04 Last

by Lynnie Purcell

  “What am I going to do?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” I agreed.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  The question was simple in my mind.

  “Eli or Reaper?” I asked.

  She turned her face back to the ocean. She thought about my question for a moment. She wasn’t as prepared to answer as I had thought – the question was not as simple for her. She was still digesting her emotions on the subject. I thought I knew which one of them was best for her, but I couldn’t make her decision for her. It was up to her to choose. When she spoke, her words were concise, carefully chosen.

  “I am going to focus on what is front of me. Marcus is a problem. We need to face him before we can deal with anything else. What did you find out from Sevier?”

  I sighed. She wasn’t ready. I didn’t want to push her.

  “We found out that Sevier is a weasel, and that Marcus definitely is planning something big,” I said.

  “What?” she asked.

  I put my hand on hers and filled in on the details through our mental connection. Her eyes widened when she realized the implications of what I was saying.

  “We have to stop him,” Alex said.

  “I don’t think we were planning on going tanning instead,” I said.

  “But when will this happen?” she asked. “Soon…tomorrow…today?”

  “We don’t know,” I said. “It’s on our to-do list to find out, though.”

  “We should go see what they intend to do about it,” she said.

  By ‘they’ she meant Reaper and Daniel.

  “Yeah…” I agreed.

  Alex started to pass me to go inside, but I grabbed hold of her arm. She turned at the feel of my hand on her arm. Her eyes were incredibly sad as she looked at me; it was sadness she couldn’t hide anymore.

  “You’re not alone,” I said. “I’m here.”

  Alex’s smile was small but pleased. She appreciated my words, but getting rid of the sadness was not so easy.

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said.

  She hooked her arm around mine and pulled me away from the railing and back to the door.

  Reaper was not in the galley. Instead, he was in his room with Daniel. Reaper had his arms crossed as he sat on his bunk. He looked thoughtful. He was contemplating taking on the weight of the world or something equally as profound. Daniel was pacing in front of him.

  I knocked twice on the edge of the doorframe and Reaper gestured me in. Alex hovered behind me, unwilling to cross the threshold with the raw emotions still surging through her. It was a threshold that separated her from another emotional pull – Reaper’s.

  “Well?” I asked.

  “Your hero-boyfriend was just deciding what to do,” Reaper said.

  “We were discussing what to do,” Daniel corrected.

  “Sure, if you want to put it that way,” Reaper said with a smile.

  “What did Daniel decide?” I asked.

  “We’re going to go to the city and scour it for signs of a bomb,” Reaper said.

  “That’s it?” I asked. “Search until something turns up?”

  “It’s better than sitting here and doing nothing,” Reaper pointed out.

  Daniel was only listening to our conversation on the edges – he was more focused on what we were about to do.

  “We have to assume that he will act soon. He wouldn’t do all this preparation for nothing. Marcus would pick an area that would cause the most panic,” Daniel said. “He’s all about show…the most panic at the smallest cost.”

  A dream I had weeks ago rose in front of my eyes. It was me running toward Times Square just as a bomb explodes. I had the answer they were searching for.

  “Times Square,” I said without thinking.

  “That’s a little obvious, don’t you think?” Daniel asked.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “But isn’t that the point? Times Square is iconic. People have an image of it in their heads, especially tourists. A lot of people think of Times Square when they think of New York.”

  “But does Marcus want to cause panic, or does he just want to kill everyone?” Alex asked.

  “It’s hard to tell,” Daniel said. “A bomb has the feeling of grandiose, though. You do it to make a point…you do it to accomplish something else…”

  “We’ll check there first,” Reaper said. “If we don’t find anything…well, there’s always the rest of the city.”

  “Yeah…” I agreed.

  “Preacher and King just left to scout the area on the map you found,” Reaper said. “But the others are available. We’ll see what we can do.”

  “I want to come,” Alex said.

  “Me, too,” I said.

  “Clare…” Daniel started to say.

  I knew where he was going. He wanted to lock me away where my screams would not disturb the general public, but I felt as if I was the only person who would know what to look for. I would sense if the dream was real or not. I held up my hand to stop him.

  “I’m going,” I said. “We have time.”

  “Not that much,” Daniel said.

  “Are we going to fight about this?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Daniel replied.

  “I’ll win,” I said.

  “I’m incredibly charming,” Daniel pointed out. “And when that fails, I’m incredibly ruthless.”

  “Did you just threaten me?” I asked.

  “Guys, this is way cute, but we don’t have time,” Alex said. “A bomb in a city, remember?”

  “Clare goes, but if we get close to your time to change then you leave. We stay in pairs. All information goes through me,” Reaper said, taking control of the situation. “You find something, you call.”

  “I wish to come as well,” Serenity said, stepping around Alex to join us. She had been eavesdropping on our conversation.

  Reaper looked at her with a question in his eyes. He wasn’t sure what to make of her continued presence. The agreement with Odette had ended the moment Odette had fled and the council had been killed. There was no reason for her to stick around. Or was there? Was she still playing Odette’s game?

  “I wish to play my part in the story unfolding,” Serenity said, noticing the expression on his face. “This is the last place left I have to do that…with Odette gone, I have nowhere else to be.”

