by Jamie Summer
I didn’t hear Nathan at all. If I thought he cared for me before, his non-existent reaction to his brother’s actions proved me wrong. The thought made my heart break all over again. I tried to shut off all my emotions, to detangle my mind from my body, so I could get through this.
“Ah, my brother has kept some of his wit around. I’m impressed. And so should you be, Emlyn. He kept you alive for a little while longer.” I had no idea what Joseph was talking about, but I didn’t want to, either.
He glanced up at the statue behind me. “The key.”
The key?
“James, where’s the key we used to unlock the wall?” Joseph asked, turning away from me and letting my hands go. I wasn’t sure if it was a conscious action on his part, but I quickly stepped away from him before he had time to reconsider.
“Here, boss.”
Joseph stalked over to him, ripping the key out of his hand. “Give me that.” The artifact in hand, he went back to the statue and searched. I guessed trying to find another lock he needed. Another straw to grasp.
For a long time, nobody moved. We watched Joseph walk around the statue, as if his life depended on it. And maybe that was exactly what it felt like to him. Nathan had managed to sneak over to me and slipped his hand into mine, squeezing it tightly. I wanted to push it away, show him how much I was hurt. Instead, I held on. Somehow, he was my lifeline in the craziness that had taken over my life the past several minutes. I needed him to anchor me to reality.
“Gotcha, you bastard,” Joseph commented, the exclamation making me refocus on him. There was a triumphant grin on his face as he inserted the key somewhere invisible to an outsider’s eyes. There was not a single person breathing that moment, everyone apprehensive as to what would happen. Nothing did for a long time. Just when I was certain the lock didn’t do anything, the statue started to shake, then the ground. I glanced at Nathan with wide eyes, the familiar feeling of panic seeping into my bones.
“We’re gonna be okay,” he whispered into my ear as he pulled me up and against his chest. “We’re gonna be okay.”
The sound of stone cracking loudly crept along the walls. I closed my eyes, prepared for the walls to come tumbling down around us.
Then everything stopped.
“Holy hell…,” Nathan whispered. I looked up and turned my head, following his gaze. I gasped, bringing my hand to my lips in order to hold in the scream. Joseph stood there, but instead of his men, six hooded figures now took up the space. They didn’t move, but seemed to gravitate toward Joseph.
I knew these guys. I had seen them before.
I glanced back at Nathan. While he didn’t take his eyes from the scene in front of me, he nodded. He had noticed, too.
“You called for us.” The static voice came from the circle in front of me, but it was impossible to figure out from where exactly. It wasn’t human enough to be distinguishable.
“I—I did.” I didn't think it possible, but Nathan’s brother seemed intimidated by the group in front of him. His shoulders had slumped a little and he didn’t stand as tall as he did before.
“What exactly is the purpose of this call?” the voice asked. It was clear by the way Joseph’s brows furrowed he hadn’t expected a question like that.
“I want the power to command the events of time,” he answered, his voice stern and full of the confidence I thought he’d lost.
“Are you worthy?”
Joseph nodded. Without warning, the hooded figures moved toward him. He flinched, maybe not as confident as he had made himself out to be. I held my breath, torn between wanting to save him from these creepy creatures and wanting to watch what happened.
They circled Joseph. It was hard to see through all the black cloaks, but I thought I caught sight of the figures touching Joseph’s shoulder. It was an eerie sight. None of the men made a sound, which only added to the fear within me. Joseph stood still, probably afraid that if he moved, he’d ruin the moment. The hooded figures eventually stepped back, forming a circle once more. All except one.
He held out his hand. I couldn’t hide my surprise when I saw the very human hand reaching for Nathan’s brother.
“Worthy,” a chorus of voices called, the sound like a bomb going off in the eerie silence that had descended around the room. There was a sudden influx of light where the hand of the hooded figure touched Joseph, and I had to shield my eyes. Everything was bathed in a bright glow, and I couldn’t make out either Joseph or the hooded figures anymore. Then the light was gone.
And so was Joseph.
“Where is he?” Nathan asked from behind me.
