“Thought you killed me, didn’t you?” she asks, her voice just above a whisper. “What’s the story? Did Shadowface send you?”
“You’re the one working for Shadowface,” I say. “I knew what you were planning.”
She shakes her head slowly. “How? How do you know anything about me?”
“I’m a Starborn,” I say. “I can see futures.”
Ashley starts to laugh, but it quickly turns into labored coughs. “So that’s why you came in being awkward—shaking my hand the way you did.”
“I was just trying to put together a puzzle,” I say.
“So, what did you see?”
“I’m not going to tell you,” I say. My hands begin to tremble.
“I’m the one holding a gun, Waverly. Might be best for you to tell me what I want to know.”
“How did you know I was here?” I ask.
“I followed you. I’ve been here the whole night, waiting for you to come down.”
“For revenge?” I ask.
“For the Starborn blood,” she says.
“Why do you want it?”
“You’re the one that can tell the future,” she says with a snarl.
“You’re planning to betray us,” I say. “You’re going to hand the vial over to Samuel.”
“To Shadowface,” she says, shaking her head. “I’m not giving it to Samuel.”
“That’s not the future I saw.”
Her eyes narrow at me, but not before another coughing fit hits her. “I’m not really sure why you came after me, but I don’t much care. I’ve got a job to do. Give me the blood.”
“I don’t have it,” I say. “It’s in my room.”
Ashley grits her teeth. “Don’t lie to me.”
I can feel my pulse pounding. I look past her, wishing Ethan would come down and take her out before she can fulfill the rest of the vision that I’ve seen. My confidence in seeing two possible lines of futures is shaken now that I see Ashley alive in front of me. I thought I had ended everything involving her. This also brings into question my vision of Ethan. I saw us kissing together on the roof, but I’ve also seen him alone in the street, shot down. Is that still going to happen?
I think I might throw up.
“Give me whatever weapon you’ve got,” she says, holding out a bloodied hand.
I slowly reach for the gun tucked at my belt. For a brief second, I think about pulling it out quickly and taking another shot at her, but then I remember that it’s out of bullets. I toss the pistol to her and she lets it clank to the floor.
“You’re going to lead the way to your room,” she says. “And you’re going to get me that blood.”
“But it’s in the war zone,” I say.
“I don’t care if there are greyskins in there,” she says, “we’re going.”
She takes a step back, allowing me to pass through the doorway. I can’t help but glance up at the roof, wondering when Ethan will finally decide to come looking for me. Everything in me doesn’t want him to. For him to be alone, traveling the streets, will mean certain death. I can’t bear the thought.
I walk quickly through one of the side streets with Ashley’s gun to my back. My mind races as I try to think of what I could do to get away from her. I could run out into the middle of the war zone, but I would either be shot by one of Shadowface’s men or get attacked by ravenous greyskins. I could turn around and try to tackle Ashley, but I know she will shoot me.
Rocket fire from the main street sounds the beginning of the next round of assaults and it feels like the ground is shaking. Ashley and I stumble into the building where my room is. The walls are crumbling and it looks like the building could collapse at any moment.
The first hallway is dark and dust falls from the ceiling as we walk. I move quickly and Ashley tells me to slow down. When I look back at her, I can tell that she’s not too far from passing out. “We don’t have to do this,” I tell her, stopping in the middle of the hallway.
“Keep walking!” she says.
I obey her command, but I don’t know why she insists. She’s needs medical attention, not the Starborn blood. “The future that you’re taking us to is going to get you killed,” I say as I stagger forward. “There’s no point in going after the blood. It won’t end well for you.”
“It’s not going to end well for me anyway, thanks to you.”
“You can still live,” I say. Another explosion nearly sends me to my knees. The sounds are deafening and we have to nearly scream to be able to hear each other. “All we have to do is patch you up and let you rest.”
“Shut up!” she yells.
My head jerks up when I hear screaming from around the corner. “Where is she? She was with me and now she’s gone!” The voice comes from a woman. Her cries are beyond hysterical.
“Calm down,” a man says to her, “we can find her. When did you last see her?”
When I make it around the corner, my heart sinks into my stomach. Stephen and Lydia. The vision is about to play out the way I saw it. Everything will play out the way I saw it. I want to stop and turn around. I want to warn the two of them that if they don’t run now, it will end badly for them.
Stephen looks up at me and his eyes go wide. “Waverly!”
I can feel my lips trembling now.
Lydia looks at me too, but when the two of them notice that Ashley is walking behind me with a rifle pointed at my back, they look confused. Ashley points the gun closer to my head when she sees the two of them. She walks to my side, staring down Stephen and Lydia, almost waiting for them to try something, but the two stand frozen in place.
“What are you doing?” Stephen hisses.
Ashley swallows, looking back and forth between me and the other two. Sweat drips down the side of her face, and her bangs stick to her forehead. She points the gun to a room across the hallway. “I don’t want to kill anybody,” she says. “Get in there. Go!”
