by S. J. West
My father was standing by the stove with a spatula in one hand watching something cook in the pan in front of him.
“Are you making pancakes?” I asked, walking over to the stove and peering into the pan.
“We raided Lucena’s vast larder here,” my dad said with a smile. “Found some pancake mix and remembered how much you used to like them when you were a kid.”
The pancake in the pan was in the shape of Mickey Mouse with two smaller pancakes acting as ears on the larger center pancake.
I smiled up at my dad.
“Just the way I like them,” I said, gaining one of his effervescent smiles in return. It brought back memories of happier times from our shared past and made me realize how blessed my life was, at least for the moment.
After we had our fill of pancakes for breakfast and cleared the table of dirty dishes, Michael’s scout was brought in to tell us what she learned from going to the Geneva compound.
I faintly remembered the woman. She was the same person who had led Jace and me from the tunnel Michael and his group dug under the Biltmore Estate to the clearing where we met Michael’s helicopter. The scout, whose name I learned was Gina, told us what she saw.
“They have your son in the Queen’s main compound, which is located here,” Gina said, pointing to a spot marked on the map with a red S. “It used to be a hotel back in the day, but the Queen is there and. …” Gina looked over at me like she wasn’t sure how I would react to what she had to say next.
“And what?” I prodded.
“And I think she’s waiting for you.”
“What makes you say that?” my dad asked, not hiding the fact he didn’t like hearing this news.
Gina crossed her arms over her chest and looked me dead in the eyes as she said, “Usually the Queen has the most guards around her. But here she has only a minimal number of them present. For her, it’s like an open invitation to come in.”
“She knows I won’t allow an attack on her if she has Simon,” I replied. “Maybe she’s just not wasting the man power on protection because of that.”
“Maybe,” Gina shrugged, “but if you ask me, she knows you’re coming and doesn’t want to scare you off with too many guards around her. She’s up to something, but I can’t quite figure out what. If I were you, I would watch my back when I went in.”
“I’ll have her back,” Lux promised with a nod of her head.
Gina turned her attention back to the map.
“Your friends Ava and Jackson are here,” Gina said, pointing to a spot marked “Vineyard” on the map in pencil. “From what I could tell, they’re pretty much working the poor girl to the bone. Jackson just seems to be what they’re using against her to force her to work as hard as she is. They have him drugged on something because he looked pretty out of it when I saw him. So whoever goes to get him, be prepared to have to carry him out. He’s pretty useless at the moment.”
“I’ll go get Ava and Jackson,” Ian volunteered.
“Both you and Jace should get them,” I said. “Lux and I will get Simon.”
“I want to help you get Simon,” Jace began to argue.
“I know you want to come, but I can’t have you there,” I said to him. “I can’t take the chance that the Queen will capture you again. It would be stupid to place both you and Simon in the same room with her. I’ll be fine with Lux watching my back. You should go with Ian and help him get Jackson and Ava.”
I could tell Jace wanted to argue the point further, but I could also tell he knew I was right. Finally, he nodded his head, reluctantly agreeing to the plan.
“You should each take at least two more people with you,” Michael said.
“I want to go in quietly and come out quietly,” I told him. “The more people we have, the more risk there is of Simon being caught in the crossfire. Besides, Gina’s probably right. The Queen is expecting me to show up, and she knows I won’t go in guns blazing if there is a chance it will harm Simon. She wants me with her. It’s her weakness, and we need to exploit it.”
“I doubt she’s just going to let you waltz in, grab Simon, and waltz out,” Ian said skeptically.
“I’ll do what I have to do to get my son back,” I told him. “If we tried to figure out exactly what she’s thinking before we went there, we’d never leave this compound. Getting Simon back is my only priority right now. And trust me when I tell you nothing she places in my way will stop me from getting him the hell away from her.”
I felt Jace place one of his arms around my waist.
“You’ll get him back,” he said to me.
