Zoë.
I gasped, pulling my hand away, the voice still echoing in my head. I looked at the others, too engulfed in their own conversations to notice me. I reached out for the stone again, fingertips lingering over its rough surface. I made contact.
A thousand whispering voices consumed me, traveling in the wind. I could hear nothing else. I stepped up to the edge of the circle, my foot hesitating in midair.
“Zoë, no!”
Too late.
I stepped into the circle and the voices stopped. I could hear nothing, not even the sound of my own breath. I felt weightless, dizzy. I turned to face the others. They were shouting for me, but I couldn’t hear a single word. The silence was deafening. I almost immediately regretted my decision, trying to get back out of the circle. An electric current shocked me and I jumped back. I approached the invisible barrier again, banging my fists into it. Lightning bolts traveled over my hands and up my arms. It burned down to the bone. I screamed for help but nothing came out. Ryuu and William held Alec back as he struggled to get to me. I was trapped.
I glanced over my shoulder, a small light hovering in the center of the formation, drawing me to it.
Come to me, child.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem resist it. I was no longer in control. I turned and walked absently toward the middle of the circle, my feet light as feathers as they glided through the dense fog. I reached the center stone and my feet left the ground. Lightning passed over the stones and into my body. A wave of electricity rolled over me, pulsing through my veins and out through my fingertips. My skin burned, flames licking at my face. A white light flashed over my eyes and I screamed, shattering the silence.
It is time, warrior. Become yourself.
My body went limp.
–
My eyes fluttered open and I tried to focus on the face hovering mere inches from mine. “Josh,” I finally said, my voice faint.
His strong hands slipped beneath me, lifting me to my feet. We were no longer at Stonehenge. I wondered how long I’d been unconscious.
Josh watched me with hollow eyes, running his hands over my bare shoulders, all the way down to my fingertips. As if he wasn’t close enough already, he took another step toward me. His chest brushed against mine and I felt my heart skip a beat. I molded myself into him, my arms coiling around his back. He wasn’t as warm as I’d remembered, but I didn’t care.
“W-what happened to me?” I mumbled into his chest, putting one hand on my throbbing head.
He didn’t answer.
“Where are the others?”
Silence.
“Josh?” I pulled away just a little, looking up at him. He slipped a hand under my chin and leaned toward me. His lips brushed against the corner of my mouth and I forgot to breathe.
“One day you’ll understand,” he whispered.
I stumbled back, ripping the dagger from my stomach. Blood trickled from the corners of my parted lips. I stared at Josh in disbelief as I sank to my knees, blood seeping through my fingers.
Darkness crept in around me.
Chapter Sixteen
"Zoë,” someone called my name. Their voice seemed so far away. “Are you alright? Answer me, Zoë.”
I struggled to open my eyes, my heart pounding loudly in my chest. I ran a hand over my temple, wiping away a thin layer of sweat. It felt like I’d just been hit in the head with a sledgehammer. Someone’s face hovered over mine, a man’s face.
Josh.
“No!”
Before I knew what was happening, I flung my hand out at him. Lightning shot from my palm, engulfing his entire body and sending him sailing a hundred and fifty feet through the air. He slammed into one of the massive stones and collapsed to the ground, disappearing beneath a blanket fog. A crack remained in the stone, a small trail of blood leaching down its rough surface.
“Oh, shit!” Ryuu shouted.
“Get her out of there!” William barked.
Alec hesitated before sprinting into the circle. He lifted me into his strong arms and made his way back over to William, setting me back on the moist ground. Ryuu picked Josh up as if he weighed nothing, sprawling him out only a few feet away from me. I stared from my hand to my Josh’s limp body and back to my hand. I couldn’t breathe.
“What have I done?” I whispered.
My palms were covered with black symbols. They traveled over the backs of my hands and up my arms, blending with the old ones.
Your face! Annie tried to hide her shock. She failed miserably.
Alec kneeled in front of me, his eyes searching mine. He ran his fingers over my cheeks and down my neck.
I bit my lip. “What is it?”
“The markings, they’ve spread,” he tried to explain.
“What happened to me?” I asked, pulling away from him. My skin still felt like it was on fire and his rough fingers only made it worse.
“We could ask you the same thing,” Jade said, scowling at me. I wondered if we’d spend the next, oh, thousand plus years or so with her being so untrusting of me. It was already getting old.
“I…” my voice trailed off. “Josh! Is he okay?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer. I’d never forgive myself it anything happened to him.
“I think he’ll be okay,” Ryuu said, placing two stiff fingers against Josh’s neck. “But, we need to get him back soon. He needs medical attention. I’m not exactly sure what you did to him, but it was powerful.
“Zoë, what did you see?” William asked.
I looked back at my open hands. “I don’t know,” I whispered.
