The Ending Series: The Complete Series

by Lindsey Fairleigh

  “Yeah…I just want to go to sleep,” Dani said.

  “This isn’t even our tent, and you shouldn’t be doing this on your own, Red. You’ll just make your arm worse. Please…just ask me for help next time.” Jason, a man of words that were few and to the point, continued to grumble as he pulled the tent out of its bag and unrolled it like doing so was second nature.

  “I didn’t want to bother you.” Dani rested her hand on his shoulder, his body tensed and stilled. “I was thinking Zo and I could share a tent tonight. You know, since it would be weird for her…” Dani’s gaze drifted to Jake.

  Hurt flashed in Jason’s eyes.

  “It’s alright,” I rushed to say. The last thing I wanted to be was more of an inconvenience than I already was.

  Jason and Dani both looked at me.

  “I don’t mind having my own tent. You guys share, really.”

  “I don’t think you should be alone tonight, Zo. What if something happens?” I noticed Dani’s eyes skirt to Jake again; he’d just dropped his own tent on the ground on the other side of the fire.

  “What if your memory comes back and you’re all alone?” Dani said, bringing my attention back to her. “I should be with you…unless…” Again, her eyes drifted to Jake.

  What does it mean that he can “regenerate”? A rush of anxiety filled me as I thought about sleeping in the same tent as him. Dani might’ve told me that Jake and I were together, but she hadn’t given me any of the details, and I wasn’t quite ready for that yet.

  Becca walked past, startling me. Her face was soft and glowing in the building flames. “We can share a tent tonight, if you would like,” she said. I hadn’t talked to her much since we’d left Colorado Springs, so I was surprised she’d even offered.

  I flashed her a grateful smile. “Thanks, Becca.” Looking at Dani, I asked, “Do you mind?”

  Dani shrugged and shook her head. “Only if you’re sure, Zo.”

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “You can use this tent,” Jason offered, prepared to pull the tent poles out of the pack.

  “That’s okay, Jason. I can finish. You guys can set up your stuff. Can you just point me to my things?” I hadn’t needed them for anything yet, since we’d been riding all day. “I do have things, right?”

  Jason nodded to Dani, and with a willing smile she picked up the flashlight he’d set on the ground and walked with me over to Mocha.

  As I trudged along behind her, I noticed how many people were bustling around, chatting while they set up for the night. Our cramped little camp was in a wooded area off the highway, out of sight but not so far away from the road that I couldn’t hear one of the horses clip-clopping lazily on the asphalt.

  Stepping up to Mocha, Dani started untying the two long stuff sacks secured behind the saddle with one hand, tossing me each as she freed them. Both were black with a purple Celtic knot painted on the side.

  “That’s your sleeping bag and sleeping pad,” she said, pointing to each before she peeked into one of the saddlebags, which were still on the horse. “Yep, your clothes and whatnot are in here. Give me a sec and I’ll have these down for you.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll get them,” I said, not wanting her to struggle needlessly. As I fumbled to loosen the saddlebag, I stared at the knot painted on it. I had no idea what the heck it meant. “Apparently I really like this symbol,” I said. “It’s all over my stuff.”

  Finally unfastening the bag, I turned around. Dani eyed me a moment, her face cast in shadows; obviously it meant something important to her, too. I glanced back down at the bag, the knot glaring at me.

  Assuming it was my confusion that made her expel a tiny sigh of sadness, I released a sigh of my own. “I’m sorry, Dani. I wish I could remember…”

  She stepped closer and nudged my arm with her good shoulder, offering me a reassuring smile that didn’t touch her eyes. “It’s okay, Zo. We’ll figure it out tomorrow. It’s been a long day, and we all need our rest.”

  I nodded and turned to tug the leather bags off of Mocha’s back, but grunted when they were heavier than I’d expected. “What the hell did I put in he—”

  “Here.” A deep rumble came from behind me, and an arm reached over my shoulder and grabbed the cross strap of the saddlebags. Jake pulled them effortlessly off the horse and asked me where I wanted them.

