by KT Webb
“So, tell us about the prophecies. How many are there? Do they mention us by name?” Hadley wondered, perched on the edge of her seat.
“Well, there are six. They don't mention you by name. There is one referring to the arrival of the Evolved, there is one referring to who the Evolved will be, and we have come to understand which individual prophecy is about each of you. We haven't been able to figure out where you fit in though, Malcolm. I guess you are proof that the Creator can change his plans at any given moment,” Dorian said, trying to hide the strain of worry in his voice.
“I think we should give you each your prophecy in private, but we can start with the first because it involves all of us.” Tahlia smiled.
Romulus stepped forward and took a deep breath. “The Evolved will be drawn together in the month of the great harvest. They will join the Virtues in ending the Present Era. All that have passed before will be known to them, and all that are to come will depend on them.”
Silence filled the library. Dorian looked at each of the Evolved. He knew this would be a lot to ask of them, and he knew they would be apprehensive of what was to come, but he also knew there was no escaping one’s destiny.
Chapter Fourteen:
Thatcher
As he lay on the bed in the room he'd been told was his, he couldn't help reliving the events of the day. Thatcher had heard enough. This was overwhelming. It wasn't as though he asked to take part in all this. If they needed an extra spot for the kid, they could give his prophecy to Malcolm. These thoughts kept spinning around in his mind, but he couldn't bring himself to voice his opinion out loud.
As crazy as all this sounded, it made sense to him. He had never belonged anywhere, but from the moment he met Dorian and the others, he felt at home. Thatcher had always longed to find people who accepted him as he was; people he didn't feel the need to hide his ability from. And finally, here he was, in a whole house full of freaks like him.
So why the doubt? Why was he rebelling so much against everything he had ever wanted? Taking a deep breath, he rolled over and buried his face in the pillow. As soon as he was face down, he let out a scream of frustration.
He knew why he was feeling so doubtful, but he didn't want to admit it to himself. After everything he had done in his life, everyone he had hurt, and the times he could have moved on but allowed himself to continue to wallow in self-pity, he didn't think he deserved this. Thatcher would not let himself believe he deserved to feel welcome, loved, or wanted.
In that moment, he did something he had never allowed himself to do; he let go. He opened the flood gates of his life and sobbed uncontrollably into the pillow.
Thatcher allowed himself to fully relive the events he had blocked out his whole life. He released all the pain, frustration, anger, and emptiness he'd carried with him from the day his parents died. He didn't know how long he lay there. His body racked with sobs long after he ran out of tears to shed.
***
Thatcher woke to find himself sprawled across his bed. For the first time in his life, he hadn't had any nightmares. He rolled over to find Steggie perched on the nightstand. Thatcher had never slept without him. He began to stretch, but froze in place. Something was different. He could feel it in the air. He sat up and cautiously glanced around the room. He was alone. He listened carefully, but there was nothing to hear. He got up and checked the closet. His duffel bag was inside, but nothing else.
He turned on the small lamp on the nightstand, bringing a dull glow to the large bedroom. The room had been painted gray on three walls, and the fourth wall had a zig-zag pattern of grey, green, and navy blue. The bedding had the same design as the wall. When Dorian showed him to this room earlier, he felt like the room had been intended for him all along. There was a television mounted above the dresser, which was next to the bathroom door. There were a few gaming magazines on the nightstand and a top-of-the-line video game system on the dresser. He could get used to this.
He tried to thumb through one of the magazines, but still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going on, so he decided to peer into the hallway. Thatcher slowly opened the door. In the hallway, he realized his fellow freaks were also anxiously poking their heads out of their doors and staring down the hall.
“What's going on?” he chanced a whisper to his nearest neighbor, Kerr.
“I'm not sure. I woke a few minutes ago and just felt strange. I thought I heard someone call my name,” Kerr replied with a strained voice.
The group cautiously came out of their rooms and met in the center of the hallway. Thatcher looked at each of them in turn and realized Malcolm was missing. Maybe he was the one calling to him? The foursome wordlessly decided to investigate together and walked as quietly as possible along the wall to the balcony overlooking the foyer. When they came to the top of the staircase, they could see nothing amiss. Directly across from them they could see the black abyss of hallway containing the rooms of Nora and the three Old Immortals.
“It doesn't look like anyone else is up. Maybe we all heard a noise,” whispered Hadley.
“No, it was overwhelmingly silent when I thought I heard someone call my name. I was awake, reading one of the books on the book shelf in my room,” Kerr responded.
Thatcher looked at each of them in turn and realized they were just as confused as he was.
Kerr led the way as they headed downstairs, with Whitley following closely behind. Thatcher turned around to check on Hadley and found her face strained with worry. He hadn’t had much time to talk to either of the twins. When Whitley left with Romulus and Nora, everyone sat in the library waiting for them to return. Thatcher had helped Hadley clean up after dinner, but they hadn’t really spoken much. She mostly asked questions about the time he spent on the run after his encounter with Silas the psycho.
“What's wrong, Hadley?” he whispered quietly.
“I'm worried about Malcolm. Do you think he's still in his room?” asked Hadley.
