The Revenge (The Sentinel Series Book 3)

by Holly Martin

  I turned to go but he caught my arm and pulled me back. ‘I’ll walk you out.’

  ‘That’s not necessary,’ I said.

  He eyed the other Guardlings around me, all poised ready to kill. ‘I think it is.’

  I nodded, and he fell in at my side. Another Guardling called Cole fell in at my other side.

  ‘What are you doing Zach?’ growled Cole as we walked. I quickened my pace.

  ‘Playing it safe,’ Zach said through clenched teeth.

  ‘The Eve in her bedroom, that’s the real one?’ Cole asked.

  Zach nodded. ‘I think so.’

  ‘Then we kill the shape shifter, we kill it so it can’t come back and hurt Eve.’

  ‘What if I’m wrong Cole? What if this is Eve? She knows things, names, about me and Eve fighting…’ he trailed off.

  ‘So it’s been watching us, it could have been hanging around in the fort as a spider for months, picking up details.’

  ‘I know,’ Zach said, quietly.

  I started jogging, I could practically hear Zach’s mind being changed.

  ‘Ok, so what makes you think the other Eve is the real one?’

  ‘She had powers, shape shifters don’t have powers.’

  ‘I do,’ I said, reaching the door and pushing it open, I turned back to face Zach. ‘And Adam does.’

  Zach’s eyes widened. ‘Adam?’

  I nodded.

  Cole hissed, pulling his knife from his belt in a flash, but Zach pushed him away from me.

  ‘You have powers?’ Zach asked, turning his attention back to me.

  I shook my head. ‘Not at the moment, he injected me with something that blocked them and my signal. Not the first time that’s happened eh?’ I smiled wryly.

  Zach shook his head angrily. ‘I don’t know, my gut says that the Eve up there is the real one, and you’re just a scared shape shifter trying to save your own skin.’

  ‘I agree,’ Cole growled. ‘Look if you’re not sure, throw this one in the cells until we know for sure, then we can kill it.’

  Zach eyed the knife in Cole’s hand warily. ‘She won’t live the night, they’d be too many Guardians that would kill first and ask questions later.’

  I wasn’t going to last five minutes let alone the night at this rate, I had to go. I started inching towards the pool.

  ‘I can’t believe you’re letting it go,’ muttered Cole.

  ‘Look Cole, go back inside, make sure Eve is ok, and I don’t want any Guardians following the shape shifter either.’

  Cole sheathed his knife and with one last look of pure hatred in my direction, he left.

  Zach turned back to me. ‘Go.’

  I hesitated.

  ‘Go before I change my mind,’

  I started forward towards the pool then stopped and turned back. ‘Look Zach, Adam is going to be really mad that you didn’t kill me when ordered to do so, please just stay away from him.’ How could I leave my friend in Adam’s clutches?

  Zach smiled wryly. ‘And how do you suggest I find out if she’s the real Eve, if I’m not with her?’

  ‘Well take Deacon with you when you go near him, safety in numbers.’

  Zach took a step towards me. ‘When you speak like that, my heart says you’re the real Eve, though the logical part of my head says she is.’

  ‘You should listen to your heart,’ I said.

  Zach’s jaw set angrily. ‘Yeah, you’d like that wouldn’t you?’

  I sighed and took another step away from him. ‘Listen, I think you’ll spend five minutes with Adam and know that he’s not me, if you do, if you change your mind, I’ll be by the old statue, the one of the cloaked lady, tomorrow at sunset.’

  Zach shook his head. ‘My guess is you’ll get into the trees and run as far from here as you possibly can, thanking your lucky stars that you met some Guardian who was gullible enough to let you go. My guess is I’ll never see you again.’

  I swallowed nervously. ‘I sure hope you’re wrong Zach, I’d really miss you if that’s the case.’

  ‘Just go.’

  I turned and ran into the darkness. As I reached the pool I looked back up at the fort. Would I ever be coming back? Would I ever see it again? I looked at the door and saw the shadow of Zach watching me. I turned and ran on, letting the trees quickly enclose me. I kept on running for several minutes, the wind at my back, pushing me on.

