“Are you ready?” Jeffrey asked.
“It’s long overdue,” Evelyn answered. “People don’t know what they are getting themselves into. They don’t know what I know.”
“We know what you know,” Sarah said with a smile. “I wish I could be more of a help tomorrow.”
“You will be,” Evelyn said. “You’re providing me with peace of mind that there will be no one on my back.”
“I just want the two of you to be as close to me as possible,” Jeffrey said. He looked at Evelyn with a stern face. “If we’re in trouble and you haven’t taken your shot yet, I’m not waiting for you. We’re out of there.”
“I know,” Evelyn said. “If all of this doesn’t work out, we will find another way. May take years, but we’ll do it.”
“You think this will stop it all?” Sarah asked. “Screven will still exist with or without Jeremiah.”
“Maybe not at first,” Evelyn answered. “But with him gone, it won’t last. The colonies will realize how much Jeremiah demanded of them, and they will take back their power. You cut off the snake’s head, the body moves for a while, but it stops eventually.”
She watched Jeffrey play with Sarah’s hair and couldn’t help but think about Mark. It had been so long ago since she had lost him, but it felt like no time at all. The memories of Jeremiah and what he did to her felt like it had happened just weeks ago instead of years. The pain never went away. Just knowing what the man was capable of doing made her hate him all the more. How many people had he murdered in this lifetime? And to think that he had stolen the gift of long life made her shudder. Killing him was important for everyone’s freedom, not only because he was a tyrant, but also because he was a tyrant that could live forever. How old was Jeremiah now? Eighty? It was time for him to go.
That night, Evelyn didn’t sleep. She didn’t even try. As the fire died down, Sarah and Jeffery had been able to doze off while Evelyn stayed alert. Her mind went through every scenario. There really wasn’t any reason this operation shouldn’t work. There was little protection around Jeremiah because there were few who would consider killing the man. For most, it wasn’t even in their minds. He was there to help. The only reason Evelyn had any doubt about the flawlessness of her plan was the fact that Sudyka was run by thugs that didn’t want their power stripped of them either. Perhaps Jeremiah knew this and had prepared accordingly.
The morning cThe morname in slowly and it was time to meet Tristan. Few villagers were up at such an early hour, but Screven vehicles had already been pouring in through the night. Tristan warned them that the guards would swarm the watchtower quickly if they smelled trouble. He reminded them that they had better have a fast getaway planned. He led them to the tower and unlocked the bottom door.
“Just keep taking the stairs and you’ll have a clear view of the courtyard,” he told them.
“Thanks,” Evelyn said.
Tristan bowed low and walked away without another word.
“I don’t like this,” Jeffrey said. “Seems too easy.”
“The hardest part about this would be escaping,” Evelyn said. “That’s why having you here makes the operation so simple.”
Evelyn locked the door behind them, knowing that it wasn’t the only entrance to the watchtower. Sarah would have to be watching her back because the watchtower also connected to the top of the village wall where guards usually patrolled. She hoped there would be few guards. As long as everyone was preoccupied with the speech going on below them, they should be fine.
The stairs seemed to go on forever, but they finally made it to the top room where there was an open view of the entire courtyard below. The stage had already been set up and people were checking the microphones to make sure the sound levels were as they should be. Evelyn noticed three doors upon entering the room. There was the door that they had just come through, which Jeffrey locked. Then there were two doors on either side of the room connected to the outside wall. It wasn’t the most private place to take a shot, but it was close enough for someone in Evelyn’s skill level. Hopefully everyone would be looking in the opposite direction toward the stage. The other doors didn’t have a lock and there was nothing in the room to block them or wedge them shut.
Sarah suggested actually leaving the doors open so it would be easier for them to see someone coming. It would be better than just having someone walk through the door by surprise. Evelyn agreed with her and for the next several hours they waited. The courtyard below them started to fill quickly just before noon. It wouldn’t be long before Jeremiah took the stage and Evelyn took the shot.