I looked over at him.
“Yes, I will,” I said, not with overconfidence just certainty.
The plan was set. The four of us would leave near dusk in a helicopter and make the three hour flight to Geneva, NY. By the time we reached our destination, we would be able to use the cloak of night to help camouflage our movements within the compound. Doc Riley provided us with what was left of the supply of her Cain-virus-coated bullets for our guns, but we would each only get seven shots each. The bullets might prove to be useless unless we aimed to kill. I felt sure the Queen had a supply of my blood to cure anyone we infected and left alive. If she cared enough to keep them around, she could easily cure them. But killing Harvesters wasn’t my objective. Getting Simon back safe and sound was the only thing I cared about.
When it was time to leave, we left Rose in the safe care of Kirk, Teegan, and Kale.
“You guys will probably want to take turns feeding her at night,” I told them. “That’s what Jace and I do. And if she doesn’t want to go to sleep, just sing her a lullaby and rock her. She should fall back to sleep fairly quickly. Do not and I repeat, do not let her suck on her thumb no matter how much she tries. All I need is for her to have dental problems when we don’t have any dentists around. Also, make sure you use the ointment in her diaper bag if you see her getting red on her bottom. It doesn’t take long for a full on rash to develop, and she can be a bear if that happens.”
“Skye,” Kirk said, putting a comforting hand on my right shoulder, “I think we can take care of a baby for a few hours. There’s three of us and one of her. We can handle it. The last thing you need to be doing right now is worrying about her. You just focus on getting Simon back.”
I nodded, trying to put on a braver face than I felt. The truth was I didn’t like being away from Rose for so long. I tightened my hold on her and looked at her happily gnawing on one of her little fists, which I gently made her stop doing. I felt sure she was going to handle the separation far better than I was.
“I know you’ll take good care of her,” I admitted. “I’ve just never left her for this long before.”
“We’ll treat her like a princess, Skye,” Kale assured me. “No worries.”
Teegan held her arms out, and Rose immediately reached out for her.
I handed her over, and Teegan held Rose cradled in the crook of her arm, sitting her on a hip.
Jace leaned in and kissed Rose on the top of her head.
“Next time you see us,” Jace told her, “we’ll have your brother back.”
Rose looked over at me as if she was waiting for me to make my good-byes too.
“We’ll be back soon,” I told her, picking up a small duffel bag I had packed with supplies for Simon after we found him. “We should go,” I said to Jace. “They’re all waiting for us at the airport.”
I turned to leave, but heard Rose begin to whimper. When I glanced back over my shoulder, I saw her watching me leave and holding her arms out for me to come back to her. I instantly slipped the strap of the bag off my shoulder, walked over to her, and took her from Teegan. I held Rose against me and kissed her chubby little cheeks and the tip of her nose.
“I’ll be back before you know it,” I told her, feeling the threat of tears reveal how much I would miss her but forcing them back. “You’ll be safe here. That’s the only reason I’m leaving you behind. But I promise you D
addy and I will be back soon. It won’t be forever, okay?”
I kissed her on the lips and handed her back to Teegan. I walked away and picked up the duffel bag again, doing my best to ignore Rose’s cries behind me. Jace took my hand and we walked out of the house, each determined to bring our son back home to make our family complete again.
When we reached the airport, we found the helipad where Sam—the pilot who had taken me down south—Ian, Lux, and my dad were waiting for us.
“Hey, let me get that for you,” Lux said when I approached the helicopter, taking my duffel bag out of my hand.
“Thanks,” I told her.
My dad looked at me and said, “I just wanted to wish you luck before you left, and I wanted to make sure you haven’t changed your mind about taking more people with you. I would feel a lot better if you did, just in case you need them.”
“No,” I told him. “I haven’t changed my mind about that. I still think it’s better for us to go in quietly, not with guns blazing.”