Kerr and Whitley had disappeared into the darkness below, and Thatcher didn't want to chance making a lot of noise calling out for them if there was someone in the house looking to harm them.
“We need to go look for him,” Thatcher said simply.
Hadley nodded her agreement and reached out her hand for him to take. He gave her a look that must have read yeah right, because she gave him a look that clearly read stop being such a boy. They went back down the hallway they came from to check his room.
When they walked in to his bedroom, it was clear he was an unexpected guest. Unlike every other room he had been in, this room felt clean and empty. The walls were cream and the décor was simplistic, but well put together. This had clearly been a guest room rather than a room thoughtfully prepared for one of the Evolved. It made Thatcher a little sad, considering how accustomed he had become to being an unwelcome misfit. He wondered if Malcolm was feeling like an outcast.
“This is absurd. Where could he have gone?” Hadley said as she looked in his closet and under the bed.
“Do you think he went down the hall to see one of the Old Immortals?” Thatcher asked.
“Maybe. I can't believe we didn't notice he was missing,” Hadley replied.
Thatcher shrugged and offered her his hand as they headed back out in the hall. It felt strange holding someone’s hand. He hadn’t let anyone this close in years. He grinned to himself. It felt strange, but it felt good.
Once they'd checked every room in their wing, they took the stairway down into darkness to find Whitley and Kerr.
Thatcher couldn't help but smile when Hadley squeezed his hand. He squeezed back in reassurance and led her toward the kitchen. As they came around the island, they could see the hallway that led to the library. The library door stood slightly ajar, and there was a beam of light pouring out of it.
“Well, here goes nothing,” Thatcher said and pulled on Hadley to lead her to the library.
But Hadley wouldn't budge.
Thatcher turned to
see her staring open mouthed out the window. He leaned closer to get the same view she had and couldn't believe what he saw. Malcolm was outside, talking to someone who looked like he could have been his brother. The cold feeling of dread he felt wash over him told him exactly who this was.
Absalom.
Thatcher pulled Hadley down to the floor. “That guy has to be Absalom. I can feel it. What is he doing here and why is he talking to Malcolm? Could that little brat be a spy?”
Hadley grabbed his face in her hands. “Pull it together, Thatcher. We don't know what's going on. We don't even know what kind of powers he has. Maybe he can do some kind of mind control or something.”
Thatcher’s face felt hot under Hadley's touch. He nodded slowly and cleared his throat. But Hadley held eye contact with him. He watched her beautiful face as something seemed to cross her mind. He hadn't noticed how long her eyelashes were before, or the little freckle she had right below her right eye. Unconsciously, he reached up and touched it with his forefinger. She grinned and dropped her hands from his face. In the pale light from the moon, he could see she was embarrassed. And he couldn't deny feeling the same.
“You have beautiful eyes,” Thatcher said.
Hadley smiled and looked away.
The moment passed, and left Thatcher feeling exhilarated and confused. He didn't really know what had passed between them, but when she took his hand again, it felt different than it had moments before.
Chapter Fifteen:
Kerr
Whitley sat next to him on the couch. They had made their way through the halls to the open door of the library. They were surprised to find Dorian sitting in the center of the room in the lotus position. Nora was in the corner, curled up in an oversized chair.
“I'm so glad you heard me calling,” Dorian said quietly.
Kerr and Whitley exchanged confused looks.
Dorian continued to meditate in silence. Kerr looked up and saw Nora give him a shrug and a reassuring smile. Kerr sat on the edge of the couch, listening intently for the others. When he and Whitley got downstairs, they rounded the stairs into the living room. He thought he heard someone moving in the darkness, but Whitley pulled his arm and led him to the library.
He wasn't sure where the others had ended up, but he knew they would hear Dorian calling to them. Nora got up and came over to them, smiling warmly.
“I've been waiting for you guys. They're going to share the prophecies with us now. Dorian said he feels that something is off, and the sooner we all know what is to come, the sooner we will be prepared to face it.” She laughed lightly. “I've been waiting for this for a very long time! The prophecies are the only part of our history they haven't taught me about.”
Kerr hadn't thought much about how different this was for Nora. She was used to the abilities, she was used to the strange history they all shared, and she was the only one who was raised in a safe and happy environment. The sadness and jealousy he felt thinking about how much he'd missed out on was much more intense than any he had experienced in his life thus far.
“You are so lucky,” he blurted out.
Nora gave him a hurt and confused look. “So are you.”
Kerr was about to ask what she meant by that, when the library door opened and Thatcher came in, followed closely by Hadley.
Thatcher’s eyebrows were knit together in concern, and Hadley looked a little panicked. Kerr was on his feet in an instant. He had already seen it.
“Are you sure it was him?” Kerr asked Thatcher, catching him off guard.
“No, I'm not. But it was strange. I felt a connection. Like a thread was strung between us,” he answered.
“What's going on?” Dorian asked.
The library door opened one more time and Romulus entered, followed closely by Tahlia. They wore the same look of panic that was still etched on the faces of the other two Evolved. It was clear Absalom had in fact made an appearance.
