04 Last

by Lynnie Purcell

  The second my eyes opened, I felt a hand move to my shoulder. Daniel was in the leaf-made room with me. He was awake and his green eyes were bright with happy energy. He was glad to see me awake.

  “I thought you were never going to wake up,” he said.

  “How long has it been?” I asked.

  “Four days,” he replied.

  “Oh,” I said.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m…Ask me tomorrow,” I decided.

  “I will,” Daniel replied.

  “The historian is dead…” I said.

  Daniel’s eyes were sad.

  “We thought as much. We couldn’t find her body,” Daniel said after a moment.

  “Nemesis took her,” I said.

  Daniel was curious at the admission, but he did not press for details. I refocused on him and the fact four days had passed. I knew it couldn’t have been an easy four days.

  “Anything interesting happen while I was out?” I asked.

  “Not unless you count burning the dead, destroying the tower, hiding the city you fought Marcus in and recovering from our injuries ‘interesting,’” Daniel replied.

  “It’s better than the alternative,” I said.

  “True,” he said.

  “What about the others?” I asked. “How many others did we lose?”

  “Not as many as you think,” Daniel replied. “Would you like to see for yourself?”

  Daniel knew the others would bring me happiness. I needed proof of life. I nodded, and Daniel’s hand moved to mine. He helped me stand. For the first time, I realized my clothes had been changed. I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, clothes that were more comfortable than armor. My necklace was back around my neck. It welcomed me back to consciousness with dull warmth. My ring also hummed with electrical warmth. Both had helped me in the dark. Daniel pushed back the vine-made door.

  Ellen, Naomi and Sam were sitting directly outside my vine house. Naomi whacked Ellen on the arm when she saw me and pointed. Ellen had been focused on my grandfather’s book. She was lost in the words he had left her. She pulled away from the words the moment she saw me. They both jumped out of their chairs and hugged me at the same time. I wrapped my arms around them and felt the weight of the fight leave me. For the first time in my life, I could be certain that Ellen would never be hunted again. She was free to live her life…finally. She would no longer have to run because of me.

  Sam hugged me next. His hug was fierce and genuine. I could tell he realized that Ellen was finally free as well. That fact had not escaped him. He was smart enough to realize the fight went beyond the present.

  When Sam let me go, I saw that the platform of my room was surrounded. People were hanging out, waiting for me to wake up. Reaper, Alex, Margaret, Jackson, Han, Beatrice and the rest of Reaper’s generals were sitting in a semi-circle on the floor around Sam, Ellen and Naomi’s chairs. Twitch was on Margaret’s lap reading a book, while Cora and Ethan held hands next to Alex, who was at Sam’s feet. Sprint and Spider sat closest to Ellen.

  Anna and a large group of people I didn’t recognize were down below, while other Watchers were in trees, on the stairs, anywhere they could find space. The people I had led in to the tower were closest. Ileana and Mick were directly behind Reaper. Fiona was hanging from vine-made hammock above us. The only person I didn’t see in the mix was Serenity. Her golden eyes were not among the many eye colors of the people staring at me. The stares of the people around me were full of awe and respect. It didn’t unsettle me as much as it would have a week ago.

  “Were you all waiting on me to wake up?” I teased them.

  “We didn’t want to celebrate until we knew you were safe,” Jackson said.

  “So, what you’re saying is that I was keeping you all from a party?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I guess I am,” Jackson said.

  “Well, let’s party then!” I said.

  The others cheered and Spider turned on the radio. Music circled the clearing. People started dancing and talking loudly. The people I was closest to, my friends and family, eyed me with a mixture of awe, relief and happiness. They all had things they wanted to say – they all wanted to understand what had happened. I had a question of my own.

  “Eli?” I asked.

  Spider sighed. “He’s gone. We had his funeral already…”

  “Oh. I’m sorry,” I said.

  My eyes moved to Alex. Her eyes were incredibly sad. Reaper refused to look at her. I could tell that little had changed between them with Eli’s death – I felt that more of a distance had formed. They were further apart than before the fight had started. Eli was still a wedge between them, despite his death.

  “I guess Eli cared after all,” Spider said in a low voice.

  “Of course he did,” I replied. “He was just searching for his own way…he just made the mistake of not including you while he searched.”

  There was a pause of silence in which everyone contemplated my words. The silence was broken by a question from Alex. She was the only one brave enough to ask what they were all thinking.

  “What happened once you got inside the tower?” she asked. “They said you ran up the stairs and…then we saw you fall. Then, the historian disappeared…”

  I took a deep breath then shared my story. They listened quietly over the sounds of music and partying of the others. When I told them about destroying the sword, their mouths dropped open. Sounds of shock filled the clearing. They couldn’t believe I had found the power to destroy it. I couldn’t believe it either. When I told them about the historian and Nemesis, they were sad. Their sadness was my sadness. The historian had given up so much for me. It was a heavier burden than all the lives I had taken in battle.

