by Lynne Thomas
Chapter Eighteen
Sitting on the island’s sandy beach, the waves lapping at the shore, it’s hard to imagine the dangers that the night holds.
I sit facing Travis and eyeball him suspiciously.
“So, how do you figure in all of this?”
Travis raises a brow.
“Let’s just say that I’m involved in this mess, whether you, or I for that matter, like it or not.” He sighs. “Hard though it is to believe, running around in the dead of night hiding from blood-crazed monsters is not how I like to spend my time.”
Oh yes, sure Travis. I’ll just leave it at that, shall I?
“No where near good enough. I don’t trust anyone anymore. I believed Thorn and look what…”
I stop, tears threatening.
“I was so sure about him,” I whisper, looking out to sea. “If I was wrong about him, then I can easily be wrong about you.”
I was so certain about Thorn. He felt like family. I don’t know how I could have got it so wrong. My senses betrayed me. It won’t happen again.
I should have listened to Humphrey.
“If you want me to believe you, you’ve got to answer two questions.”
Travis’ mouth turns down at the corners. He doesn’t like this one bit.
“Go on,” he says, reluctant.
“One. What are you? I want the full shake down in Technicolour. Don’t leave anything out.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Travis nods.
He thinks that he has a choice!
“And number two?”
“Thorn,” I hiss. “You’re going to tell me everything that you know about Thorn.”
Travis pulls a face.
“You’re not going to like it.”
“I don’t care. I want to know everything”. I jab at his chest with my finger. “Don’t leave anything out.”
Travis’ heart sinks and the colour around him turns from blue to purple.
I can see auras. I can see auras! Man am I getting better at this kind of thing, and fast.
“Ok. Have it your way, but remember that we don’t have much time.” He glances over his shoulder. “He’s still out there.”
“I’m listening. Start talking.”
He draws a deep breath.
“A couple of months ago, I started having these dreams.”
Oh-oh.
“No, hold on, that’s not the beginning,” Travis shakes his head. “It started before that.”
Glancing up at the cloudy night sky, he collects his thoughts.
“To really make you believe me, there’s a lot of stuff that I have to tell you about my past.”
“Wrong. Just get to the point.”
Travis flinches. “Fine. Have it your way. As usual,” he shakes his head. “My family moved here last year. I remember the day that my dad came home and told us we were moving.” His shoulders lift. “We’d moved so often, it was really no big deal. Then he said that we were moving to Seabrook and everything stopped. I knew that I was meant to come here. As soon as we arrived, things started to happen. I kept having dreams about a purple planet with a yellow sky and lots of moons.”
My intake of breath draws a wry smile.
“Yeah, Javoria,” he nods. “Then I started seeing this redhead running over the hills; running as if being chased by a pack of dogs. She skids to a halt in front of a deep canyon and this figure appears behind her. He leans closer to her and -
“I get the picture,” I say in a rush. Like I need reminding of being dumped head-first into a canyon. No one seems to get how truly traumatic an experience that is.
“Right. I’d started patching in on your dreams and, bit by bit, I figured out the hunter pray thing. Then, the weirdest thing happened. I started to have dreams about Javoria without you being there. Dreams about the battles between your people and the bashrak.”
He registers my astonishment and says, “I was getting help.”
“What kind of help? From who?”
I only got help once. Heads are going to roll for this.
“A guy called Crin. He started to teach me about Javoria and about you. He told me to watch you; to wait until you were ready. He said that I’d know when the time came and that I should help you.”
“Crin’s been talking to you?”
Birth daddy’s got a lot of explaining to do the next time we run into each other. First he’ll explain, then he’ll run as fast as his toga will let him, if he’s got any sense.
Travis nods. “I see you two know each other.”
“He’s my father”.
“Your father? He…um, he never said.”
Yeah, there’s a lot of that going around.
“No, I don’t expect that he did.”
“Um, sure. Well, anyway, when I saw you fly over the sea yesterday, I thought that was it, the time had come. I came looking for you. I was walking up Rhiannon’s driveway when I saw Thorn go into the house.” He closes his eyes. “I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know if he was the bashrak, or if he was a teacher coming to find you and tell you off for skipping school. I didn’t know what to think and I couldn’t charge into the place or I could have made things worse. I stayed outside, out of sight, and waited.”
His eyes snap open.
“What the hell went on in there? He was gone ages - I almost went nuts.”
This is what grates me the most. The fact that he had me fooled.
“He tricked me, Travis, and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. That’s what went on in there.”
He squints at me in the gloom.
“Not going to forget that for a while, are you?”
“Nope.”
He sighs.
“Anyhow, when I saw what you did with Michael this afternoon, I knew that you were ready. By the way,” he says, leaning over me and laying his hand on my thigh, “that was one classy number you pulled on Marks.”
Travis has his hand on my leg.
“So, I followed you to Thorn’s house. I crept in after you and went upstairs. I almost blew it when you saw me on the landing, but lucky for me, you freaked out and closed your eyes. It gave me enough time to duck into one of the other rooms.”