My father nodded. “It probably is but … just be careful. She won’t just let you leave, Skye. And if you get the chance to kill her, take it. Don’t hesitate. She doesn’t deserve a second thought. Okay?”
“If I see a safe opportunity to kill her, I will,” I promised.
My dad drew me into his arms and hugged me against his chest.
“Just be careful. That’s all I ask.”
I hugged him back, tightening my arms around his waist.
“I’ll be back before you have a chance to miss me,” I promised him.
He kissed the top of my head and let me go.
Jace took one of my hands into his before we got into the helicopter.
As we lifted off, I looked out the window on my side. My father watched us leave and didn’t seem to stop until we were well out of sight.
During the ride, I couldn’t help but notice how intimately comfortable Ian and Lux seemed to be with one another now. They sat across from us with Lux sitting on Ian’s lap, practically sucking each other’s faces off. It was a little disturbing.
Jace squeezed my hand, which forced me to drag my eyes away from the open display of affection playing out across from us.
“You okay?” he asked me.
“I’m ready to have this over with to be honest.”
“Your dad is right you know. When the time comes to kill her, don’t hesitate.”
“I can kill her,” I said, but I wasn’t sure if I was saying it for Jace’s peace of mind or my own.
“I know you can. I know you will.”
The way Jace said his words, filled with such certainty, made me wonder something. Something I had never thought to ask him before now.
I looked into his eyes to make sure he didn’t try to sugarcoat the truth.
“Have you seen me do it?” I asked, knowing he had seen glimpses of my future.
“I think so,” he said hesitantly. “I’ve seen you standing over her with your sword raised while she knelt in front of you. I’ve always assumed it was the moment you kill her.”
“Did you see where it will happen?”
“It was only a short glimpse, but it looked like you were standing on top of a mountain.”
“A mountain?”
“It was rocky,” Jace said, his eyes becoming slightly unfocused as he seemed to picture the scene in his mind. “There were some patches of dead grass scattered among the cracks in the rock. You had your sword raised and you were … crying.”
“Crying?” I asked, baffled by this. “Why would I be crying?”
Jace shook his head. “I don’t know. I didn’t see that part.”
“Maybe I was crying with joy to finally have it all over with,” I reasoned.
“It didn’t seem like that kind of cry. You looked sad, like you didn’t really want to do it.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make any sense. I’ll be the first one to dance on that woman’s grave.”
“I keep telling you it’s not going to be that easy,” I heard Ian say.
I looked over at him and noticed he and Lux had finally stopped pawing one another.
“The two of you through making out?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at them.
Lux blushed, and Ian just grinned like the cat who ate the canary.
“For now,” Ian replied, placing a possessive arm around Lux, who didn’t seem to mind the show of affection one little bit. “But stop trying to change the subject. Killing the Queen isn’t going to be easy on you, Skye. You actually have a heart and a conscience, unlike her. And when have any of Jace’s visions been wrong? It’s better if you prepare yourself for what’s coming, so you can do what needs to be done.”
“She knows what needs to be done,” Jace said in my defense, sounding irritated by Ian’s words.
“I’m not questioning her desire to do it,” Ian replied. “But knowing, hell even wanting, to do something is completely different from actually doing it.”
“I’ll kill her when the time comes,” I told Ian, feeling a cold hardness overcome me. “I will end this nightmare for all of us.”
Ian narrowed his eyes at me.
“Just prepare yourself,” Ian warned. “You’ll feel guilty about it afterward, but just keep in mind it has to be done if we’re ever going to have a world worth living in again.”
I hesitated before nodding slowly.
Once we reached our destination, Sam landed the helicopter on the opposite side of the lake from the Queen’s compound. From what Gina, the scout, told us, we knew this side of the lake was deserted. The Geneva camp was directly across the lake from where we were, and the vineyard where Ava and Jackson were being held was only a couple of miles south of the Queen’s residence along the lakeshore.