“Where—” I started as the hooded figure closest to us turned and pushed back his hood. “Joseph?”
It wasn’t possible. He had been next to the statue. I hadn’t taken my eyes off the scene for one second. There was no way he would’ve made it there without us noticing.
“Surprise,” Joseph whispered, the satisfied smirk on his face making my skin crawl. With a dismissive move of his hand, the other hooded figures were gone. He was the only one left.
“What’s going on?” Nathan asked.
The grin on Joseph’s face widened. “All my life, I’ve dreamt of this moment, and it’s finally here. I’m finally part of the most powerful group on this earth. God, you have no idea the power inside me right now. It’s insane.” As he spoke, his eyes changed color. They turned to a darker shade of silver, then to a glowing, bright blue. It was a freaky sight to start with, but the expression on Joseph’s face only added to the worry taking over my body.
“Nathan, we need to do something,” I said, inching away. My back met Nathan’s chest, reminding me we had nowhere else to go.
“There’s nothing you can do, little one. Nothing at all. I have all the power I need. Well, not quite yet, but I will. Apparently, they want me to prove myself some more, but within a week, this earth will be mine to control. I will be the one who decides people’s fates.” A manic laugh escaped Nathan’s brother, the sound echoing along the halls far longer than I wanted it to.
The mere image of Joseph being able to decide who won and who lost, who lived and who died, made my skin crawl. I couldn’t let that happen. I needed to do something. The moment Joseph started erasing decisions from the past, people’s lives would change. And there was no telling what would happen to the world then.
“I’d planned on killing both of you, but the thought of letting you live and watch the havoc I’ll bring to this planet seems like way more fun.” Nathan and I exchanged a glance. “There is nothing you can do to stop me. Nothing, do you hear me?”
Joseph’s eyes met mine. He held my gaze for a minute before he was gone. Like his new brothers, he’d vanished into thin air.
The silence descending upon the room wasn’t as menacing, but no less deadly. Joseph may be gone, but the dangerous air surrounding him still clung to every surface.
Nathan and I were alone.
I didn’t have any energy left to wonder where Joseph’s own men had gone. I started to sink to the ground, my knees unable to support my weight any longer. Nathan caught me and sat, holding my body against his. Somewhere in the back of my mind, the anger I felt toward him still simmered under the surface, but I was too tired to care.
“We gotta stop him,” Nathan concluded. While I knew he was right, the last thing I wanted to do was think about the evil we had unleashed into this world. “We need to make sure he doesn’t get the chance to change any event of the past, present, or future.”
I glanced up at him. “How?”
“I have no idea. But we gotta try.”
I knew he was right, but I was exhausted, the ache in my palm a steady reminder of how close I had come to dying.
“We have no idea how to stop him, Nathan.”
“We have a week to figure it out.” He kissed my forehead.
“A week isn’t a lot of time,” I remarked.
Nathan pulled me up to stand next to him. I surveyed the chaos
around us. There were fallen stones all over the place, but the statue no longer decorated the middle of the area. There was no sign of it having been there in the first place.
“Let’s get out of here,” Nathan suggested, and I nodded.
We made our way back toward the burial chamber. It didn’t seem to take as long going back, and I was more than happy to see that none of the walls in the small walkway had crumbled away. We had a clear path to return to the outside world.
The crypt itself didn’t show any signs of anyone having been in there, either. The moment we stepped out of the secret passageway, the walls behind us moved to close the gap the key had opened. I wasn’t surprised. After all, the keyholder had been awoken.
We slowly made our way out of the cemetery. After some coaxing from Nathan, I agreed to let him take me to the hospital to get my hand looked at. I had no idea what to tell them, but Nathan assured me he’d think of something.
“I didn’t bring you to Joseph on purpose, Em. I had no idea this was my mission. That I even had a mission. The accident erased the better part of the last six months for me,” he explained as we sat in the red truck he’d rented. “You have to believe me.” I wanted to. I wanted nothing more.
“Did you remember anything at any point of our trip?”