Part of her wished that he would know who hit him; that it was she that took the shot that ended his life, but she knew it wasn’t necessary. The point wasn’t supposed to be revenge, even though she knew that was a big part of it. The point was revolution. The point was taking the power away from someone evil.
The introductions began. Jeremiah walked up to the stage and sat, waiting to be called up. Evelyn could have taken the shot then, but it would be much more clear if he was standing at the podium.
His name was announced and he stood. He ignored the man’s handshake as he walked past and grabbed both sides of the podium.
“New colonists of Sudyka,” Jeremiah began.
Evelyn felt a tap on her shoulder. “There’s a Screven guard coming,” Sarah said, pointing to the right entrance.
“Take care of it,” Evelyn said through bared teeth. “That’s what I brought you here for.”
Jeffery was sweating and shaking, obviously nervous about the entire situation. Evelyn suddenly realized that she might have recruited these two before they were ready for such a thing. This was new to all of them, but these two were showing it pretty badly.
Evelyn held the rifle steady as she looked through the scope, focusing the crosshairs on Jeremiah. She could hear Sarah pull out hah pull er knife. She could hear the soft surprise as the knife sunk into the guard’s throat and he fell to the floor. But that was the last thing she heard before the door behind them exploded with such force it knocked her forward into the wall. Her finger squeezed the trigger involuntarily, but the bullet landed far from the intended target.
Dropping the rifle, she fell to her back as more gunshots exploded through the air. Evelyn could see nothing but dust and debris until Sarah fell next to her with a bullet hole in her head and several in her chest. She was already dead.
Evelyn struggled to roll over to her right and grab her gun, but a boot caught the side of her cheek and she slumped to the ground. Looking up she could see a whole group of Screven guards around the watchtower. Screams belted out from below at the sound of gunfire. Jeffrey was also on the ground. Why wasn’t he teleporting out of here? Why didn’t he save himself? He was going to die if he didn’t go. Evelyn also accepted that she was about to die as well. And she would die a failure. At least she had tried. At least she had given it her all. Emerging from the group of Screven guards was Tristan. He smiled at her and shook his head. Evelyn just closed her eyes to accept whatever was to come. She winced as another boot kicked the side of her head.
She didn’t open her eyes again until she felt cold water being dumped over her entire body. The feeling was such a shock she almost thought she wouldn’t be able to take a breath. She was in a dark room but for a window in the corner that let in a small amount of light. She could see that there were several guards in the room just staring at her.
Her wrists had been tied behind her back and she had been forced to lie on her stomach. She felt miserable.
With her right cheek smushed against the cold floor, she saw Jeffery in the same position. Blood trickled down the side of his head and mouth, but he was awake. Tears flowed from his eyes. He must have seen Sarah die. Evelyn knew the feeling well. A door opened at the other end of the room and a man walked in, flanked by two more guards. He motioned for someone to pull the two prisoners up to their knees. Evelyn felt the pain shoot through her shoulder blades as the guard wrenc
hed her upward.
Someone turn on a lamp and the light illuminated Jeremiah’s face. He wore no sunglasses or hat. His familiar flowery smell took over the room and, for the first time in her life, Evelyn thought it was better than the rest of the smells around her. His droopy eyes fixed on her and he shook his head slowly.
“What has it been, twenty years?” he asked.
“Twenty-two,” Evelyn said, setting her jaw firmly.
Jeremiah nodded. “I have to say, Evelyn, twenty-two years is a long time to wait to kill someone.”
“I know,” she said.
“Why now? Why not so many years ago? How has it taken you this long to come up with a plan?”
Evelyn didn’t answer him. There was no answer. The truth was, there had never been an opportunity to kill Jeremiah since she had last seen him. She had spent too much time trying to build up a life in the village of Salem. She never knew where Jeremiah would be. She suspected Sudyka eventually. She had been surprised that it had taken him this long to finally get there. When she learned of his coming, she knew it was time to strike.
