I looked back at Henry’s limp body. It seemed impossible that he would still be alive, but I remembered this was an immortal. My attention was grabbed as Lillian ripped a piece of steel piping from the corner of the room with her bare hands. It snapped with a piercing sound that matched that of a steam ship breaking free of its cables and crashing to the ground.
At a quick pace and with no hesitation, she jumped back to her place, pulling her elbow back with momentum before thrusting the steel into Henry's chest and twisting it deep into his heart. I had seen Katherine die but this was different. It was terrifying and official.
Sean and William let Henry fall while Lillian fused two metals together until she had sparked a flame. As the orange flame grew, William tossed Henry inside. As soon as his immortal skin caught fire, a light green color was ignited, something I had never seen before, even with propane tanks.
Though Sean was able to keep his eyes on my body, he couldn’t move any closer. I wasn’t sure when he had moved, but Liam was kneeling beside me again. Even in the distance, I could see the pain and anger he held in the brightness of his emerald eyes.
But seeing him only reminded me of waking up after too much sleep. Surely this was only my spirit waiting to move on, but why would this take so long? They were too late and I didn’t blame them. I understood the risk of loving Liam from the day I confessed it in my bedroom, and the day I met the Alexanders. I would never regret my decision to love him. What I couldn’t stand was the pain of watching those I loved suffer any more over my death.
Just let me go. It felt like a dull whisper in my mind. I wasn’t sure who would hear, but I was certain that somebody might be in control. Thankfully I began to feel a sensation in my body, or spirit, that tingled outward. The images were beginning to fade out like the end of a movie. I clung hard to each face in the room, ending with Sean and my sweet Liam. There wasn’t enough time, and I knew there never would be, to say goodbye. I had to be grateful for what I had been given.
But now the moment had come for me to move on, I was certain. I was ready. I was as ready as anyone could ever be.
27. Revelation
“Has she woken yet?”
Lillian’s voice was the first sound I heard.
“No.”
A tingle pricked my skin at the second voice. It was Liam. His voice was low with hardly any life. I wanted to wake and see his face just so that I may comfort him. But it was then my senses felt the pressure of someone to my right, whereas Liam’s voice had been from my left.
“She can hear us.”
Sean, I thought. I was so grateful to hear his voice, just as my fingertips felt the soft material underneath me. Like a light switch, my mind was turning on the pieces of my body. The back of my head was supported by a cool softness of a pillow. I moaned at the sluggish weight of each muscle as I stretched and wiggled my fingers. Slowly I opened my eyes. With a few blinks, I adjusted my sight to the unnatural brightness of the light. I felt someone squeeze my left hand.
“Emma?” Liam said.
Now that I was awake, his voice carried more life than it did moments ago. I cautiously turned my neck to find him. He moved to sit as close as my body would allow. It was only with the absence of his face that I now remembered how beautiful he truly was to me. The curve of his lips made my heart flutter, and the touch of his fingers sparked electricity on my skin.
“Liam,” I said.
Though our reunion was blissful, it didn’t erase how disoriented my mind was. The inflexion of my voice proved that. Of course, this was much different from being woken from a nap. Even with seeing Liam’s face, I still didn’t know where I was. Was I dead? Because I wouldn’t have thought death would leave me so weak. Did everyone wake up groggy in the afterlife?
“No, you aren’t dead, Em,” Sean said.
My eyes followed my neck to find Sean sitting near my right hip. Grace was standing next to his left shoulder. She leaned forward, holding a pink cup and white straw. I appreciated it when she supported my head so that she could insert the straw between my lips. I winced as the cool rush of water slipped down my paper-dry throat with urgency. When Grace laid my head back, I caught sight of Sean’s narrowed worry.
“Mary,” he called.
I turned my neck back to Liam, where I could see he sat quietly contemplating something to himself. His bright eyes seemed tortured with his thoughts. From the corner of my right eye I could see Sean wearing a sly grin. Whatever Liam was thinking, he found amusing. I wanted to kick him but my leg was too weak to put up the effort.
Instead I placed my hand over Liam’s, gaining his attention. He grinned before raising that hand to kiss tenderly. I exhaled in mere happiness at being near him. I had not felt the slightest movement at my other side, but I caught sight of Sean and Grace now hovering near the green chair in the right corner—Liam’s reading chair. Both watched the door as if waiting for an arrival.
I looked in the direction myself to see that someone had appeared. Mary stood in the doorway with a bag of instruments in her right hand. By her smile I could tell she was pleased to see my awakened state. Unlike Sean, Liam never looked away from my face. Only when Mary appeared in his line of sight did he make eye contact with her.
“How do you feel, Emma?” Mary asked.
She dug inside her bag until she pulled out what looked like a high-tech thermometer. I wasn’t an expert in the slightest but I was guessing it was used to check my vitals.
“Good,” I lied.
Having to reveal my weakness only made me feel more human at the moment, even if that sounded silly. I had the urge to move my body upright but my pride was kicked when my body hardly followed my command to move. Liam didn’t hesitate to lift me up as Mary placed some pillows behind my back.