  “Over by Becca,” I said, pointing dumbly. I’d decided Jake was intimidating—alluring but intimidating—and it prevented me from putting on a show of calmness around him, like I could around everyone else.

  A pained expression pinched his features, but without another word, he headed to the other side of camp, toward Becca.

  Dani was watching me, idly patting Jack, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. She gave me a reassuring nod—the nod that I’d grown used to over the past twelve hours—before I followed quickly after Jake.

  Feeling inadequate in our silence, I occupied my mind with observations of the rest of the campers, busy in their various stages of getting situated.

  Chris, just finished setting up a tent for Camille and Mase, was pulling her blonde hair up into a ponytail, while Mase, huge, dark, and imposing, stood in front of the tent with Camille in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder. They’d been inseparable since she’d awoken right before we stopped for the day, and despite being unconscious since before they’d found me, she still looked exhausted. Mase stared at the nylon dome like it was from another dimension. He seemed constantly confused—even more than me, which I thought a little strange—but after a brief moment of hesitation, he ducked inside the tent with Camille.

  Gabe, the tall, blond man who seemed to keep to himself, was setting up another tent beside theirs.

  “What’s his Ability?” I asked Jake. When he peered back at me, I pointed to Gabe.

  Jake’s jaw clenched, and I immediately regretted asking him. “He can manipulate people’s dreams,” he said. I didn’t need to know the history between them to know it wasn’t a good one.

  “Oh.”

  Sanchez, who seemed to be leading the group with Jason, was stacking wood next to the campfire, while Sam and easygoing Tavis hauled over bunches of kindling. I enjoyed watching Sam and Tavis interact; they acted more like brothers than father and son—though I’d been told they were neither—and they laughed more than the others, which I found comforting.

  But as much as everyone seemed to coexist easily enough, a cloud of tension hung over the group. I wasn’t sure I wanted to learn the cause yet. Trying to remember everyone’s names, their Abilities, and my relationship with each of them was chore enough.

  Jake stopped short in front of me, and I ran into his back.

  “Sorry,” I said, unable to stop a nervous laugh from bubbling out of me. “I got distracted.” I dropped the load in my arms on the ground near Becca.

  Jake set my saddlebags down as well. “I’ll be right back,” he said and headed back toward the horses.

  I watched him for a moment—watched the way he rubbed the back of his neck and the way his shoulders relaxed the further he was from me.

  I turned to Becca, who was attempting to finish setting up our tent. “Thank you, Becca. I appreciate you offering to stay with me tonight.”

  When I realized she was practically wrestling with the tent poles, I crouched beside her to show her how they worked. “It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it,” I said. I was surprised I remembered silly things like that—how to set up a tent, how to excuse myself when I sneezed and cover my mouth when I coughed. Why can I remember those things but not others?

  “You have done this before,” Becca said quietly, watching the way my fingers moved and how I maneuvered the fabric of the tent as I pushed the poles through the red nylon loops.

  “Yeah, I guess I have. You’ve never been camping?” Slowly, I forced one end of the pole into the corner of the tent, and watched as Becca mimicked what I was doing.

  “Not that I remember, no.” H
er voice was distant, as if her mind was somewhere else.

  “Yeah, me neither…at least, not that I can remember.”

  Jake returned, dropping two more stuff sacks on the ground, what appeared to be another sleeping bag and pad. He looked at Becca. “Those are mine, but you use them tonight. We’ll stop somewhere tomorrow to get you your own gear.” Becca watched Jake, her mouth pulling into a barely-there smile. “Thank you, Jake.” The way she spoke to him seemed deliberate, like she meant more than what she said.

  He watched her for a moment, his head tilting slightly to the side before he nodded. When his stare shifted to me, he appeared uncertain and regretful. There was a long, awkward silence before he said, “Will you please let me know if you need anything else?” His tone was soft, beseeching, even. There was something warm and inviting about his deep, velvety voice. “Anything,” he repeated, his eyes filled with a sadness I didn’t understand.