Nathan shook his head. “Nothing. Like I told you before, I had a gut feeling this mission was deadly, but nothing specific to go on. Definitely not that I agreed to lure you into his mess. I would have never done that.”
I watched him the whole time, trying to gauge from the way he spoke and his facial expression whether he lied to me. Again. God, I was so tired, and this absolutely wasn’t helping.
“What about the fire at the hotel? You never told me how you got out, but I had a feeling you knew exactly who saved your life.”
He sighed. “Joseph. I didn’t remember at first, but bits and pieces slowly came back. I guess he didn’t want me to die because I wasn’t done being helpful to him.”
After everything Joseph had told us in the chamber, I had guessed that much, but it was a good feeling to have my suspicion confirmed.
“Em, I never meant to hurt you. Everything that happened between us was real.”
I felt my heart react to those words. They tugged at it, gently caressed it. It was the only thing I’d wanted to hear ever since Joseph put doubts into my mind. Those words were the only ones that mattered.
I hadn’t cared so much about Nathan lying to me about how he ended up on my mission or that it had been his job to get me to find the keyholder. I’d been afraid that our connection, everything we shared on a personal level, was a lie.
“I want to be with you,” he whispered.
My heart jumped at the words, while my thoughts ran wild. Can I trust him? Did he speak the truth?
“Are you sure?” It seemed like such an easy question, yet it was the most important one I had ever asked anybody.
“Very,” he replied, reaching over the console and taking my hand.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” he asked, slight disbelief coloring his words.
“Yes. However, we still have one problem to solve.”
He sighed. “I guess we’d better get started then.”
A week wasn’t a long time when you had no idea where to start or of what your opponent was capable.
And a week definitely wasn’t long when the fate of the world rested on your shoulders.
But a week was all we got.
I smiled at him. “Let’s get started.”
To be continued…
Acknowledgments
I’m writing these on little sleep, so I’m pretty sure I’m gonna miss someone. Yell at me if that’s the case. Or maybe just quietly let me know.
This book, like the ones before and the ones after this one, wouldn’t be possible without my best friend, Sam. She’s the one who continued to believe in me, pushed me further and never fails to amaze me with her cheerleading like qualities (among others). I love you, and I will never be able to repay you. Ever.
Lucy: you’re so much more than a PA for me. You’re a constant in this crazy book world I’ve come to rely on, and I couldn’t do half of the stuff without you.
The ladies at the ATA: the past months you’ve been a huge part of my author life and I appreciate you all for your help and advice when I needed it.
My beta readers: Kerry, Steph, Jenn, Susan, Kate. Thanks for your feedback on this story and helping me make it better.
My Dalysians: few but mighty, I appreciate you all sticking with me for as long as you have. Thank you!!
Kim: I loved working with you and it is always a pleasure to go deeper into the editing with you.
Judi: Thanks for stepping up when others failed. Thanks for creating a cover so beautiful, it was made for this book. I love you. As you know.
JC: You rock. I’m continuously amazed by your talent and work ethic and admire you for the person you are.
All my other author friends: I love having you by my side and knowing I’m not the only one trying to wing this author life.
All the bloggers and most importantly, you, the reader: You have no idea how much all of you picking up yet another one of my books means to me. I love you for it and always will. Thank you for giving me and my stories a chance.
All right, for all those I forgot, I’m super sorry. It’s late, I’m tired and just wanna go to sleep. Know that I love you, no matter who you are. That I believe in you, and that there is always someone out there who will listen to you and encourage you when you need it the most.
Always love,
Jamie
About the Author
Jamie Summer is a native of Germany, where she lives with her husband and son. She's currently working on her next book and wishes there were 48 hours to the day so she could do everything she sets her sights on.
Besides writing Jamie enjoys watching her son grow up, reading and watching way too many TV shows.
Also by Jamie Summer
Young Adult Fantasy:
Dalysia trilogy
Dalysian Hope - out now
Dalysian Struggle - out now
Dalysian Redemption - coming winter 2018
Women’s Fiction/Young Adult Mystery:
Broken Jar of Memories - out now