” I asked.

  “I woke up rather angry, after you knocked me out, as you can imagine. I went in search for you, not only to make sure Anna didn’t just turn you over to Lorian, but to yell at you if I got the chance…” Her blue eyes flashed with anger.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  She waved the apology away with a gesture. “After looking all over for you, I saw you stroll out from around the corner of the house. I thought that was kind of odd…there you were…just strolling. You were tucking your knife in to your boot as if you had just used it and placing your necklace on your neck. Suspicious for several reasons, I confronted you. I could tell there was something off. You were acting…like a brat.”

  “More than usual, she means,” King added.

  “She obviously didn’t understand you as well as she thought she did,” River said. “You might have a clever mouth, but you’re not rude. She did not understand the difference. I backed her in to a corner and demanded she take her shoe off. When she wouldn’t, I forced her to.
Daniel arrived, saw her foot, and demanded to know where you were. She wouldn’t say, and attacked him with the knife. Daniel won the fight.”

  Who would have thought the one tattoo I had never wanted to get, something I continually hid out of shame, anger, and sadness, would be the one thing that would save me?

  “Thanks kind of feels inadequate, but ‘thanks,’” I said to River. “I owe you.”

  She nodded and gave me a small smile. “I’ll collect.”

  I looked around at the broken house, seeing the part of the house Grace had covered me with. I realized for the first time how massive it was. I was shocked anyone found me under it.

  “How’d you know where I was?” I asked.

  “The ring…I felt you,” Daniel said.

  “Oh…” I looked down at the ring in surprise. Had he given it to me out of fear that he would lose me again? Was it a way to track me? “Did you find Ghost?” I asked, not wanting to dwell on my situation any longer.

  They all exchanged looks of confusion.

  “You didn’t think I was sleeping ‘cause I got tired did you?” I asked.

  “We thought you were knocked unconscious,” Daniel admitted. I knew he had feared worse when I hadn’t woken up immediately.

  “Oh! Ghost was in on it. She stabbed him then kicked him off the cliff,” I explained.

  My admission meant something to King. He started pacing.

  “I told him not to get involved with Grace,” King fretted. “I told him not to get involved with a chick you work with. It always gets messy.”

  River frowned at him, though I was the only one to notice.

  “She must have seduced him in to betraying us,” King added. “I should have watched him…”

  “Grace fooled us all,” Reaper said. “It’s not your fault.”

  “He should be burned…even if he did betray us…” River said slowly, her eyes still on King.

  “I’ll do it,” Moira said.

  She walked to the edge of the cliff and stepped off without another word.

  “How’d we do?” I asked the group.

  “You never really win in war,” Daniel said. “You just do a little better than the other guys.”

  “Which is your roundabout way of saying ‘not bad’?” I asked.

  “I guess…”

  “The prisoners?” I asked.

  “Most of them were freed. Some fought back,” Alex said. “We saved everyone who wanted to be saved.”

  “You want to tell us about your adventure?” Daniel asked me.

  I thought of Anna, the angel, and Lorian. There was a lot to tell and even less time to tell them – I knew Marcus’ people were closing in. Grace had called them. I gave them a summary, not wanting to go in to the full story. I downplayed Anna’s role and emphasized the angel and Lorian’s encounter. It felt easier than explaining how I had changed Anna. Daniel and Alex knew I was leaving things out, but neither pressed me.

  “That’s a hell of a thing,” Reaper said. “Lorian is really dead…and Darian is next. This is great.”

  “Great?” I questioned. To me, it looked far from ‘great.’ But then again, I had witnessed Nemesis kill Lorian and had felt the effects of Grace’s betrayal first-hand. The memories were still fresh.

  “Would you rather Lorian was still alive?” he asked back.

  “I…No, but your people just went through a hell of a battle,” I said. “And Marcus is stronger than ever.”

  Reaper shrugged. “One thing at a time. We should get out of here, before we attract attention...or Marcus’ people get here. I’ve got Sara and Shawn ferrying people back to the school as we speak.”

  “Do you think that’s wise?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?” Reaper asked.

  “Marcus sent Grace to infiltrate your ranks. He probably knows all about the school, and when his people get here, they’re going to figure out that Grace is dead and their plan has failed. They’ll probably come find you at that point,” I said.

  “I didn’t think of that,” he said.

  “Our people are tired and would not be at full strength should the Seekers attack,” River said. “Our victory here doesn’t mean we can face a confrontation with Marcus’ people.”

  “What other option do we have, beyond dismantling the Saints and telling my people to run?” Reaper asked us.

  “What about the barge?” I asked.

  “The barge?” Reaper asked.

  “You know, that very big ship you normally have docked at the school…” I said. “Isn’t it nearby?”