–
Ryuu loaded Josh onto his horse, stabilizing his neck to the best of his ability. I appreciated how careful he was being with my friend. Josh hadn’t woken, he hadn’t even moved. They promised me he was breathing but wouldn’t let me anywhere near him. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were lying about his condition, or if they were just afraid I’d attack him again. As disturbing as it might have been, I hoped it was the latter.
For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what had happened. I tried to run through my memories after the white light had flashed over me, but it was as if they were erased. The next conscious memory I had was of Josh…killing me? There was a twinge in my heart and my stomach turned sour.
I lingered in the back of the group, desperate for the solitude. Steam still rose from my right hand. I gripped tighter to the reins, cursing myself. I could have killed him. What was wrong with me? No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the image of his face out of my head. His eyes, they were so empty.
“One day you’ll understand,” I whispered, echoing his words. What was that suppose to mean?
Something rustled through the trees alongside of us. My head snapped to the right. I thought I heard voices.
“Do not worry about them, it is just the forest nymphs.” William slowed his horse, coming up along side of me. “They are keeping an eye on us.”
“The what?”
“The forest nymphs,” he said again, matter-of-factly. It was as if he was saying ‘the golden retrievers’.
“The forest nymphs. But, of course. I should have known. How silly of me.”
“I sense your sarcasm.” William frowned.
“Good for you,” I mumbled. “After five-thousand years on this Earth you’ve managed to learn sarcasm and not contractions.” William shot me a warning look. I didn’t give him a chance to respond. “What’s happening to me, William?”
“I’m sorry, Zoë, but I don’t know,” he said with, what I thought, was a hint of bitterness in his voice. His look was almost smug, as if to say that he knew how but chose not to. If there was one thing I’d learned about William, it was that he was stuck in the old ways, hell – ancient ways. He’d never made the same effort that Alec, Jade and Ryuu had made to stay connected with the human world.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. I wasn’t all that sorry.
“I cannot help you
in this matter. I have never seen anything like it.” William’s eyes were fixed on the horizon. “You did keep mumbling something after you blacked out, however. ‘Clamabit ad me.’”
“What does that mean?” I asked, not familiar with the language.
“He calls to me.”
I ran a hand over the markings on my face, longing to see them for myself. It seemed that every day I was less and less like the “me” I once knew. Who was that girl? It seemed so long ago.
“I am not sure,” he continued, “but I think you might have experienced something from a story I heard long ago. It is mentioned in the Bible, in the book of Ezekiel. ‘Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance and the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and heard the voice of one speaking.’
“Many people believed that God chose the human, Ezekiel, to ascend, bestowing upon him a great and mighty power. Perhaps this is what has happened to you. But, I am unsure of the story’s truth.”
“Ascend?”
“Yes. To touch the face of God,” he said, his voice soft. “If one of the Chosen were to ascend, they would have a direct connection with God, receiving a power beyond belief, beyond anything ever seen or hear of before – including that of the General’s power.
“Has it happened to one of the Chosen before?” I asked.
“No,” William replied. “You are the first; that is, if that is what has even happened to you. As I said, I am not sure of the truth in that story, Zoë. It could be no more than a tall tale, a dream by some God-fearing man so very long ago.”
I bit the corner of my lip. “What you said the other day, about the visions always coming true. Did you mean that?”
Deep blue eyes squinted at me. “Yes, they will always happen. Maybe not in so many details but the outcome is always the same.”
I forgot how to breathe, to blink, to move. I exhaled all the air in my lungs and tried to keep myself from passing out. So it would be. Josh would kill me.
“Why do you ask?”
I shook my head, unable to form the words.
“Zoë, what did you see?” William demanded, furrowing his brow at me.
“I saw,” I took a deep breath, “I saw nothing. It was nothing.”
“Do not lie to me,” he warned. “That will solve nothing. Whatever it was that you saw, whomever you think you are protecting, you cannot change it. It will come to pass.”
–
“You bitch!”
Sam came flying down the corridor at me. Her hand flew through the air in slow motion. I could have dodged it, I even considered moving, but I didn’t. I deserved whatever I got. The contact against my cheek stung, but not nearly as much as it would have if I were still human. I stared her down and she took a small step backward. She’d been a lot more cautious around me since the little incident on the airplane.
Jade was already at her side, pulling her away from me. I wasn’t sure who she was protecting, Samantha or me.
“How could you?” she screamed. “He trusted you! You monster!”
Finally someone saw me for what I was. It was about damn time.
Jade rolled her eyes and dragged Samantha down the hall by her hair. The Barbie glowered at me the whole way. She wasn’t going to let this go, and I wasn’t sure she should. I could have killed him. I still wasn’t exactly sure what had even happened out there. It was all a blur. But, one thing I new for certain, I could have killed my best friend, the one person I was determined to protect.
It’ll be okay, Zoë. Josh is fine.
I didn’t need to see her to know she was there. Annie came around the corner, flashing me a weak smile.
“If you want, I can try to make him think it never happened,” she offered.
I searched her face for a moment. “You can do that?”
