The Starborn Ascension: Books 1, 2, and 3 (The Starborn Saga)

by Jason D. Morrow

  “I tried to call you,” Waverly says.

  I shake my head. “I tried too, but by the time I got to a phone, no calls were getting through. I lost the ability to contact anybody.”

  “The world crumbled quickly,” Waverly says.

  “Yes it did.”

  There is another long minute between us, but this time it doesn’t feel awkward. It feels like an appropriate time to reflect, even if I don’t want to. Finally, Waverly breaks the silence with a question.

  “Can I hug you?” The tears well up in her eyes again, and it’s too hard to hold back my own.

  “Won’t you see my future?”

  “It’s a way for me to look out for you,” she says as a tear falls to her shirt.

  I nod at her and smile. She wraps her arms around my waist, and the feeling is something I haven’t felt in a long, long time.

  I feel love.

  Chapter 11 - Waverly

  The white light blinds me for just a second. Now I’m looking in through a tiny window of the future, only this time it is Remi’s.

  There are five people standing together. The sky is a mix of orange and purple hues as the clouds shadow the setting sun. I recognize all of them but one person. There is Remi, Gabe, Evie, and myself. The stranger is a woman that I have never seen. She is walking to the group of us from an SUV in the distance. It’s hard to tell, but it looks like there are others in the vehicle waiting.

  Gabe rubs Remi’s back as she holds Evie tightly. Remi has tears in her eyes as she looks to Waverly. “Is this it? Is this what you saw?” Remi asks.

  Waverly nods at her. “It’s the only way,” she says. “This isn’t a future that we should try to change. Evie has an important job to do.”

  Remi wipes away the tears from her cheeks with her left hand. In her right arm, Evie stares at her.

  “Why are you crying?” Evie asks.

  “Because we have to go away,” Remi says.

  “No!” Evie cries out.

  “Oh, kid,” Remi says as she pulls Evie in to hug her tightly.

  The woman approaches us, respectfully keeping her distance as Remi says goodbye to the little one. Waverly watches the two of them, a look of sadness, mixed with determination in her eyes.

  Remi holds on to the child for a long time, almost as if she is refusing to let her go. Eventually, she turns to the other woman. “Swear to me that you will do everything you can to give her a good life.”

  The woman steps a little closer and wraps both of her hands around one of Remi’s. “She will be protected, and I will raise her as my own. As long as I am alive, Evie will be cared for, and will know only love.”

  Remi swallows hard and gives the child another tight squeeze. “You’re going with Jenna now, okay? You’re going to have a great time. Can you be a strong girl for me?”

  Evie looks at Remi and nods. “I can be strong,” she says.

  “Good,” Remi says.

  “Strong!” Evie says with a smile.

  It’s difficult for Waverly to watch this unfold. She turns from them, and walks a few paces away. There are no tears in her eyes. Her jaw is set firmly as though she knows what she has to do next.

  Waverly doesn’t turn her head to watch as Jenna takes Evie into her arms. No more words are exchanged, and Jenna walks with Evie toward the SUV as Gabe and Remi watch them. There is nothing but silence until the final car door closes, and Evie leaves them.

  Remi buries her head into Gabe’s chest as he rubs her back gently. He whispers comforting words to her until she finally composes herself. Finally, when Waverly knows that the time is right, she turns to face Gabe and Remi.

  “It’s time,” Waverly says.

  White light.

  I’m still holding my sister. The visions happen so quickly, I’m not sure Remi will be able to comprehend that I saw so much in such a short amount of time. I keep holding on to her tightly to give myself time to process the information. But what information do I have? The vision means very little to me. Who was Jenna? Why did Remi seem so attached to Evie? Why were we giving her away? Hope for the future? Where was Ethan? I feel sick that I didn’t see Ethan with us. Does that mean that I wasn’t able to save him? There are too many questions. The more that float through my mind, the more I feel that I can’t tell Remi about this. Wouldn’t telling her all that I saw just make it more confusing? But she’s going to ask me, so I have to come up with something.