  His eyes lit up. “Oh!” He turned to River. “Find Sara and Shawn and tell them to take our people there. Save what you can from the school, leave the rest.”

  “I’ll go with you,” King volunteered.

  River accepted his company without argument, and the pair walked off.

  “Even the ship won’t be entirely safe,” Daniel pointed out.

  “Nowhere is safe, my friend,” Reaper said. “After everything that has happened…mobility would be a comfort. Besides, I believe it’s time we head north to Alaska and see if Margaret, Jackson, and Preacher have discovered anything useful. My promise to help you was not an empty one.”

  Daniel smiled. “Thank you.”

  Daniel finally released me and helped me stand. Everything spun a little, but I managed to keep my feet. Alex held out her hands as I stood. Resting in her right palm was my necklace. In her other hand was my knife.

  “Thanks,” I said, taking my things from her.

  “Sure,” she said.

  “We’re you okay to fight?” I asked her.

  “I stayed with King,” she confessed. “He did all the heavy lifting. He actually insisted…he was very pushy about it. I didn’t even get to throw a punch.”

  Reaper hid his smile and turned away to look out over the chaos of the ruined house. It was obvious he had asked King to look after Alex. Alex’s anger at Reaper had made her oblivious to the source of King’s ‘pushiness.’

  “I’m glad you’re safe,” I told her.

  “Me, too,” she said with a smile.

  Daniel pulled me away from the others, so we could talk in private. He wasn’t happy.

  “I know why you sneaked off; I can understand the impulse. I’ve had it many times. What I want to know is, if you thought through it at all, before you decided to jump in to danger.”

  “I…”

  He wasn’t interested in my excuses. “I’ve tried my best to give you space, to give you freedom and understand what you’re going through, but what you did feels very…” he struggled with the proper word.

  “Selfish?” I asked.

  He didn’t argue. His voice was earnest, full of experience as he spoke. “Revenge is a dangerous path…it has a way of alienating you from the people who care about you. Killing the person who did you wrong doesn’t magically solve your problems.”

  “I know,” I admitted.

  “You have to learn to trust in others to do what needs to be done. You should have allowed River the chance to kill Lorian. It was her mission,” he continued.

  “River wouldn’t have gotten through the front door,” I said.

  I hated how spot-on his words were. Lorian dying hadn’t changed what had happened to me in the prisons. The experience was still there. His death had not been the closure I was searching for. Nothing could erase the memories or the profound fear of pain I now harbored.

  “You don’t know that,” he said.

  “He said as much,” I replied.

  He looked frustrated. “It’s not about that...it’s more…”

  “What?”

  “Everything you do has an impact, Clare,” he said. “Have you forgotten what I told you in New Orleans?”

  “That you were sent to King’s Cross to find me?” I asked, wondering how he could think I would forget that.

  “That’s part of it,” he said. “But I mean the vision I had.”

  “Oh, the one whe
re the world…” I said without thinking.

  He put a hand over my mouth, to keep me from continuing. He looked at Reaper, who was still staring at the house and Alex, who was watching us curiously.

  People shouldn’t know about my vision of the world ending, he said through our touch.

  Why not?

  Knowing the future is a burden, we have to be careful to not change something. People might do something different.

  But I know… I pointed out.

  His face showed his concern. I know…

  I’m not going to shut my life away because of some stupid prophecy, I said.

  The problem is that Odette herself verified the vision, and she is rarely wrong, he said. I don’t live according to her rules anymore, either. But her gift is profound…

  He was holding something back. I could tell from the expression on his face.

  What is it? I asked.

  Odette once said that when an angel was seen on earth again, I would know that the end of the days was drawing near. She told me to look for that sign and to be ready.

  I had a private moment of panic. The only reason the angel was ‘seen on earth’ was because I had pulled her out of the darkness. If the world ended, would it be my fault? At the time, it had felt more important than anything I had ever done. Now, I wondered if I should have left her in place.

  I pulled his hand off my mouth, and moved away from him, so that we were no longer touching. I looked out over the ocean and wondered if fate had more power than I had thought. Maybe, it really was fate I had pulled Nemesis out of her prison, and if I had been meant to do that, maybe there was no stopping the end of the world. It was not something I felt like dwelling on.

  I turned back to Daniel and put a hand on his face. “We will deal with that later...okay?”

  He was dubious but willing to let the issue lie. I could sense he was just happy we were okay. The world ending was not something either of us could logically come to terms with after such a dramatic day.

  “Okay,” he said.

  He took my hand again, and we walked over to where Sara and Shawn were appearing and disappearing every few seconds. People were waiting patiently for their turn to be taken to the ship. I didn’t try to walk in the darkness by myself. I was exhausted…and more than a little frightened of traveling in the dark on my own. What if I pulled something else out that should remain locked away? My actions had consequences…the world ending kind.