Stephen and Lydia do as they ask, and I follow behind them while Ashley brings up the rear. If I wanted to stop what was about to happen, wouldn’t I scream for them to run away? Wouldn’t I try to run from Ashley as well? But I know what the future holds at least for the next few minutes. If I decide to go against it now, we could all die right here. Besides, I don’t really know what is supposed to happen to me. The feeling of happiness I had about the usefulness of my ability is now out the window as confusion sets in. Now I’m not so sure what is real or what isn’t. What conditions set the future in motion?
The four of us are stuffed into the small room. Three of us huddle together, facing Ashley as she shuts the door behind her. Only the faint light of a covered window allows us to see anything. She holds the gun up at us, ready to fire. Lydia clutches Stephen’s shirt as he holds her close. Ashley’s eyes glare at me as she hones her aim on Stephen’s head.
“The three of us are going to take a little trip upstairs,” she says. “It’s unfortunate that the two of you got caught up in this.”
“Why don’t you just let them go?” I ask her. “They have nothing to do with this.”
“Shut up,” Ashley shouts.
Another rumble of explosions outside this building shakes the floor, another cloud of dust falls around us.
“What does she want?” Stephen asks.
“The vial of blood,” I say.
“Don’t do it, Waverly,” he says.
“You’re the one that will die if she doesn’t take me to it,” Ashley says.
“Why do you need me?” I ask. “You know where it is.”
“Because if it’s not there, I’m going to kill all of you.”
I look at Stephen and Lydia. Stephen looks defiant, but scared. Lydia looks like she’s about to pass out from fear.
“Just take me,” I plead. “You don’t need them.”
Ashley grips the gun desperately, and pulls the door open behind her. “All of you, now.”
Of course, I’ve seen how this plays out. I know she won’t ju
st let the others go, but I feel compelled to ask anyway. The three of us leave the room with Ashley pointing the gun to our backs. We walk the dark halls. We climb the bleak stairs. Apart from the fighting outside, the only sounds I hear is heavy breathing and soft, echoing footsteps. As I look up and down the walls, I can see that they are cracked and crumbling. There isn’t much time before this place is completely obliterated. I try to keep my eyes fixed ahead every time we walk past a dead body. Though I have not been here very long, I can tell that Elkhorn has changed a lot since the fighting began. I’m not sure the place will ever recover: the disintegrating buildings, the dead bodies, the reeking smell of death in the air.
We eventually get to my room and Ashley tells Stephen and Lydia to stand in the corner. She looks at me and commands me to get the vial of blood.
I get on my hands and knees and reach for the box under my bed. When I grab it, I can’t help but notice that it’s damaged. I think at first that maybe it’s from the blasts against the building, but my room is mostly untouched.
Someone has already been here.
I open the tin box and find the canister. It feels a little lighter in my hands and I’m too afraid to unscrew it to pull out the vial.
“Give it to me,” Ashley says.
I walk up to her and set it in her palm gently.
“You’re nothing but a traitor,” Stephen says to Ashley through clenched teeth. “You’re just Shadowface’s puppet.”
I know I should do something here. I should step in and try to stop her from hitting Stephen, but my legs are glued to the floor, and my thoughts race as I think about Mitch and the vision I saw of him. It’s after Ashley and Lydia are dead. He comes in and stops Samuel. Mitch is in control of him somehow. But what does all this mean in the end? I remember that Ethan will show up and do as Mitch asks, too. I’ve got to—
Ashley’s slam against Stephen’s head interrupts my thoughts.
“Why did you do that?” Lydia asks as she shakes uncontrollably, kneeling next to Stephen.
“Shut up, I’m running out of time thanks to you,” she says. She lifts her jacket to show that her wound is bleeding almost freely now. The bandage she wears is no longer helping her. “Get off the floor!” she shouts at Lydia. She lifts her wrist up, looking at her watch and curses. “It’s time.”
Ashley orders us out of the room and directs us back down the stairs. She tells us to be quiet as we walk through the building the way we came. Eventually, we make our way outside. We try to be as silent as possible because to our left there is a small group of greyskins walking through the streets, but they take no notice of us as we dart through the alleys. We walk until we’re about a full block away from the building where Stephen was hit in the head. We go into a building I’ve never noticed before and make our way up another flight of stairs, and this time we march until we reach the top floor.
As we walk, I try to recount the events that happened in the vision. I wish I had my journal with me so I can read it all in detail, but even that wouldn’t give me the answers that I need. I know the basics. I see Lydia die. I see Ashley die.
But I don’t die yet.
I almost feel guilty going along with all this, knowing how it will turn out. Lydia doesn’t deserve to die, but what am I supposed to do? Ashley always stays far enough back that I wouldn’t get near her before she shot me through the head. And if I try something upstairs, Samuel will kill me and Lydia. My hands are tied. I can only hope that an opportunity that I haven’t noticed in the vision will present itself.
We take each step upward until we reach the top floor. Just as I remember, the entire room is nearly empty but for one person standing on the other side. The windows allow in plenty of light, and I can almost see the entire city of Elkhorn.