“But why didn’t you want me to see you if you were planning on helping me?”
“I couldn’t chance you giving me away to Thorn. I needed to get you on your own to explain. I knew that you didn’t trust me and figured that you might think…”
“That you were helping Thorn,” I finish, flashing him a guilty look. “Spot on.”
“Anyway,” Travis says, “you know the rest. I ran after you and managed to get out before the…”
He stops and stares at me, hard.
“What?”
His eyes narrow. “You shouldn’t have been able to do that thing that you pulled off back there, you know.”
Great, he’s gone all Dungeon Master on me. I wish people wouldn’t talk in riddles, it’s really annoying.
“What thing; locking the door from outside the house?”
“The invisible thing.”
Oh. That.
“You went all invisible-man, which is cool – turning invisible is part of your birthright – but you shielded me as well. He should have got a clear view of me, but you did something to the both of us and he didn’t. I’m not sure how you managed it, but from what Crin’s told me, that’s not the way it’s done.”
Oh really.
“Well it’s the way that it’s done down here.”
He narrows his eyes even more! What’s he implying, that I’m some kind of freak or something? I go on the defensive.
“I’m still confused. You were destined to come here to help me, right?”
Travis nods.
“But when the Hunter found us, you couldn’t do anything to defend me.”
Travis’ aura turns from purple to pink to red.
“Er…no. I couldn’t. Sometimes, knowing too much can be a bad thing. I’m well aware o
f what happens to people caught helping Javoria. The Hunters don’t do forgiveness.”
Agatha, Humphrey and Rhiannon may all be paying the ultimate penalty for trying to help me. I feel really, really, sick.
Travis is talking, I notice.
“Sorry, what?”
“I said, that’s the reason I’m here.”
“What is?”
“To help you.”
I blink.
“How?”
“By telling you everything I know about the bashrak.”
“And that will help me because…?”
Travis tuts.
“Engage brain please. Because, Jelly Cooper, I’m hoping that my ramblings will give you a clue on how to kill one.”
“Oh.”
We stare at each other. I can see that Travis’ earlier pallor has returned and my heart goes out to him. Imagine finding yourself in such a barking mad situation; your life in danger because of someone you barely know (even if she does love you with all her heart). Insanity!
“We’d better get started. The bashrak are –
“NO!” I hold up a hand to stop him. “No,” I say softly. “Tell me about Thorn.”
“This is more important. I’ll tell you about Thorn later, if we have the time.”
“Travis? Look at me. Good. Now, tell me everything you know about Gregory Thorn, or I’ll fly off and leave you here. You’re a good swimmer. I’m sure that you’ll cope.”
“Damn it Jelly, this is exactly what we don’t need; a half-cocked alien running around with revenge on her mind. You’re going to get us both killed.”
“Mr. Jenson! How insightful. And they said you were just a pretty face!”
I scramble to my feet, my eyes huge in my white face. I know my face is white because I just felt all the blood drain out of it.
Travis is on his feet a second later. We turn to look into the face of death. Well, torture, pain and death. Let’s just leave it at death shall we?
Gregory Thorn’s hooded figure emerges from the shadows. He smiles at me, his teeth gleaming, even in the dark. They change shape before my eyes; elongating and growing pointier.
Caught off guard, I stumble and, finding no support, fall to my knees.
Thorn spins to face Travis, satisfaction gleaming in his yellow eyes.
“Too late, Mr. Jenson. Your kind always are.”
The Hunter clicks his tongue, his finger wagging at Travis.
“Little busybodies like yourself would be well advised to keep their noses out of things that don’t concern them.”
Thorn has abandoned all efforts at appearing human and floats, inches above the ground. He whips his arms out from the dark folds of the cape and points them at Travis. His stiff fingers move together and curl.
Too late, I step forward just as Thorn squeezes his hands into fists. Travis keels over without a sound and lands on the sand, his head at the water’s edge.
Without thinking, I flick my hand and carry his lifeless body up the beach, away from the sea. I don’t want him to drown before I kill this scum.
I turn to face the bashrak. Funny how concern for others can drive away fear-induced paralysis.
“Is he dead?”
Thorn says nothing.
I step closer.
“I said, is he dead?”
The Hunter smiles a slow, evil grin.
“Maybe, maybe not.”
Something inside me snaps. Something that can probably never be fixed.
“Don’t toy with me. You shouldn’t taunt others when you don’t know what you’re dealing with. I thought you’d have learned that lesson yesterday.”
The bashrak blinks but quickly recovers. “I know you Camille. I know everything about you, although I can’t understand your concern for the pathetic human.”
I take another step forward.
“You know nothing about me,” I whisper. “You had no idea that I would be able to stop you when you came for us at Rhiannon’s house.”
Thorn wrinkles his nose at the memory and I smile. “No, that shocked the hell out of you.” I move closer to him, though the hairs on my arms stand on end. “Please answer my question. Is he dead?”
“Not yet.” Thorn smiles, his yellow eyes flashing.
“Lucky for you.”
The bashrak claps his hands.