  We finally pull away from each other. She looks at my face and smiles at me, but my mind is so preoccupied that I’m not sure if I return it or not.

  “Uh oh,” Remi says. “You saw something bad, didn’t you?”

  “No,” I say immediately. “Just…different.”

  “What do you mean different?”

  “It was a simple vision, really,” I say. And this is where I decide to lie. “I’m just trying to figure out what it means and what it has to do with me.”

  “Okay…”

  “I saw you walking through a grassy field,” I explain. “You find this shiny rock in the middle of the field. You stand there and you stare at it for almost a minute. You think about picking it up, but you decide not to. Instead, you just keep walking and that’s it.”

  “Are you being serious?” she asks. “That’s it?”

  “Weird, I know.”

  “That’s lame,” she says. “So, was the grass really green? Because that would mean that I’m going to be alive until spring or summer, so that’s good news to me.”

  “It was,” I say.

  “Interesting,” she says. “Except, I don’t like that I was alone.”

  “I wouldn’t look into it very much,” I say. “It could mean anything. Maybe you’re in a place where you can be alone and not have to worry.”

  “Was I carrying a gun?”

  I take a deep breath, really starting to feel uncomfortable with all this. “Nope. Nothing. But you seemed happy.”

  Remi nods to herself as she bites her lower lip. “I wonder what it means.”

  “Like I said, sometimes it doesn’t mean anything.”

  “But what you just told me has nothing to do with you.”

  “Maybe it does. Maybe I was the one that left the rock there for some reason.” My explanations sound about as dumb as my made up vision. A pang of guilt takes hold of me, but I try not to let it show on my face.

  “Well, whatever happens,” Remi says, “hopefully I’m walking to meet you somewhere.”

  “Yeah,” I say. “Maybe.”

  I get out of there as quickly as I can. I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t hold it together if I’m lying to her about the vision. And what was that story I came up with? A rock in the middle of the field? How dumb was that?

  But the actual vision made less sense to me. That’s what I hate about my Starborn power. It constantly presents me with a new puzzle to solve. Up until now, it has mostly involved life or death, but this one was so different.

  I find myself sitting with Ethan at a table in the makeshift dining area. We are alone and I sit in front of the notepad, tapping my pencil against the paper. Finally, I toss it down.

  “I’m not writing this one,” I say.

  “It wasn’t that bad,” he says. “Just weird.”

  “But it has nothing to do with Shadowface,” I say. “At least, not directly. There’s no point in writing it down.”

  He holds his hands in the air. “Do what you want,” he says. “I just think it would be a good idea to write everything you see.”

  I look down at the notepad, having only written about Stephen and I take a deep breath. I turn to Remi’s page and write every detail that I can. It only takes me a few minutes, and when I’m finished, I feel no better about it. But I’ve still got others to look into. There are more futures that might help me figure this one out, too.

  “I can get everyone today if I have to.”

  “Then do it,” Ethan says.

  The time to act is now. I don’t wait
for Ethan to help me come up with a plan. I don’t care about seeming strange or unpredictable. There are lives at stake here. If I don’t figure out this puzzle, there is no telling what will happen.

  The first people I come across are Lydia and Evie. They are playing together in the main parking lot outside. This target will be easy. All I have to do is pretend that I want to play with Evie. A touch here, a touch there, and I’m done. No one will be the wiser.

  I smile and wave at Lydia when I come out, and she stiffens at my approach. The cold wind hits me and I’m forced to pull my thin jacket tight.

  “Hi,” I say. “I’ve seen you two before, but I’ve never gotten a chance to talk to you. I’m Waverly.” I extend a hand to shake Lydia’s but she only stares at me.

  “I know who you are,” she says. She looks at the little girl. “Put your coat back on, Evie.”

  Evie does as she is told, but not without flashing me a devious grin, her blue eyes almost sparkling in the sunlight.

  “You’re Remi’s sister,” Lydia continues, “the one that wants to take Evie away.”