As part of our supplies, we brought two self-inflatable rubber rafts with oars to cross the lake in. Lux and I would use one to go get Simon while Ian and Jace used the other to rescue Jackson and Ava.
“Get Simon and get out,” Jace said as he helped me drag the raft Lux and I would be using to the shoreline. “Tonight isn’t the night you kill her.”
“Okay,” I said, secretly hoping maybe Jace’s vision was wrong and an opportunity would present itself that would allow me to kill the Queen once and for all.
Jace walked over to my side of the raft and drew me into his arms, hugging me like he feared he might not ever see me again.
“No unnecessary risks, you hear me? I want my family back together all healthy and happy tonight.”
“We will be,” I promised him. “We’ll all be together soon.”
Jace pulled back and cupped my face in his hands.
“Be careful,” he ordered, kissing me on the lips.
When he pulled back, I hugged him around the neck fiercely before letting him walk away.
“If anyone in this world has something to fight for,” I whispered to him, “it’s me.”
Jace hugged me tightly to him before we released one another.
I watched him walk over to the other raft and knew in that moment I would do whatever it took to make my family whole again.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Lux and I got into our raft, and I rowed it to the other side of the lake. It wasn’t a big deal for me to do it all by myself with my Harvester strength, and I wanted to make sure Lux’s arms were well rested to shoot her arrows.
“So,” I said to her as I rowed us across the smooth surface of the lake, “you and Ian seem to have gotten close awfully fast.”
Lux smiled shyly. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
“Is it love?”
“In less than forty-eight hours?” Lux laughed nervously. “Not exactly, at least not yet anyway. No, we’re just having fun with one another. We seem to fit pretty well together. I get him, and he gets me. That’s about all I want right now.” Lux tilted her head to the side. “But damn girl, how did you luck up with Jace? He’s gorgeous and obviously sweet as hell on you. How did you find one another in
this godforsaken future of yours?”
“It’s kind of a long story,” I said and proceeded to tell Lux how Jace was able to find me in that library all those months ago and how we ended up where we were now.
By the time I was through retelling our story to her, we had reached the other side of the lake.
“You do have a lot to fight for,” Lux said to me as we drug the raft onto shore.
“Yes, I do,” I agreed, grabbing my belt with the gun holster and sword from the raft while Lux retrieved her bow and quiver of arrows.
“Now, let’s go get my son,” I said.
We made our way along the quarter mile stretch of shoreline toward the Queen’s residence. After traveling through a scattering of bare trees, we came to the backside of the mansion. It reminded me of an Italian style villa I had seen in a picture book once. There was an empty in-ground pool in the back facing the lake. Positioned between the pool and the mansion was the remnants of what had to have been a beautifully manicured garden before the war, complete with hedgerows and carved stone statues.
Two bulky male Harvesters stood guard at the back door. Lux and I crouched down behind a row of dead bushes. I raised two fingers up at Lux, silently asking if she could take them both out without raising an alarm. She understood my meaning and nodded. Lux pulled out two arrows from her quiver and positioned them in a V formation in her bow before standing up from the cover of the bushes and firing them. Each arrow hit its target in the middle of the forehead. The Harvesters dropped to the ground without making much more than a slight thump as they fell.
We raced up to the door and stood on either side of it with our backs against the stone wall of the house. I peeked through the glass door and didn’t see anyone within the room on the other side. The room looked like a library with a metal walkway allowing access to the second tier of filled bookshelves.
I tested the door handle and found it unlocked. I quietly turned the knob and let the door swing open. Two female Harvesters came running into the room from the outer hallway. Lux shot the one coming at her with an arrow through the neck, dropping the Harvester to her knees and making her gasp for air as she fell onto the hardwood floor. I ran at the other one and smashed my fist into her face, caving her nose into her skull as a spray of blood gushed forth, effectively knocking her out without much effort. I broke both their necks just to make sure they didn’t wake up before we were able to make our escape.