I have a question, Daniel said as we waited.
What?
What really happened to Anna?
I made a mistake, I admitted.
The visual of her turning in to a Nightstalker rose in front of my eyes. Daniel saw the moment and was startled. With the enmity between Anna and me, he hadn’t thought I would touch her, let alone forgive her.
“Should we track her down?” I asked.
“We’ll never catch her…not unless she wants to be caught,” he told me.
“Great…” I sighed.
Alex joined us in the line of people waiting to be transported. She had a question. “You said that Lorian said the name ‘Farrah’ right before he was killed, right?”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“That name sounds really familiar to me,” she said.
“Familiar, like you know who he was referencing or familiar, like you’re a fan of ‘Charlie’s Angels?’” I asked.
“Both,” Alex said. She frowned. “But I can’t remember where I heard it.”
“I’m not sure if it’s important,” I said.
“He looked right at you and said it,” Alex pointed out. “Kind of a weird last thing to say.”
“Yeah, I know…” I replied, thinking over the moment again.
He had been so intense when he had said the name. It was as if he were asking for something…pleading? It was hard to tell.
“I’ll think on it,” she promised me. “Are we going to get our things from the school?”
“I’ll get them,” Daniel said.
“Find Spider, too,” I said. “He’s probably wandering around somewhere.”
“I will,” he agreed.
As we waited for our turn to be taken to the ships, I looked out over the yard. The prisoners we had rescued were gathered on the yawn. Some of the people looked empty, others looked relieved. Those who had been captured earlier in their imprisonment were crying and letting out their emotions, as they waited for Sara and Shawn to take them away from their time in hell. Those who had been there for a while simply stared. Bodies from the fallen dotted the landscape. Reaper’s soldiers were going from body to body, burning the dead. The prison was on fire. Behind me, someone set fire to the house. It flared up with a surge of heat. It felt like a great purging of the darkness the house had contained. Daniel watched the burning with me, his mind lost in a thousand memories, a thousand other battles.
While Daniel remained lost in the past, I was focused on the future. It felt impossible to focus elsewhere under the circumstances. The future had never felt closer. Lorian’s death was new territory. The war was finally ended.
But the fighting was far from over.
Grace’s attempt to capture me was a reminder that Marcus would never give up his search. He wouldn’t just go away and leave me alone. He wanted what I had. He wanted my blood. I promised myself to never forget that again. It was something I would have to deal with sooner rather than later…if I hoped to have any peace. My revenge on Lorian had only put me closer to Marcus’ clutches. Had River not been suspicious, Grace’s plan would have worked. I vowed to not forget that lesson any time soon.
When it was finally my turn to be taken to the ship, Sara took my hand with an awed expression on her face. She had heard my story and knew what I had done. She had gone through the darkness without hearing the voices. I had altered her world.
With her touch, I allowed her to pull me in to the darkness. This time, there were no voices calling for my attention. There was only silence. Nemesis was gone.
The world of the ship was quite different from the world of silence. Voices were raised in pain and other voices called out orders to keep the ship on course. There was a slow rocking and the dull hum of a large engine propelling us through the water. Florescent lights illuminated a narrow hall. Injured people were sitting, sometimes lying, wherever there was room in the crowded hall. Alex was on Sara’s other side; Daniel had gone with Shawn to get our things from the school and collect Spider.
River was going from person to person cleaning their injuries and doing what she could to make the healing process quicker. Not knowing what else to do, Alex and I tried to help her. We helped until Reaper and Daniel returned.
Reaper didn’t stand around for long. He jumped up the stairs, barking orders and returning some order to the chaos of the ship. The feeling on the ship shifted with his presence. People felt calmer. I heard Reaper set us on a course with Marcus’ hideout in the Alaskan Mountain Range – toward Daniel’s parents. It was another fight, another mission. It gave his people purpose and direction. I just hoped it wasn’t a suicide mission.
Daniel had my grandfather’s book, my guitar, and bags full of our clothes, and, of course, a woozy-looking Spider. Spider held on to the wall when they appeared - the rocking of the ship did not help his dizziness. His face turned green.
Alex took my grandfather’s book from Daniel’s arms, and I took my guitar. Spider, who still looked rather green, took a bag of clothes and fell in place behind us. Together, we went in search of a place to put our things and wait out the coming weeks of travel.
As I walked, I realized that our future would not be easy. It was a hard road we were taking – but one I was more than willing to take. Especially now. Whatever future was in store for me, I knew I would not face it alone. I had my family with me.
I just hoped that my future would not be the end of us all.
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