  “Yes, I promise. Thank you,” I said. With a final nod, I watched him walk back toward his tent, which he had yet to finish setting up.

  Becca unzipped the tent door behind me and I turned around, ready to follow her inside. But she just stood there.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, stepping up beside her. The light from the fire danced around inside, illuminating the tent enough to see there was nothing wrong with it.

  “I guess I will sleep in my clothes,” she said so quietly I almost didn’t hear her.

  “Is that all?” I asked and snatched up my saddlebags before sidestepping her and heading inside. “I’m sure I have something you can borrow.”

  Becca followed me in, bringing the sleeping bags and pads in with her.

  Fiddling with the ends of my hair, which were draped over my shoulder, I watched Becca as she just stood there. “Have a seat,” I said and opened my bag. I rummaged through the haphazardly folded clothes tucked inside, trying to find something for each of us to sleep in. “Here,” I finally said, handing her a long-sleeved thermal shirt and a pair of sweatpants. “These look comfy, and it looks like I packed…yep, two of each.”

  Becca smiled, or at least I thought it was a smile; it was the first time I’d seen her be very expressive at all. “Thank you, Zoe.”

  “Why don’t you have any clothes?” I asked, zipping up the tent to change.

  Slowly, Becca peeled her clothes off one by one, until her ensemble was piled on the floor of the tent. “I have only just joined the group, along with Dr. McLaugh—I mean Gabe, Mase, and Camille. We were unexpected, so we are relying on your friends’ kindness to take us in. Dani and the clothes on our backs were all we brought with us.”

  “Dani was with you?”

  Becca made a noncommittal noise and pulled the sweatpants on. They were too long and very baggy on her, but I figured that meant they were perfect for sleeping. “Yes,” she said. “Dani was with Gabe and Dr. Wesley…in the Colony.” Becca’s voice was distant, her demeanor instantly shifting from open to hesitant.

  I tugged my long-sleeved V-neck on over my head. “Did you not want to leave the Colony with Dani?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking. The more complicated things became, the more my curiosity amplified. “You don’t seem happy to be here…” I glanced over at Becca in time to see the bruises on the side of her body before she pulled her borrowed shirt down.

  “I am happy to be away from there. It is just that things are not simple for me.” She looked at me. “Or for you.”

  I shrugged. “Hopefully my memory will come back tomorrow.”

  The look Becca gave me made me feel nauseous.

  “You don’t think it will?” I asked.

  “I do not know everything,” she said, offering me the slightest of smiles.

  “Only some things?” I asked wryly.

  Without hesitation, she said, “I have the gift of prophecy.”

  Still unable to fully process the whole “Abilities” thing, I paused.

  Becca bent down and began folding her clothes so meticulously that I thought she might be in the military. I looked over at my saddlebags and almost laughed. The clothes I’d changed out of were tossed on top, no rhyme or reason or organization. Feeling self-conscious, I gathered up my dirty socks, jeans, and shirt, and after unwadding them, I folded them as neatly as I could. My attempt was pathetic compared to Becca’s, but it sufficed.

  Becca must’ve been watching me, because when I looked up at her, her smile turned genuine. “You are very different from the last time I saw you.”

  My eyes widened. “How so?” I unrolled my sleeping pad, then pulled my sleeping bag out of its stuff sack and laid it out on top. Unzipping it, I crawled inside to keep my feet warm.

  Becca studied me and did the same with Jake’s sleeping gear. “You and Jake were fighting.”

  “Really?” I hadn’t been expecting that. “We were fighting?”

  She nodded, her eyes fixed on mine like she was gauging my reaction. “He was going to leave you and your people and take me away; he said it was not safe. But Father sent a team to retrieve me, and I escaped during the gunfire.” Becca looked down at her fingers, which were laced on her knees. “I had to return to the Colony…Jake did not understand.”

  “Did Father do that to you?” I asked, pointing to the bruised side of her body.

  After contemplating my question for a moment, Becca nodded. “I had to get them out of there,” she said to herself, and I assumed she was talking about Dani and the others she’d escaped with.