“Little Jelly Cooper, your scare tactics are pointless. I know you now, I know the extent of your powers and they don’t amount to much. How dare you think that you could challenge me! You are no more a threat than poor unfortunate Mr. Jenson over there.”
You couldn’t be more wrong.
If it’s the last thing I do, I will see this thing die.
He leans towards me and whispers, “I will crush you like I crushed Gregory Thorn, like I crushed your three friends back at the house.”
NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO…
My chest is caving in. I think I’m having a heart attack.
It can’t be true. It mustn’t be true.
I stare at the evil before me, every minute that passes a minute closer to its painful death.
It starts to laugh and the sound floats out to sea and echoes on the waves.
“You threaten me, yet you have no idea what you’re dealing with.” Thorn stares at me, zealous hatred burning bright in his eyes. “I took your friends lives because they annoyed me; stupid little insignificant humans, thinking that they could stand against me.” He leans even closer, his putrid breath invading my nostrils.
He whispers, “I took Thorn’s life to get at you.”
A moan escapes my lips and the thing before me laughs. He pulls back so that I can see the satisfaction on his face.
“I used his body as a vessel. I knew who he was, but the fool didn’t know me. I watched him and waited, and then a couple of days ago I harvested all the information that I needed from his memory and sucked his soul clean out of his body. This body!” He smiles. “Everything I told you about Kavalrion, Cal, Maurice – all that was true. There was even enough of him left to throw your intuition. I projected his Javorian essence, to ensure that he felt right! I could even feel his anticipation to meet you.” He claps his hands with glee. “Exquisite, don’t you think?”
He pauses, triumphant.
“Thorn is the first of Kavalrion to die by my hand, but he won’t be the last. The idiot waited for years, hoping and praying that you would come in his lifetime and, in the end, he didn’t even have time to meet you before I took him.” He shrugs. “Shame, you would have liked him.”
He laughs. “It’s no good shaking your head like that. Gregory Thorn’s gone and there’s nothing that you can do. Just like there will be nothing that you can do to save your family.”
Think again.
“Fine, you got me. I suck at being a Javorian and you got me, fair and square, but you really are deluded if you think that you’ll ever catch Crin.”
Thorn’s eyes gleam. “I wasn’t talking about him.”
With a flick of his wrist, he lights up the small cluster of trees behind him. Roped to the trees is Mum, Dad and Molly. They stare at me with white, sightless, eyes.
The Hunter giggles.
“I was talking about that family.”
Chapter Nineteen
I can feel…
I feel…
Nothing. I’m empty. Are my internal organs still in place? Surely there’s nothing left inside me to take? My friends, my family…
“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”
The Hunter whispers in my ear.
“AAARGH,” I jump a mile high. I whirl, frantically searching the beach.
He’s vanished.
“Do you like it?”
“AAARGH!”
Again, the whisper in my ear. I turn to my family, in their unnatural spotlight.
“Modern art can take such interesting turns, don’t you think?”
Thorn appears at my shoulder and appraising the limp figures.
Silence hangs in the air.
“I won’t lie to you,” the Hunter steps before me. “No matter what option you take, you will die.”
There’s no choice, I have to go with him and save my family. I hold out my hands.
From out of nowhere, Travis rugby tackles Thorn, knocking him to the ground. He wrestles with the bashrak on the dimpled sand. Managing somehow to pull the black cloak up and over the monster’s head, Travis yells,
“HE’S LYING. THEY NEVER SPARE ANYONE. NEVER!”
And I see that he’s right. The Hunter will secure me, then kill my family and Travis before leaving Earth. Not because he has to, but because he wants to.
I lower my arms.
Thorn pulls the cloak off his head and hovers in mid air, Travis clinging to his back.
Without warning, the Hunter rockets into the sky.
Tucking my arms to my sides, I kick off. Slicing through the air, I hone in on the two struggling figures. The Hunter twirls in the air, zooming this way and that, trying to shake Travis off. Travis knees Thorn in the back, once, twice. He puts everything into it and his grip slips. He grabs a handful of cape and wraps it around his wrist.
Hold on, hold on.
The Hunter rolls into a ball and the action sends Travis sailing over his shoulders. The cape snaps tight and Travis’ body rebounds in the other direction. Somehow, he keeps his grip on the cape, but he looks limp and dazed. He can’t last much longer.
The wind whips past me as I rocket through the sky, but not fast enough. Willing myself on, I quicken my speed and draw level with them. I reach out for Travis’ arm…
…his fingers are slipping…
…if I can just get closer…
…one last…
GGGGGGGLLLSSSSHHRRRRUUUUNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGRRRRRRRUNN!
Thunder. A huge clap of thunder roars in the silence. Travis flinches and lets go. With a strangled cry he begins his fall to earth.
Instinctively, I barrel roll in the air, narrowly avoiding a collision with Thorn. Swooping back towards the ground, I plummet.
I see Travis’ white face beneath me. His mouth is stretched wide; a black cavernous hole in his head letting out his last scream. The gap between us grows.