“It's the boy, Dorian. Malcolm. He was with him. Absalom has returned,” Romulus said with a mixture of sorrow and shock.
Whitley and Nora were huddled together near the couch, looking at them all in terror. After their encounter earlier it was no surprise they were so tense.
Dorian looked at them all. He seemed to be processing the situation.
“We need to leave,” he said simply.
“What about Malcolm?” Thatcher asked in disbelief. “What if Absalom is controlling him? I mean the kid kept talking about growing up with his uncle, right? How could he even know Absalom?”
Dorian looked at Thatcher sadly. “No one wants to believe that more than I do. But something is wrong. This boy suddenly appears out of nowhere when all the Evolved are finally under one roof, so we did what we would be expected to do. We went and got him, and who showed up? I'm sorry, Thatcher, but I feel this was a trap. It's the only explanation for Malcolm not being part of the Creator’s plan. ”
“Plans change! Who says any of us are going to follow any of these prophecies you keep talking about? I don't have to do anything I don't want to. Maybe Absalom outsmarted this Creator you're so fond of,” Thatcher shouted angrily.
Dorian stood quietly, just staring at Thatcher. Kerr watched the exchange, feeling the anguish pouring from them both. In that moment, Kerr wished there was a way for him to make them see they wanted the same thing, and felt the same way.
“You can,” Romulus whispered in his ear. “But it is not up to us to solve the problems of the world. Life would improve exponentially if we could just intervene and solve it all. But we cannot. They must choose.”
Kerr only understood part of his point. “They must choose.” What were they supposed to choose? He had to trust that Romulus knew what he was talking about, so he simply nodded.
Dorian and Thatcher were still having a staring contest in the middle of the room. He noticed the room seemed to be divided. Behind Dorian, Whitley and Nora stood together, next to Kerr and Romulus. Hadley and Tahlia stood closer to Thatcher, as though they were swayed by his argument. He realized Tahlia only stood where she did because of Hadley, and Hadley was staring intently at Thatcher.
“Thatcher, you have to come with us.” Hadley was clearly distressed. “I saw him too. I know he's just a kid, but he may not know any better.”
Kerr looked at the others. Whitley was concentrating on her sister’s face, Romulus had a hand on Nora's shoulder, Tahlia had taken Hadley's hand, and Nora seemed to be thinking hard. In fact, Nora looked ill, and Kerr began to feel it too. He looked up and discovered the room was getting blurry. He didn't know what was happening, but he instinctively took hold of Nora with one hand and grabbed Whitley’s arm with the other. The sick feeling got so intense, he closed his eyes tightly until it suddenly stopped.
He opened his eyes. They were no longer in the library. They were no longer indoors. They were at the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere.
“It's been a long time, hasn't it, brother?” Romulus smiled broadly at Dorian, who was staring around in disbelief.
“It seemed a fitting place to present the prophecies. I can't believe I did that,” Nora said weakly as she leaned on Romulus for support.
Kerr looked around him. They stood in the ruins of a small building. It seemed oddly familiar to him, but he had never been in any such place. It was beautiful. The trees parted perfectly to allow the early morning sun to shine through.
“Where are we? What did you do?” demanded Thatcher.
“We are where it all began,” Tahlia whispered.
Realization dawned in the quiet morning light. No wonder this place seemed so familiar, he had seen it in the glimpses he'd had of Romulus' life. The years hadn't been kind, and all that was left of the temple was a circle of pillars of varying heights. It had once been magnificent. Kerr looked around and saw what must have been the faded memory of what this place had been. He could see the pillars standing tall and the table in the middle of the open temple. He saw where the Virtues sat when they
came to this sacred place. He realized he was experiencing a connection with a place rather than a person; he was seeing what this place had seen, rather than living through the memories of another human mind. Kerr knew he should feel a sense of shock at this recent development, but a few moments ago he was standing in a library thousands of miles away. Nothing surprised him now.
Kerr took a seat on one of the pillars and watched as the others followed suit. Romulus came forward and handed Dorian a well-worn book. Dorian nodded, gazing at the pages in what could only be described as longing. The enormity of it all came crashing down on Kerr as he watched the Virtues take their places around what remained of the stone table. They had spent centuries waiting for this moment, and they had devoted their entire existence to preserving these books for this group of misfits. They'd watched their family die off one by one and knew that was the way it was supposed to be. Kerr realized he'd been seeing all of this through the eyes of Romulus, and while the loss and sadness were overwhelming, he felt the fierce love flowing through him and knew that none of the journey would be forgotten. But the journey was never important. He looked up at Romulus and saw the tears shining in his eyes. He was ready for this.
“We will start with the group prophecy,” Tahlia said.
The group waited with bated breath for the prophecy that could change their lives.
Dorian took a deep breath, and began, "Five will remain. The orphan, the divided, the heart, and the brave. They will be the final hope of mankind, and through them, all life will change."
Kerr let the words soak into him and thought about what they could mean. He thought the prophecy would be more specific, and he thought it would tell them what was expected of the Evolved.