  “All this because Marcus thought you two were destined to rule the world together?” Alex asked when I finished. “That you were reincarnated lovers?”

  “Yeah,” I agreed.

  “That man should have checked in with reality,” Alex said. “He could have saved us a lot of grief.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Well, it’s over now,” Reaper said. “We can finally move on.”

  “What happens to the Saints?” I asked. “What do you do now that all the bad guys are gone?”

  Reaper shrugged.

  “I haven’t thought about it,” Reaper said. “But I think there will always be people out there who need help. The end of the war, and Marcus’ death, changes our world forever, but that doesn’t mean people who would harm others have disappeared entirely. The world moves on…Watchers don’t change that much.”

  “So, you stay vigilant?” I asked.

  “Well, maybe a little less vigilant,” Reaper said. “I could do with some time to relax. A vacation would be nice. But as long as people need a home, a family, they will find it with Saints.”

  “Han and I were discussing this, actually,” Beatrice said. “We have a wonderful opportunity to rebuild our house in King’s Cross, and we thought that perhaps your Saints could use some of our space.”

  “There are quite a few of us,” Reaper pointed out. “Many will stay…the Saints is the only family they’ve known.”

  “We like big houses,” Beatrice pointed out. “And we love having lots of people around, so long as we have our tower to experiment in. You don’t have to decide now, but I can assure you privacy and all the science you can handle.”

  I saw Reaper’s eyes brighten with her offer. She was offering him more than she knew – the chance to have parents in his life, the chance for all of the Saints to have parent-like figures. It was something they all craved, even if they did not say it aloud.

  “I’ll think about it,” Reaper said, though I sensed him already planning a move to King’s Cross.

  The idea of the Saints being in King’s Cross set well with me. Daniel and I would settle there as well…Our house was waiting for us. It would be nice to have friends we trusted with our lives so near.

  I looke
d around the others to see how they felt. King, Preacher, River, Sara, Shawn, and Moira all appeared to have no problem with the offer. A place in King’s Cross would have peace. They could all do with peace.

  My eyes moved beyond them to the others. I knew many of the Saints would leave to find their own way, to pick up their lives, but most would stay. They had formed a place within the Saints. That didn’t change just because Marcus was gone. If anything, it made it easier to settle.

  As I looked at the Watchers around me, Anna caught my eye again. I knew she would not stay. Her place, and the place of many of the Nightstalkers who were now human, was a place without walls. They were wanderers by nature; they had not changed that much with the return to humanity. I eyed her group curiously. There was a mystery I could not explain. How permanent was the change back?

  “What happened to the Nightstalkers?” I asked. “You said they all changed back…but is that for good…or?”

  “The ones you didn’t share your blood with seem to not be able to change between forms any longer,” Daniel said. “Those of us who did share your blood can still shift.”

  “Strange…” I said.

  “You should know that the light made its way around the world,” Daniel added. “Reaper has his people out, and they are all reporting the same thing. The Nightstalkers on the battlefield were not the only ones to be changed. You changed them all. And the dead Watchers terrorizing people disappeared with the light. Even the illness plaguing people stopped. It was as if the light directly reversed the deeds Marcus had done to wake the sword.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  Everyone nodded at me. The world was still changed. There was no undoing the past. The attacks, the dead Watchers, the illness would be on everyone’s mind. People would be searching for answers to the madness. There would be a process of healing. But then people were notoriously good at adapting. They would survive. And that’s all that really mattered.

  “There have been no new reports of the illness in four days, and people are starting to be able to recover from the sickness,” Beatrice added. “Even our experiments were destroyed.”

  “That’s good news,” I said.

  “The question is what the rest of us do now,” Daniel said.

  “Whatever we want,” I said.

  “Great…because I really want a shower and a hot meal and a warm bed and my pajamas,” Naomi said.

  “And I want pickles with fish and Pop-tarts,” Ellen said.

  “Gross,” I said.

  “And I want a home with all of you.”

  We all turned to stare at Twitch. His eyes were on me. He had had never looked happier. His words were soft and perfect; they mirrored his thoughts completely. It was the first words I had ever heard him speak.

  “Man…I knew you were pretending,” Spider complained. “All this time…”

  “Yeah, Tiny Tim, what gives?” I asked.

  Twitch giggled mischievously, and I felt a smile stretch across my face. A home was exactly what we had created together. Despite wherever we went next, I knew we would never truly be separated. I had friends and family that would last for as long as I did. My ability to walk the space in-between meant that I would be able to see them whenever I wanted. Distance meant little. It was an idea I took comfort in.

  The party swirled around us and less serious matters surrounded our conversation. After a couple of hours of talking, it was decided we would start moving the camp. People who wanted to go their own way would be taken wherever in the world they wanted to go. Those who were staying would be taken to King’s Cross. Reaper had made up his mind – he would accept Han and Beatrice’s offer. As Sara and Shawn started ferrying people across the globe and the camp emptied of the less serious members of the Saints, Alex walked away from the gathering. Reaper had disappeared, to oversee the departure of the others and to wish them luck wherever they were headed.