  Reaper looked at Daniel, who, in turn, nodded.

  “Fine,” Reaper said. “I’m going to go collect the others.”

  “Alright,” Daniel agreed.

  Serenity turned and left ahead of Reaper, while Daniel and Alex held their hands out to me. I took their hands and imagined the one place in New York I knew was safe from prying eyes. We stepped in to the moving dark and beyond.

  Daniel’s penthouse above the bank he owned was as empty as we had left it. A thin haze of abandonment surrounded the open room.

  “We have eleven hours before the change. I want to be gone before then,” Daniel said. “So, let’s start looking.”

  “Lead the way,” I said.

  We took the elevator down to the main level. He caught strange looks from the employees in the bank; looks from those not accustomed to seeing their boss, particularly with two girls behind him. Daniel ignored the looks, waved familiarly at the doorman, who didn’t seem to care who Daniel was, only that he needed a door opened, and walked out in to the New York autumn. Snow was on the streets – an early season storm had ravaged the city. The streets were clear, but the sidewalks held snow which had turned brown with the traffic.

  Alex inhaled sharply then put a hand to her nose as she followed after us.

  “How is it that you two smile like idiots every time we’re here, but all I can think is ‘urine smell’?” she asked.

  “You’ve never lived here the way a person should,” I replied.

  “I hear your words, and know that you mean them, but all that I register is ‘urine smell,’” Alex said.

  “You’re an animal,” I sa
id. “No class.”

  “Excuse me?” Alex asked.

  She arched an eyebrow dangerously. She had taken my words to mean her change in to Nightstalker, instead of the teasing way I had meant it.

  “You know what I mean…” I said.

  Daniel’s phone rang as we walked. He answered on the first ring. His face was neutral – the way it always got when he was in the middle of a mission. When he picked up, I heard the sound of Reaper’s voice. They talked for a brief moment then hung up.

  “Reaper and the rest are in place,” Daniel informed us. “They’re starting their search. He said to remember to call him if we find anything.”

  Alex and I nodded in understanding and did our best to match Daniel’s purposeful stride. He was unyielding and full of determination. I sensed him thinking about his past with Marcus, the time they had spent as friends in the very city we were searching for a bomb. I sensed him wondering how he could have missed Marcus’ anger and the darkness around his heart. There was stubbornness in Daniel’s mind as well; a stubborn promise not to let Marcus win. Daniel would stop the bomb, single-handedly if he had to.

  Times Square was bustling with the normal workday foot-traffic and the tourists who were brave enough to endure the chilly winds. Even though it was not the busiest I had ever seen the area, it was busy enough. I knew Marcus was not stupid enough to wait until after hours, if he was planning something. He would act when the street was busiest. Our time was ticking down. And if not today, then did we dare rest and let him set it off tomorrow?

  Daniel stopped on the intersection of W40th and 7th. He looked around at the theaters and buildings we had to search, just along that intersection alone. We couldn’t see Reaper or any of the others, but I knew they were in the area, probably having similar moments of doubt.

  “This is a lot of ground to cover,” Daniel said with a frown.

  “Yeah, no kidding,” Alex said. “Seems like this is getting more impossible by the moment.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. “We have the word of a creep that a bomb will go off sometime in the foreseeable future, somewhere in New York. What makes you think this is impossible?”

  Alex’s grin was lopsided. Her grin faded and she bit her lip thoughtfully. My words had given her an idea.

  “Daniel…” she said. “Why don’t you try…you know, seeing the foreseeable future? Maybe there’s something there.”

  “I tried,” Daniel admitted.

  “Try harder,” I said.

  He frowned at me.

  “Don’t think about what will happen if you fail,” I said “Just let your mind do what it does naturally.”

  “Now you sound like the historian,” Daniel muttered.

  “Have you been eavesdropping in on our conversations?” I asked.

  Daniel shrugged and closed his eyes to focus. In any other city, I would have worried about standing out, about people staring at the strange man standing on the sidewalk with his eyes closed, while two others stared at him, but we were in New York. If people did notice, they made certain not to look any further than what the corner of their eye could tell them. It was something I enjoyed about the city: the anonymity.

  Daniel finally opened his eyes.

  “Nothing,” he replied.

  “Nothing at all?” Alex asked.

  “Stock markets…that man is going to hail a taxi…” A man stepped up to the curb and raised his hand to signal a taxi right on cue. “But nothing to suggest Marcus is nearby,” Daniel replied.

  I knew it wasn’t just because he was having trouble seeing the future. Marcus knew what Daniel could do – it was possible he was keeping his plan unfixed just to keep Daniel off his trail.

  “So...what now?” I asked.

  “We keep looking,” Daniel replied.

  “What if Sevier was telling a lie?” I asked. “We could be searching here while he swims to freedom…and on to Marcus, to let him know he talked.”

  “Sevier wasn’t lying,” Daniel said. “He might not have been telling the whole truth, but he wasn’t lying.”

  “I think you need to look up the definition of lying,” I said.

  “I’ll do that,” Daniel replied.