  Eventually I stopped and sat down on a broken branch. The woods were silent around me. I felt suddenly vulnerable, sitting alone in the darkness. I had always had my Guardians with me, even before I knew they were my Guardians. And now for the first time in my life I was completely and utterly alone.

  I stood up suddenly feeling very cold. I ran on into the darkness, not even sure where I was running to, but running was better than sitting. Sitting meant people could creep up on me, running meant they had to catch up with me. With this thought in my head, I ran on even faster, the steep slopes of the mountain playing out beneath my feet.

  Finally after I had been running for about an hour I stopped. My body was covered with sweat and in the cold of the night, the sweat quickly cooled and I shivered in the darkness. What was Adam doing now? Were Zach and Deacon still alive, were any of the Guardlings still alive? What did Adam mean by he wanted me to have nothing, would he kill everyone dear to me? How could I have left them alone with him? Although I knew I had no choice.

  I looked around me, I could see the branches of the trees still and quiet in the darkness. There was not a sound, just silence, stretching seemingly for miles.

  How my day had changed. Quinn had left me this morning, followed shortly after by almost all of my Guardians. I had spent a blissful hour on my little island in the blazing sun and now I was utterly alone in the darkness of the forest.

  Seth. He’d be so worried by now. And they were all on that island, with no means of getting off. I didn’t even know where the island was and how far away it was from the fort, far enough away that it had been daylight there whilst it was night time here.

  I needed to find somewhere to sleep for the night. I didn’t want to go too far down the mountain as I would have to come back up tomorrow. I would wait at the old statue and hope that by sunset, Zach would have a change of heart.

  I sat down amongst the large overgrown roots of a towering tree and stared up at the stars peeping out through the branches above me. Somewhere, hopefully not too far away, Seth was looking at the same stars. I just had to hope we would be together again soon.

  Chapter 8

  As the sun was just starting its descent in the sky the next day, I walked back up the hill, hoping that the statue wasn’t too far and most importantly that Zach had changed his mind.

  Finally, I reached the statue whilst the sun was still in the sky. There was no sign of Zach. Was I too late? Had Zach come at all? I hovered anxiously, wondering if I should go back to the fort. But I had been lucky to get out the fort last time, if they still believed Adam was me, they would kill me if I came back again.

  ‘So you came back?’ said a voice, veiled in the increasing darkness.

  I whirled towards the direction of the voice, as the shadow emerged from the trees. It was Cole. I swallowed nervously. The last time I’d seen him, he wanted to kill me.

  ‘I heard you say you’d meet Zach here if he changed his mind. I never expected you to be stupid enough to come back though.’

  I stepped back away from him. ‘I take it from Zach’s absence that he hasn’t changed his mind.’

  ‘No,’ Cole said coldly. ‘Zach was an idiot for letting you go in the first place, but I won’t be making the same mistake.’

  My heart leapt. I stepped away from him again but he stepped towards me.

  ‘Cole, I’m not going to fight you, you’re one of my Guardians, one of the few left that are loyal to me. I’m Eve, I came back because the fort is my home.’

  Cole growled as he stepped towards me again.

  This wasn’t
good. If we fought and he won I’d be dead, if I won then that would mean killing one of the few Guardians that were still fighting for me. But there was no more time for explanations as Cole suddenly lunged for me. I turned and ran, pushing myself to run as fast as I could. But the fast footsteps behind me were gaining on me and within seconds, strong arms were round my waist throwing me to the floor. He landed on top of me, punching me hard in the face. But my martial arts were the only thing I had left now. I punched him hard in the throat, and he gasped for breath. I took advantage of his moment of distraction and pushed him off me, scrabbling to my feet.

  ‘Look, I’m Eve, please…’

  Cole lunged at me, kicking me in the stomach, before I had a chance to explain. I pushed him away, trying to catch my breath. He punched me in the ribs, and I felt one of them crack. I punched him in the face, following up with a quick knee to his stomach, and an elbow in the throat. My fights with Zach had taught me well, to fight without honour, to fight for my life. But though I managed to block a lot of his attacks, and succeeded in getting a lot of my own punches and kicks in, he was so much stronger than me. And whether it was my exhaustion, the complete lack of food or his strength and skill, he quickly started to get the upper hand, I was coming off worse. He punched me brutally in the stomach, followed through with a punch to the face, and knocked my legs out from under me.