  “It’s been decided that no one will take her away,” I say. “Right?”

  “Still,” Lydia says with a snarl. “I don’t like any of you here. It’s bad news. We were doing just fine before all of you showed up. Now we’re paranoid that we’re on the brink of war. As if hordes of greyskins aren’t enough to worry about.” She wipes her nose with her sleeve and looks away from me.

  “I wish we didn’t have to worry about all this crap either,” I say. “It doesn’t make sense to me why there are such evil people out there. It doesn’t make sense that we have to live the way we do. But we’re all just trying to survive.”

  I take a deep breath. I think about just lunging for her hand so I can get this vision over with, but that would make things worse.

  “I’m here to help in any way I can,” I say. “And my sister has no desire to take Evie from you.”

  “Pssht…” Lydia snarls again. “If they thought it would do them all good, they would take Evie away from me in a heartbeat.” Her eyes finally meet mine. “I’ve raised this little girl. I’ve been with her from the day she was born. I saw her mother die.” She shakes her head and her eyes fall to the ground, lost in a place that only nightmarish memories can take her. “Then I saw her mother wake up. I guess she was one of the first greyskins.” She looks up at Evie who is throwing pebbles as far as she can. “I can never tell her the things I saw.”

  I take a step toward Lydia. “Nor should you. You are her guardian. You should never have to feel like you need to protect her from the people closest to you. Please know that my sister was only talking about mentioning Evie to Paxton, not giving her to him.”

  “What do you think would happen if she told him?” Lydia says. “He would come after her.”

  “But she’s not going to tell him,” I say. “It’s been decided. We’re all here to help. We need to work together.”

  I reach out my hand again. I mean everything I say, and my offer of friendship comes with a handshake. Lydia looks up at Evie and down at my hand again. “As long as I’m here,” I say, “I won’t let anyone get to Evie. You have my word.”

  Lydia looks from my hand to my eyes when I say this. “Why do you care?”

  “Because somebody needs to. It’s the only way this world is going to heal.”

  A slight smile forms at Lydia’s mouth and she reaches out to shake my hand. She needs the comfort of friendship.

  I need to see the future.

  Ashley stands in the room, holding the canister in one hand and her rifle in the other. Waverly and Lydia stand near each other while Stephen lies unconscious on the ground. Or is he dead? I can’t tell.

  Ashley tells them to be quiet as they walk through the building and outside. To their left, there are greyskins walking through the streets, but they have not taken notice of the small group. They walk as quietly as possible, Ashley’s gun still pointed at their backs, until they reach a building almost a city block away from where they left Stephen.

  Ashley gets them inside and orders them to march up the stairs. They keep walking until they reach the top floor of the building. It is nearly empty but for one person standing on the other side of the room. There are windows all around them, and when Waverly looks out, she can see that it overlooks most of Elkhorn.

  As they near the person on the other side of the room, he turns to look at them. He has a young face and he smiles widely at Ashley as they approach.

  “I’ve got it, Samuel” Ashley says, holding the canister up.

  “You’re late,” Samuel says. “You were supposed to meet me here twenty minutes ago. I was about to leave.”

  “I’m sorry, I got held up,” she says, glaring at Waverly. She turns back to Stephen. “But I’ve got the blood.”

  “Shadowface will reward you for your hard work.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Ashley says. “When I show you the canister, you’re supposed to call Shadowface here. That’s the agreement. I want to meet the person I’m working for.”

  “Give me the canister,” Samuel says. He holds a hand out, waiting.

  Ashley’s eyes narrow. “That’s not the deal.”

  “It’s what Shadowface wants,” he says. He nods toward Waverly and Lydia. “Who are these two?”

  “This one is Waverly,” Ashley says, pointing with the rifle. “She is the one that stole the blood in the first place.” She then points at Lydia. “I’m using Lydia to make sure Waverly does as we ask.”