Her eyes glanced over at Jeffrey who was on his knees and still crying. She felt sick that she had gotten him and Sarah into all this. She couldn’t believe Sarah had been killed so quickly and easily. She still couldn’t understand why Jeffrey was still here. He had no reason to stay. He needed to leave or he was going to die. Eing to dvelyn had already accepted her fate.
“So, what’s your plan?” Evelyn asked. “You going to eat me like the cannibal you are?”
Jeremiah stared at her for a long moment, and then turned to his guards. “I want you all to leave the room,” he said. The guards all hesitated a moment, but soon it was only Jeffrey, Evelyn, and Jeremiah. Evelyn knew what this was. Jeremiah was ready to speak candidly and didn’t want his guards to know what he was talking about.
“You must understand the surprise I had when I saw that you could read my thoughts,” Jeremiah said. “To have held my hand for a few seconds and know almost everything about me.”
“A few things stood out,” Evelyn said.
“I imagine they did,” he said. A corner of his mouth turned upward as he thought to himself.
“Particularly the part about what you wanted with me. What you wanted with Mark. What you did to Willow. How it affected my mother. The world. Don’t you see what has happened because of you? How can you accept it without guilt? That’s why I hate you so much. I can understand that you killed Mark. I can understand that you’ve done so many things, but I’ve seen inside you. What disturbs me the most was that you had never once felt guilty about any of it. How?”
As if only to add to her accusations, Jeremiah smiled at her. “It’s one big experiment to me.”
“You’re insane.”
Jeremiah nodded. “Perhaps. I don’t think a sane person could do everything that I’ve done. And on top of that, I don’t think a sane person could stand to profit from it. Or maybe it’s not a sanity issue. Maybe it’s that I don’t see the difference between right and wrong. I understand the concept of it; I just don’t feel it like you do. And I don’t care to either. Right and wrong stifles what a person can do.”
“For a reason,” Evelyn said.
“I’ve always blended the black and white. I protect so many people. I kill so many people. It’s all a bit…grey.” He laughs at his own sick joke. “But of course, I protect them from the very thing I created. On top of that, I often send the greyskins to villages so they will come to me for help.”
Evelyn lifted her head and stared daggers into Jeremiah.
“Oh yes,” he continued. “I don’t want to go to these villages and ask if they need my help. I want them to come to me. If they come to me, they are more inclined to take on my laws. It’s more difficult for them to get out of our agreement. Ultimately, I’m the one with all the power.”
“How could you…? What…?”
Jeremiah laughed. “Trucks full of blood. You make a trail of blood, a greyskin will follow it to wherever it leads. It’s quite simple.”
Evelyn shook her head. “You might as well go ahead and kill me,” Evelyn said. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to find a way to kill you. It will happen. So just do it now and save yourself the headache.”
“Oh I will,” Jeremiah said, pointing to Jeffrey. “But first, I want you to tell me who he is and what is his power?”
“Why, you want to steal his power too?”
Jeremiah didn’t answer.
“He doesn’t have one,” Evelyn said. “I’m the only one.”
“What about the girl that was shot in the head?” Jeremiah asked. “She didn’t have one either?”
“No.”
“I think you’re lying to me,” he said, “but I don’t expect to get a straight answer from you anyway.” He sighs and pulls out a pistol from his belt. “This has been a long time coming. I thought you might have lived a long life in a village somewhere, hopefully forgetting about your lover, and actuver, andally moving on with your life. Instead you brooded for the past twenty years and now you’re facing the other end of a gun.” He pointed the gun at her face and she drew a deep breath as she closed her eyes tight.
Suddenly, she opened them wide. “Wait!” she nearly shouted. She looked over at Jeffrey and then back at Jeremiah. “You took Mark away from me. He was the man I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with. At least let me kiss Jeffrey for the last time.”
Jeremiah’s eyebrows shot forward. “Him?” he looked at Jeffrey.