  As soon as I was on the floor, he kicked me in the ribs, then in the legs. I tried to get up, but he kicked me so hard, that I skidded across the ground. Again and again he kicked me, excruciating pain riding through me, as he seemingly broke every bone in my body. I knew then I was going to die. He was going to kill me and there was nothing I could do. I reached out for Seth, I knew it was hopeless, I couldn’t use my powers with whatever Adam had given me, but I wanted to feel him, to tell him I loved him before I died. I pushed with all I had against the bindings on my mind, straining to reach him, but then I received a kick to the head, and the world swam around me.

  I closed my eyes, waiting for the final blow, it felt like every bone in my body had been shattered. I had never felt pain like it.

  I felt Cole kneel behind me, his hands round my neck, but instead of the crushing, strangling I was expecting, it was tentative. His hand moved down my spine, his fingers running over the bumps in my skin. I realised what he was doing, he was trying to find the best place to break my neck, or to snap me in half.

  He rolled me onto my back. Maybe he thought I was already dead, and he would leave me now. But my injuries were so severe, I was still going to die.

  But he wasn’t done with me yet. His hands moved down my ribs, both sides, then over my arms, my hips, my legs, seemingly doing a running inventory of all my broken bones. Maybe he was looking for ones he hadn’t broken yet, so he could aim for those next. There surely couldn’t be much more he could do to me. I was dying, he just had to choose now between letting me die a long painful death, or ending it quickly by breaking my neck.

  I felt his hot breath on my face, his hand round my neck again. This was it then, he had chosen to end it quickly.

  I felt his soft, hot mouth on mine, kissing me so softly and my heart leapt, my eyes fluttering open in shock. Seth’s eyes met mine, filled with so much love and concern.

  ‘Seth?’ I croaked, in confusion. Had I perhaps died and this was my heaven? Though surely I would not be in this much pain if I was in heaven. I was hallucinating then, the kick to the head had caused me to have hallucinations. I couldn’t understand why Seth was here.

  ‘I’m here baby.’ Seth’s eyes flickered to the side and I moved my head to follow his gaze, but the strength needed to do that was more than I had in me and I closed my eyes against the pain riding through my body. I opened my eyes again and saw the crumpled, bloody, broken body of Cole. I looked back at Seth.

  ‘Did you kill him?’ I asked.

  ‘No, I was going to, but your friend got there first,’ Seth half smiled.

  ‘My friend?’ I closed my eyes again, weakly, unconsciousness swallowing me. I opened my eyes and looked at where Seth was looking. Thor, the last of the animal hybrids that the Oraculum created, a half rhino, half lion was standing close by, glaring at Seth warily.

  ‘When I landed, I saw what was happening and was about to rip Cole off you, but then the Rhion burst from the bushes, skewering Cole on his horn and then ripping him apart with his claws. He was dead before he even hit the ground. Then he turned for me. I explained I was a friend, that I was here to help you, I don’t know if he understood but so far he hasn’t attacked me. He’s watching me very close though,’ Seth stroked my face.

  ‘Cole was one of mine Seth.’

  ‘I know.’ Seth said, quietly.

  ‘I tried to stop him, tried to explain, he wouldn’t listen.’

  ‘Your Guardians would fight to the death for you.’

  ‘It was so needless, he didn’t need to die…’ I trailed off.

  Seth nodded, sadly.

  I looked over at Thor, still watching Seth closely.

  ‘Thor, it’s ok, he’s my friend.’

  Thor bowed his great head, relaxing his stance a bit.

  ‘How did you get here?’ I asked.

  ‘I felt you Eve, I felt you reaching out for me.’

  I closed my eyes, but forced them open again. ‘My stomach hurts so much.’

  Seth lifted my T-shirt and gently touched my stomach. I winced.

  Seth’s face darkened.

  ‘Seth?’

  Seth forced a smile to his face, as he looked back at me. ‘You’ll live,’ then his jaw set with determination. ‘You’ll live.’