  “I was just looking for my child,” Lydia says. “I lost her in the chaos yesterday and I can’t find her anywhere. I don’t care what you do with the canister, blood…whatever. I don’t want any part of this. I just want to find Evie.”

  Samuel watches Lydia for a moment and shakes his head. “You’ve seen too much.” He reaches behind him and produces a gun from his belt.

  I see Waverly try to jump for her. A scream passes her lips. “Wait!”

  He points the gun at Lydia before Waverly can stop him and fires a deafening shot into her stomach. Waverly screams out desperately, falling to her knees to cradle Lydia’s head.

  “Why would you do that?” Waverly shouts. “Why?”

  Samuel almost looks annoyed by the shouting and screaming. Ashley takes a step forward. “Where is Shadowface?” she asks desperately.

  Samuel shakes his head, almost as if he can no longer take the pressure. “Did you take care of the rest?” Samuel asks. “Who is dead?”

  “Jeremiah, Mitch, Stephen…they are all dead.” She turns to look at Waverly. “Remi and Gabe are dead, too. The only one that got away was Ethan, but I doubt he will give you much trouble.”

  So she did kill Stephen? When? And the others? She murdered all of them?

  Samuel smiles briefly. “You have done Shadowface a great service.” Before Ashley can even blink, Samuel lifts his gun into the air and fires a shot through her head.

  Waverly watches the scene unfold, barely able to breathe. Samuel looks down at her and sighs coldly, bending down to pick up the canister from the floor. Waverly stares into Lydia’s eyes, ignoring the click of Samuel’s gun cocking. Tears stream down the sides of her cheeks.

  “I’m sure Evie is all right,” Waverly says. “Somebody probably has her safe somewhere.”

  A slight smile forms at her lips and then, the boom of a gunshot brings the white light.

  I’m almost out of breath when I let go of Lydia’s hand. She looks at me curiously and I have to turn away. I feel like I’m going to be sick. The man I saw must have been the Samuel that Jeremiah was talking about in the meeting.

  “Are you all right?” Lydia asks, smiling.

  “I’m fine. I’m fine. Just feeling a bit woozy.”

  “Perhaps you should lie down,” Lydia says.

  I nod at her. “I think you might be right. I’m sorry.” I leave her side and walk back toward the building. I don’t stop until I r
each my room and actually do lie down on the cot. What I just saw doesn’t make any sense to me. The vision is completely contradictory to everything I’ve seen so far. Unless Ashley was lying to Samuel, then almost everyone I know will be dead soon because of her. Everyone except…Ethan.

  Of course, I know so little about Ethan’s future, the vision of his death could still play a part in all this. And did Samuel just shoot me in the back of the head? The white light came so quickly, I didn’t have a chance to see.

  I get out the notepad and start scribbling everything I’ve seen so far, and by the time I’m finished, I still can’t make sense of it. It frustrates me the most to not be able to know the timeline of events. I even try to make a numbered list of things that I think could happen, but none of them seem to fit together. I throw the notepad on the ground in frustration and decide that there’s only one thing left to try. I’ve got to see Ashley’s future.

  I find her alone in an office. She has pieces of a rifle sprawled out over a desk as she cleans the small parts with precision. She seems surprised when I come into the room. I try not to be too forceful, but the way I feel, I almost don’t care. It’s not like she’s going to be the one to kill me.

  “Hey there,” she says to me, an eyebrow raised. “Can I help you?”

  “I uh, I wanted to let you know that I’m happy you, Mitch, and Jeremiah are here to help us,” I say. I walk forward and extend a hand, hoping I won’t get the cold shoulder that I’ve gotten used to recently.

  Ashley looks at me like my declaration is odd, but she gives her hand to me slowly and I shake it with a firm grip—the light flashes immediately.

  The same scene unfolds—the one where she is taking Lydia and me to Samuel. Everything plays out the same way until Samuel brings the gun up to Ashley’s head and kills her.

  With another bright flash I’m back in the room, standing in front of Ashley. I’ve got to think quick. So far, I’ve never seen the same vision twice with the same person.