“I think so. I mean – I haven’t tried it yet. William told me I could plant thoughts in people’s heads and make them believe they’re their own. Josh would think the entire thing was a dream.”
I couldn’t lie, I seriously considered taking her up on her offer. “No,” I finally said, shaking my head. “I won’t do that too him. He has every right to know what happened. I could never live with myself if I took that away from him. He deserves to know the truth, to know the monster that I’ve become.”
“You’re far from a monster, Zoë,” she said in all earnestness. “None of us are. Do you really think that God would create a monster to do His work?”
“How many people have you killed, Annie?”
She bit the corner of her lip, dropping her eyes to the floor.
“That’s what I thought. Get back to me when you’ve stolen your first life. Don’t worry; it’ll come soon enough. Then you’ll know what it’s like. You’ll be no better than the rest of us. You haven’t seen the things I’ve done, the people I’ve killed. People I didn’t even know. If that isn’t a cold-blooded killer, then I don’t know what is.”
“What happened to you back there,” she whispered, trying to change the subject.
I shook my head. “I have no idea, Annie.”
She watched me for a few minutes, her eyes searching my face. Part of me wished she could read people’s thoughts rather than just planting them. Maybe then she could search the shadows of my mind to find out what had happened to me.
“When I passed the room, he was awake,” she told me. “Maybe you should go check on him. Josh doesn’t strike me as someone to hold a grudge. He loves you, Zoë.”
“What?”
She was gone.
I made my way toward the medical chamber. I was moving so slow that I could’ve been walking backwards. When I reached the open door, I heard voices coming from inside. Samantha. I pressed my back against the cobblestone wall, lingering. It wasn’t eavesdropping, I was just checking to make sure she wasn’t killing him. Right. It made complete sense. That Samantha, she couldn’t be trusted.
“There’s no reason to be here, Josh. I don’t want to follow these freaks any longer. Look at you! She nearly killed you!” She was angry, but she managed to keep her voice remarkably under control.
“Sam, I’m fine. It was nothing,” Josh insisted. He sounded a lot like I did when he found me in Doctor Maxwell’s care.
“It was not nothing! What about next time? It’ll happen again. That’s what these people are – killers.”
“I understand that you’re upset, but I can’t leave now. They need all the help they can get. Besides, Tony and Zoë have been my friends since I was a kid. I’m not leaving them because of something like this. It was an accident, that’s all.”
“It’s time to let them go. Your place is right here with me, no one else. We can restart our lives together,” she said.
“Sam, I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. There’s nothing here for us. If I mean anything to you, then we’ll get the hell out of here before something worse happens. Don’t I mean anything to you?” The level in her voice began to rise, but she caught herself.
“Of course you mean something to me. The world, Sam,” he said flatly.
Was there a hint of hesitation in his voice? I was reading too much into nothing. He meant every word. I hit the back of my head against the cold stone wall, my fingers balled into tight fists at my side.
“I hold your heart, Josh, not her,” Samantha reminded him.
“Sam,” Josh whispered, “please don’t make me choose.” His voice cracked.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to be with you, Josh. We are meant for one another and I love you with all of my heart. We are leaving first thing tomorrow morning, I won’t take no for an answer.
”
“You can’t force me to choose between the people I care about. This isn’t right. Besides, where will we even go? They can protect us, we’ll be safe with them.”
“I can protect you,” she snapped. “And safe? Does this look safe to you, Josh? Look, I love you and if you love me too then you’ll come with me. I’m not going keep arguing with you about it. As much as you hate to make this decision, you have to. Who’s it going to be: me or them?”
Someone cleared their throat from within the chamber. Heavy leather boots moved across the room.
“William,” Josh seemed surprised.
“Leave us,” William’s strong voice ordered and I heard Samantha’s feet scurry out of the room. She was in such a hurry to get out of there that she didn’t notice me still standing against the door.
“How long have you been standing there?” Josh asked.
“Long enough.”
There was a long silence between them and I had to fight the urge to peek into the room to see what was going on.
“Maybe you should leave,” William finally broke the silence.
“What are you talking about?”
“Samantha’s suggestion,” he started. “It might be best for everyone, Josh.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Josh snapped, his voice sharp. “This is exactly where I’m suppose to be. I’m not leaving Zoë, not now and not ever. I lost her once, I won’t lose her again.”
“Then you are much more a fool than I could have ever thought. You will indeed leave her, whether it be in five minutes or fifty years. You are human. You will die and she will remain as she is forever. Do not pretend otherwise. She has accepted this, now you must. If you care about her as you say you do, then you will leave. Go with Samantha. You are of the same kind, you are meant for one another.”
There was a long pause. I heard Josh trying to steady his breaths without much success. “I’m not leaving her. She needs me here.”
“Then you will kill her.”
“W-what?”
“If you stay, you will kill her.”
“I would never do anything to hurt Zoë. Ever.”
Until Dawn: Last Light Page 16