Samuel turns to face us and smiles widely at Ashley as we approach.
“I’ve got it, Samuel,” Ashley says, holding up the canister.
“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 me. She turns back to Samuel. “But I’ve got the blood.”
“Shadowface will reward you for your hard work,” he says.
“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, holding a hand out.
Ashley’s eyes narrow. “That’s not the deal.”
“It’s what Shadowface wants,” he says. He nods toward me and Lydia. “Who are these two?”
“This one is Waverly,” Ashley says, pointing at me with her rifle. “She is the one that stole the blood in the first place.” She then points the gun at Lydia. “I’m using Lydia to make sure Waverly does as we ask.”
“I was just looking for my child,” Lydia says, a tear slipping down her cheek. “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.”
This is the moment. This is my chance to save Lydia. I know it goes against the vision I saw, but I also know I can change the future. I’ve done it before.
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 and points it at Lydia. I can’t stop myself.
I try to jump between Lydia and Samuel but isn’t this what I tried in the vision? “Wait!” I scream. But he has already put a bullet into her stomach. Lydia slams into the ground and I fall to my knees next to her. I look up at Samuel with tears in my eyes. “Why would you do that? Why?”
Samuel steps away from me as Ashley badgers him with another question. “Where is Shadowface?”
He shakes his head and wipes sweat from his forehead. “Did you take care of the rest? Who is dead?”
“Jeremiah, Mitch, Stephen…they are all dead.” She turns and looks at me. “Remi and Gabe are dead, too. The only one that got away was Ethan, but I doubt he will give you much trouble.”
But she’s lying. Stephen isn’t dead. She only knocked him unconscious. Unless, she thinks she hit him hard enough to kill him. But what about all the others? How do I know if she’s telling the truth?
As I stare at her, I know what is about to happen. I know that Samuel is about to shoot her in the head. He smiles at her. I don’t want to see another killing, but I’m not going to stick my neck out for Ashley. She is my enemy. Isn’t she?
“You’ve done Shadowface a great service,” he says. Before Ashley can even react, Samuel lifts his gun into the air and fires a shot through her head.
I watch as her limp body thuds to the floor. I try to breathe, but I think I can’t. Samuel looks down at her body and sighs coldly. He leans down and picks the canister up off the floor.
I look away from Samuel and crawl next to Lydia. Her dying eyes stare into mine as tears fall down her cheeks. “I’m sure Evie is all right,” I say. “Somebody probably has her safe somewhere.”
A slight smile forms at her lips. Perhaps it is one of hope. I know a gunshot is coming, but if all the visions are true, then the bullet will not be meant for me because Mitch will be in here at any second.
I hear Samuel cock his pistol and I squeeze Lydia’s hand even tighter. For just a brief second, she smiles at me. Then, the gun fires and Lydia has a fresh wound to her head, while Samuel stands above us with a smoking barrel.
Now, I wait.
Chapter 20 - Remi
We are still a long way from Elkhorn and I can’t help but wonder if we are too late to do anything about Shadowface’s takeover. I ride in the passenger side of the truck as Gabe drives quickly, a caravan of vehicles trailing behind us.
“He doesn’t think he’s going to take Evie back with him, does he?” Gabe asks me.
Honestly, I haven�
��t thought about it that much. I was just so happy that he decided to actually help us, I kind of forgot about the whole kid already has a parent thing. “Will Paxton have a place to go back to? He certainly won’t be allowed to lead Crestwood if he’s going to fight Shadowface. Once the other elders figure out what he’s up to, he won’t be allowed back.”
“I know,” Gabe says, keeping his eyes fixed on the road ahead.
“What?” I ask.
He looks my way for a brief second. “Nothing.”
“What is it? You look spooked or something.”
“Not spooked,” he says. “I just have a bad feeling about this. That’s all.”
“I think that’s cause for concern,” I say.
“Why?”
“Because you know Paxton better than I do. You think he’s up to something?”
Gabe shakes his head. “I don’t know. I will tell you that I know he is not, and never has been, reckless. And this seems a bit reckless for him. Just to drop everything and go after Shadowface like this? I didn’t think he would do something like that for anybody. Not even his own granddaughter.”
“Come on,” I say. “Not his granddaughter? He’s been searching for his daughter for four years.”
Gabe shrugs.
I don’t like it. Not one bit. Nervousness slithers up my spine like a snake and I wrap my arms around my waist to keep from shivering. I hope Gabe is wrong.
The next ten minutes feels like an hour or longer. I find myself checking the mirrors a lot more often than I should. I don’t know what I expect to see. With eight trucks full of soldiers behind us, we are definitely outnumbered. I turn my head toward them every now and then, trying to hear if they are talking about anything important, but they are all about as quiet as rocks.
Until, they aren’t… I can hear Paxton get over the radio to the lead vehicle. “Mendez. Move into position, this is it.”
The Starborn Ascension: Books 1, 2, and 3 (The Starborn Saga) Page 44