  I squeezed Daniel’s hand briefly, to let him know I was going to follow her. He smiled and nodded knowingly. He let me go and focused on the conversation he was having with Han and Spider about something called the ‘photoelectric effect.’

  I found Alex in a tree. She was sitting on a large branch that overlooked a large clearing below. Reaper was below, doing his best to keep from noticing her. The struggle was obvious in his eyes. Her blue eyes were sad as she looked down at him. The distance between them was painful; she could not hide the pain any longer. Eli’s death had made the pain harder to hide. When I sat next to her, she put her head on my shoulder.

  “I lost him,” she said after a moment of silence.

  “Reaper or Eli?” I asked.

  She sighed.

  “I hate when you try to be psychological,” she said. “You suck at it.”

  “I know,” I said. “It’s fuzzy science.”

  “You just don’t like it ‘cause you can’t perfect it,” she replied.

  “I can, however, tell when someone is trying to change the subject,” I said.

  Alex didn’t reply.

  “What are you so afraid of?” I asked.

  She didn’t seem to know how to put her emotions in to words.

  I patted the tree we were on.

  “You are already out on a limb…what’s the harm in jumping?” I asked.

  She smiled and shook her head.

  “You are such a dork,” she told me.

  “Yeah,” I agreed.

  Her expression hardened, and her eyes narrowed as she thought about what I was saying. A light took hold of her blue eyes – a light I knew was dangerous. I had woken something up in her.

  “But you’re right. I’m tired of this…”

  She jumped up and made her way to the clearing below. Reaper saw her coming, but he was not quick enough to escape her purposeful march. A Watcher had distracted him from the danger descending. Alex stopped directly in front of him, shooing the person Reaper had been talking to away with a hand gesture. The person didn’t try to argue – he was wise enough to back away while he had the chance.

  “Reaper…” Alex said. “Do you like me?”

  Reaper was angry at her question. His silver eyes brightened with emotion he had been carefully hiding.

  “That doesn’t matter,” he said.

  “Why not?” Alex said.

  “That doesn’t matter either,” Reaper said.

  “Yes it does,” Alex said. “Tell me. I have a right to know.”

  Reaper crossed his arms defensively. The hurt was apparent around his aggressive stance.

  “Because you made your choice in Eli,” Reaper said. “You are not going to choose me as second best. I am not going to be the guy you come to just because you don’t want to be alone. You wanted to be with him. If you wanted to be with me, you would have chosen me. It’s too late for take-backs.”

  Reaper started to walk away, but Alex wasn’t having it. Alex’s hands moved to her hips, a dangerous sign.

  “Reaper! Get back here before I get mad!” she yelled.

  Reaper stopped walking. He knew better than to argue with that threat. It wasn’t the fact that she could still turn in to a Nightstalker that urged him to obey. Alex without the Nightstalker was dangerous enough. He turned around to face her, his expression dominated by irritation. He just wanted to be done with the argument, so he could move on.

  “And what are you basing all this on?” Alex asked.

  “That day you were coming up the stairs,” Reaper said. “I could tell you had been with him from the way you were touching him.”

  “With him!” Alex scoffed.

  “There was a level of intimacy there,” Reaper said. “You’re not the only one who can read people.”

  “You don’t know a thing!” Alex said. “I had just finished telling him that we couldn’t be together, because I am in love with you! Unlike you, he was adult enough to decide that we could still be friends!”

  Reaper’s eyes had widened with her admission. “But the joining…”


  “I want you!” Alex said, totally frustrated that he wasn’t getting it. “All that matters is if you want me back!”

  A smile dawned on Reaper’s handsome face at her words; a smile I knew was the answer Alex was searching for. He crossed the space separating them and kissed her, wrapping his arms around her body as he did. Alex threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back. The passion in their kiss was overwhelming.

  “Halle-freaking-lujah!” I yelled down to them.

  Reaper flipped me off, while Alex ignored me entirely. She was too busy kissing the man she loved.

  Daniel sat down next to me. He took my hand and smiled at the sight of them. They finished their kiss and then, hand-in-hand, they went off in to the jungle to talk and continue their kissing in private.

  “Do you think they joined?” Daniel asked when they were gone.

  “Does it really matter?” I asked back.

  Daniel’s smile grew.

  “Nope.”

  We sat in silence for a moment. The silence was welcome, but I spent the whole of it thinking of the battle, catching up to the events that had changed my life forever. Marcus’ expression before he had faded to ash circled my mind. Daniel spoke again.

  “How close did you come to giving in?” Daniel asked.

  He meant with the sword. He could tell I had held that part of the story back. It was not something I wanted to admit to everyone.

  “I did give in,” I said. “I was ready to kill everyone in my way.”

  “Why didn’t you?” he asked.

  “You,” I replied. “I thought you wouldn’t love me if I was a monster.”

  “I would love you even then…”

  “But you would put me out of my misery, right?” I asked.

  Daniel smiled archly.