Evelyn nodded quickly. “You owe me that at least.”
Jeremiah said nothing, but looked more a
nnoyed than anything else. He walked over to Jeffrey and grabbed him by the back of the collar, forcing him in front of Evelyn. Jeffrey faced Evelyn, tears still falling, but his eyes were more aware.
Jeremiah pointed the gun at them and motioned for Jeffrey to move closer to Evelyn. “You see, this is poetic. In a way, I am merciful,” he said. “I once took away your love, but I didn’t take love away from you.”
“You may have long life,” Evelyn said, “But you can still be killed.”
“I don’t anticipate that anytime soon,” Jeremiah said.
Evelyn leaned forward on her knees and set her head against Jeffrey like a hug without use of her arms. She stared at Jeremiah.
“When you die, I hope I’m there,” Evelyn said. “I hope I get to see it.”
The look on Jeremiah’s face showed his confusion until Evelyn and Jeffrey vanished into thin air.
It was like a whirlwind, sweeping the two of them into the air. Everything was a blur with wind whipping, and clothes flapping all around them. Finally, Evelyn landed on her knees and fell forward into the dirt. She couldn’t believe how lucky they had been. When she looked up, she saw that they were in the middle of nowhere with dirt all around them for miles. Jeffrey was on the ground, face to the heavens, still crying his eyes out. Sarah had been his love and she had died for a failed cause. Jeremiah still walked on the Earth, gaining power.
Evelyn knew it would be a long time before she could attempt to kill Jeremiah again. She would need more power to take him down. She needed more Starborns. The world needed more Starborns.
Eventually they were able to free themselves from the ropes and made their way back to the village of Salem. She knew that Jeremiah would ultimately come to Salem and try to make it one of his colonies. She hoped that she would be ready. She couldn’t do it on her own, however. She was going to need a lot of help.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
When I wake up, I feel like my head has been run over by a truck. Blood trickles out of my nose and has already left spots on my shirt. I don’t think I have been out for very long. The dream I just had felt like it took forever though. I shake my head, thinking of Evelyn. In a way, I can’t help but feel she’s just using the rest of us so she can get back at Jeremiah for the things he’s done. But then I think that’s not such a bad thing. Jeremia
h deserves to die. He needs to die. I’ll help Evelyn in any way that I can. But first I’ve got to get out of this rope.
My stomach sinks at the thought of Commander Green traipsing around Springhill. How long has he been here? The thought hits me like a lightning bolt. He must have made himself invisible and gotten into the back of the truck with Christopher and Sadie. I can’t believe he’s been around here all that time. How much did he see? How much did he hear from us? Does he know about Christopher being a healer?
I think about the kitchen drawers, specifically the one with the knives. Slowly, I call the sharpest one to me. I let the knife float behind me and to my wrists at a gentle pace, careful to be very precise with the knife’s movements. When I’m confident that the blade is up against the rope and not hovering above an important vein, I command it to pull downward.
Instantly the rope drops to the floor and I fall forward onto my knees. I turn and grab the knife to cut my ankles loose from the knot. Once I’m free, I bolt out the door. The heavy rain leaves no tracks to tell me where Green might have gone. Walking out into the mud, the first thing I notice are the three elders. Bill and Linda stand over Austin, doing everything they can to keep him alive it seems. I sprint to where they are. A large gash in Austin’s chest and the pool of blood mixed with rain and mud around his body tells me that Commander Green has been here.
I fall to my knees next to him. His squinted eyes stare into mine. “What happened?” I ask.
Bill shakes his head. “I don’t know. The Screven guards got out of the Tower. The satellite is broken. People are missing. We were walking and Austin just fell to the ground.”
“We thought he was shot at first,” Linda says.
“But we didn’t hear anything,” Bill finishes. “And it looks like a knife wound.”
“Get him into my house,” I tell them. “There’s a hunter here. He’s very powerful. Lock yourselves in. Do what you can to save Austin.”
The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) Page 42