  My mind filled with images of a distraught Mase and newly-conscious Camille. “The others are like you, too,” I said, suddenly feeling an intense desire to know what had happened in the hours I’d lost my memory. “Mase and Camille, they’re…different, like you. The way you speak, and how you see things like it’s for the first time…they’re the same.”

  Becca nodded. “Yes. We are called Re-gens at the Colony, though Jake says I am his sister as well.”

  My brow furrowed at yet another surprising truth. Jake didn’t treat her like a sister—but then Jason didn’t treat me like one either, at least not how I thought a brother should treat a sister. I was beginning to think that whatever remaining perception of reality I had was both misleading and impractical.

  “I saw things,” Becca continued, her voice a panicked whisper. “Horrible things. Things that I could not let come to pass. I had to tell them. I had to get away from there.” Becca continued to stare down at her hands. “I am not sure what to think anymore.”

  “No?”

  After a depleted sigh, she said, “No.”

  Pulling the rubber band from my hair and letting it fall around my shoulders, I ran my fingers through the dark strands, wading through my limited memories, trying to determine how I felt…what I thought.

  All I remembered were strange voices and surprised faces staring down at me as I huddled inside the closet. Did I really forget all that Becca just described? It seemed impossible, and a ravenous emptiness drained any optimism and hope I had left. A sick feeling settled in my stomach as it dawned on me: every single moment that shaped me into Zoe was gone.

  I am no one.

  “You are not ‘no one,’” Becca said, and I stirred, not realizing I’d been thinking aloud. She rested her hand on my shoulder. “You are important.”

  “You’ve seen this?” My sudden curiosity to know more of what she’d seen was making me antsy; I twirled a strand of hair.

  Becca shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen your future, nor do I know your purpose, but your mother is Dr. Wesley, I know that much. If you are her daughter, you are important.” She paused in thought. “Jake loves you, and he is important…I know that as well. So, you must be, too.”

  Jake loves me? I wasn’t sure why I was surprised; Dani had told me much the same earlier. “He’s barely talked to me all day,” I said.

  “All day, I have thought about two things,” Becca began, her voice a bit softer than before. “I considered what I might do now that I no longer have a
home, a place I belong. And I thought about Jake. If what he says is true, if I am his sister, then he has lost both his sister and the woman he loves. Now, here we are again, and neither of us remembers him. I cannot imagine how he might feel.” Becca frowned. “I generally am not so…reflective, I think is the word, but much is changing…” She stretched out in her sleeping bag, staring up at the bouncing shadows on the nylon overhead.

  We were quiet for a while, and I nearly allowed the crackling fire outside and the sound of crickets in the woods beyond our tent to lull me to sleep. But before I was out completely, I heard low voices by the fire.

  “We’ve got to figure out a way to fix her,” Harper said, his voice low and thoughtful.

  “It’s not like there are rules to any of this shit,” Jason grumbled.

  The sound of wood being tossed in the fire filled the momentary silence.

  “There has to be a way.” It was Jake’s baritone, followed by retreating footsteps.

  I glanced over at Becca to see if she was awake, but her back was to me, and all I could see was the outline of her torso rising and falling with each breath. I lay there, listening to my “friends” discuss my condition like it was simply an infection needing proper treatment. My mind reeled with questions and mounting fear until their voices fell silent, and I eventually drifted to sleep.

  ~~~~~

  A slight breeze caressed my skin as I sat on a dock, gazing out at a lake—its glassy surface was illuminated with pinks and oranges, like it was set aflame by the sun sinking behind the rolling hills.

  My chest grew heavier, and I was nearly suffocating under the weight of too many emotions.

  “I know what I want,” said a deep, rumbling voice.

  I spun around to find Jake standing beside me, his luminous, amber eyes peering into the depths of my soul. He knew me; I could see it in the way he looked at me, those eyes filled with longing and uncertainty and need.

  Like his emotions sparked my own, I felt the need to weep from the inexplicable love I felt for him.

  “Jake, I—” I didn’t have time to think, to say anything.