  “I have a feeling this is going to be a long day of looking through garbage,” Alex said.

  “Just think of all the urine smells you’ll get to take in,” I said.

  “I’m jumping for joy,” Alex said. “You just can’t tell because I’m so overcome with happiness.”

  “It would be something large enough to make an impact but small enough to not get noticed,” Daniel mused. “Marcus has access to the best weapons in the world…the device could be smaller than we think.”

  “Are we invited to the conversation?” I asked him.

  “We’ll focus on high traffic areas first then spread out to areas with less people,” he replied. “Look for anything that doesn’t belong.”

  “Great,” I said.

  We checked trashcans, doorways, cars, anything that could hold a bomb. The afternoon had descended on us when Reaper and the others joined us near the visitor’s center. They looked as frustrated as we did. I could tell they had spent their day doing the same thing we had.

  “Any luck?” Reaper asked hopefully.

  “No,” Daniel admitted.

  Reaper was skeptical we would find anything.

  “We should keep looking,” Reaper said. “We can’t afford not to, but…”

  “You have an empire of wayward Watchers to run and need to focus your attention there, instead of focusing on searching through garbage cans?” I asked.

  “I don’t know if I would put it that way,” Reaper said.

  “Clare just did,” Alex said.

  “I will stay and search,” Serenity volunteered.

  I knew that she had volunteered Eli as well. Eli’s look suggested as much – he would not be left out. We all looked at her suspiciously. It was difficult not to; Serenity would not volunteer to search for something so uncertain without a reason. She would not volunteer to search through garbage. She did not miss our suspicious looks.

  “It’s not as if I have a lot to do within the group,” Serenity pointed out. “I’m not a ‘Saint’ after all.”

  Reaper wasn’t in the mood to argue.

  “Do what you want,” Reaper replied.

  “I want to stay, too,” I said.

  Daniel turned to me, an expression on his face that expressed confusion and doubt – doubt for my intellect? It was hard to tell.

  “You can’t stay,” Daniel replied.

  “You said the change happens at the exact moment of your birth,” I said.

  “Right...” Daniel agreed.

  “I was born at ten o’clock at night,” I said. “So we have some time.”

  “Clare…” Daniel started to protest.

  “I’m the only one that has seen the vision of the bomb,” I replied. “I’ll know the situation when it comes up. I’ll be able to stop it.”

  “You don’t know that,” Daniel said. “The future never turns out the way you expect.”

  “I have to try…” I said.

  “What if ‘trying’ gets other people killed?” Daniel asked. “What if you change and hurt people?”

  “You have my permission to knock me out,” I said.

  “I don’t think…” Daniel started to protest.

  “I’ll stay, too,” Alex volunteered. “I’ll make sure Clare doesn’t go crazy.”

  “You have time to get her somewhere safe,” Reaper pointed out, also taking my side. “And if she knows something about this attack that we don’t…”

  “Fine,” Daniel replied. “But I get to make the decision when it’s time to stop looking.”

  “That’s fair,” I said.

  “Margaret and Jackson can help as well,” Reaper said.

  Jackson and Margaret had already made that choice for themselves; I could see it on their faces. They wouldn’t have left if
we told them to.

  “Alright,” I said. “So let’s get to turning over more garbage cans and breaking in to buildings.”

  “You’ve never sounded more like a homeless person,” Alex pointed out.

  Reaper nodded at us hopefully and held out his hand to Sara. The others grabbed hold of Sara as well, their eyes bothered that they were leaving. But they had to focus on Israel and getting more bodies for the looming fight we could all feel in the future. Searching for the bomb didn’t feel quite as certain as the fight. Their expressions of doubt haunting us, they disappeared. I saw a man do a double take, and heard his confused thoughts, before he decided his eyes were playing tricks on him. Serenity and Eli walked away from us. Serenity’s eyes lingered on my face. Eli was careful to keep his eyes away from Alex. The rest of us eyed the afternoon streets of New York with the overwhelming sense that we were faced with the impossible.

  “Maybe we should move our search outside of Times Square,” Daniel suggested tentatively.

  “We’ll go north,” Jackson volunteered.

  Serenity and Eli had already gone south. That left us with east and west.

  “I’ll go that way,” Alex said pointing east. “Don’t do anything dangerous without calling.”

  “I won’t,” I promised.

  She nodded and walked away. I would have normally been worried about her wandering the New York streets alone, but I had noticed a change in her over the past three weeks. It was confidence she could handle whatever came her way. She had found peace over her abilities. I knew anyone who bothered her would be sorry. Daniel and I shared a look of purpose as we turned west. We would find what we were looking for.

  I just hoped we would be in time to prevent a disaster.

  Chapter 14

  Our search took us through many of New York’s best-kept secrets. We looked everywhere, feeling as if we were searching for the impossible. As the afternoon faded in to a dark evening, I saw a suspicion dawn in Daniel’s eyes. We stopped walking when we reached the bay. The water was choppy with the cold wind blowing it around. It was the end of the line. We had searched everywhere we could and had come up with nothing.

  I turned to Daniel. The suspicion in his eyes had grown stronger with the passing moments.