  My eyes closed again, darkness swallowing me. ‘I missed you.’

  I felt his soft, hot mouth on mine again, kissing me so gently.

  When I opened my eyes, the dark sky above me had been replaced with the murky early morning grey. The sky raced past above me, broken only by the patches of green that also whizzed through my vision and was gone again a second later. I was moving so fast through the woods, I must have been in the back of a car or truck.

  ‘Seth?’ Where was he, was he driving the truck, had I imagined him being there. I felt a shifting under me and the sky slowed as Seth came into my vision. It became apparent that Seth was actually carrying me.

  ‘Eve, are you ok?’ he laid me gently on the ground, cradling me in his arms.

  ‘Where are we going, can’t I go home?’

  Seth shook his head. ‘There aren’t any Zekis in the fort, I’m heading towards the villages…’

  ‘No, Seth, not the villages, I don’t think any of them are safe with the Putarians around,’

  Seth sighed, lost for ideas.

  ‘What’s happening up at the fort, have they got Adam?’

  Seth shook his head. ‘Lucas could feel you Eve, he felt that you were scared and angry when your signal first went out, but then he could feel you were ok, so we thought Zach had made the right decision. But then he knew you were being beaten up though we didn’t know it was Cole. When Lucas told Zach to check on you, Zach was with you at the time, well Adam, actually. That’s how we knew. Zach went for him but Adam just vanished. Lucas told the Guardlings to find you, but you called me to you first. I took you back to the fort for a while. I thought it might be easier to get a Zeki up to the fort rather than bring you to one, but then I realised it would take too long. I bathed your wounds as much as I could, then I started making my way down to the villages. Zach was gutted when he saw you. He blames himself entirely.’

  ‘It’s not his fault.’

  ‘I know, but as my wife had been nearly beaten to death by one of his Guardlings after he had kicked her out of her home, I didn’t feel particularly inclined to tell him that.’

  ‘Seth, it’s not his fault,’ I reached up to hold his chin, as firmly as I could. ‘Promise me that if… if I don’t get better, you won’t hold this against him.’

  Seth nodded, reluctantly.

  ‘Anyone could make the
same mistake Seth,’ I said, meaningfully. Seth winced. The last time a shape shifter had impersonated me, Seth had nearly killed me himself. ‘Promise me.’

  ‘I promise, but you’re going to get better Eve, I’ll get you some help.’

  I nodded, weakly, releasing his chin. I noticed a deep scratch on his face, and I reached up instinctively to heal it. ‘What happened?’

  Seth smiled, wryly. ‘A thorn bush didn’t agree with me.’ His eyes widened as he realised what I was doing. ‘Eve! You can heal? Can you reach your other powers, can you slide? You could slide to Jasmine.’

  I shook my head. ‘No, Seth I’ve tried.’ I had spent the whole day trying before I’d gone back to the fort.

  ‘Please Evie, just try.’

  I closed my eyes, trying to picture Jasmine, the Zeki who had saved me back in England, but though I could see her in my mind, I couldn’t slide to her. I tried to reach out to my Guardians, to Lucas especially but again I came up against a brick wall.

  I shook my head.

  Seth scooped me up gently and started jogging. ‘It makes sense I suppose, if this is a drug that Adam has developed. He doesn’t have the abilities of a Zeki, he wouldn’t think to block it.’

  ‘He can’t heal?’ I asked.

  Seth shook his head, as he picked up speed. ‘No, apparently the fusion of the Guardians, Zeki, shape shifter, Donum and Oraculum was what made you sick when you were first born. The Oraculum thought it was too much of a cocktail, so when they made Adam, they ignored one of the ingredients, the one they thought the least important.’

  I thought about this for a while, watching the sky speed past above me. ‘I thought we were identical,’ I muttered, sleepily.

  ‘You’re nothing alike Eve,’ he muttered angrily.

  ‘Are my other Guardians still on the island?’

  ‘No, we were on our way back. We swam to the nearest island and we managed to get a boat back to the mainland. I think Eli was going to organise a helicopter or plane back to Tibet but you called me to you then. I have no idea where they are now other than still trying to get back to here.’