“Maybe a little weak?” Mary said compassionately.
I felt the rush of blood in my cheeks as my eyes peeked up at her to confirm. She pretended not to notice as she went on to perform a variety of tests with many instruments—mostly that checked my heart rate.
Though Mary was closer, it was Sean’s relaxed shoulders from across the room that told me that everything was normal and in the clear. Finally when she finished putting her instruments away she placed her hand on my shoulder in a loving but hesitant manner.
“Well, everything looks strong. Your body is just going to be weak for a couple more days. Luckily, we were able to intervene before your heart gave out at the intensity of the shock.”
Her smile faded for a second, giving me time to reminisce about Henry’s betrayal.
I didn’t need to look to know that Sean and Liam would be carrying identical grimaces at Mary’s words. Before your heart gave out, I heard myself repeat.
“It’s a good thing you are a doctor or I might not have made it,” I said.
Mary gave a halfhearted smile.
“If you feel any pain, let me know,” she said.
I nodded once. Her deep blue eyes beamed as she stood, glancing over to Liam before swiftly making her exit. Liam kissed my temple, leaving a trail of goose bumps to rise up my arms. But seeing Mary only reminded me of all the Alexanders. I had heard Lillian’s voice but where was Patrick and William?
“No one else was hurt,” Sean said with a cocky smirk, “on our side.”
I exhaled in relief to know that the Alexanders were all okay. But now that I didn’t need to worry about grief, I was ready for more.
“What happened?” I asked.
Yes, obviously I survived but I didn’t remember anything after telling Liam I was sorry. Any other memory of the night was missing, such as what ever happened to Henry.
All three immortals glanced at each other before looking back at me. I was looking at Sean, who seemed to be the most appropriate source for my answer, especially since he could hear the questions circling in my thoughts. He gave a heavy sigh before walking closer to the bed and sitting near my hip again. He closed his eyes but was still unable to hide the memory of my near
death from his features. Luckily my hand was placed not but an inch from his so that I could soothe the back of it with my index finger. The gesture was enough for him to gain enough composure. Instantly I was met with his beautiful golden honey gaze.
“He said you would be too late.”
My voice was slow and quiet as if I was only speaking to him.
“He underestimated the connection I have with you,” Sean said. “It’s one that I don’t have with any other mind.”
“I already knew that,” I said.
My eyes widened before rolling with a teasing crack of a smile.
“This is different from what I told you. This is something I hadn’t known until now. It was physical.”
He looked back at Grace for a moment, who had come to stand next to his shoulder again. Her lips were frozen inward. She was just as stumped about this connection as Sean.
“What do you mean physical?” I asked.
“There is a deeper connection between us. One that apparently let your mind’s pain transfer to me.”
My eyes narrowed in disbelief before my eyebrows lifted with curiosity. “Like when twins can feel each other’s pain?”
Sean did his best to straighten his lips out of a grin.
“How?” I asked.
“It began when I was throwing the remains into the fire—”
Just the word fire gave me a feeling of déjà vu. My eyes shifted around in thought. “What was the fire for?”
“Burning the body is the only way to decompose an immortal’s remains,” Sean said before pausing at hearing my silent question. Why can’t you kill them by fire? “Fire has no effect on our skin while our immortal heart still beats.”
I was torn between intrigue and disgust. It was probably why Sean had trouble looking at me.
“So an immortal body will just lie there forever? It won’t decompose naturally?” I asked.
“Without the heated flames, the body would outlast the environment that surrounds it.”
I nodded with his bright gaze for him to continued back with his story.
“I was listening in to your thoughts to check on you.” I watched Sean clench his jaw and tighten his shoulders. “That was when I heard Henry’s words in your mind. Grace sensed my anguish instantly,” Sean said.
I looked up to see her remorseful face, remorse for something that she had no control over. I attempted a comforting smile anyway.
“We left Patrick and Grace to—” Sean’s gaze shifted down in shame, shaking his head in disgust at what he saw as a mistake. Only I didn’t see leaving me alone with Henry as a mistake. No one would have predicted how he would betray the Alexanders. “I was hoping he would wait, tease it out long enough for us to get to you, but then you went silent.” He looked at me, hoping of an answer that his mind was already guessing.
“He knocked me unconscious when I tried to run,” I said, “because he didn’t want me to tell you where I was.”
I caught the livid tension in Liam’s brow just before the glow in his eyes brightened. I squeezed the hand he still had in mine. When I shifted my eyes back to Sean, expecting the same anger, I found something different. It was more like he was trying to remind himself that I was safe now.
“I almost gave up hope of finding you once Henry’s scent went cold,” Sean said.
I could practically feel the pain of the almost radiate off of my brother. To feel his hope of finding me alive shatter was almost a gut-wrenching pain to even have to consider. But one question remained.
“Then how did you find me?” I asked.
“Well, it was you.”
“But you just—”
Sean held his chin up in the way that told me he was going to explain.
“It appears that even unconscious you don’t stop communicating.”
“How is that even possible?”
His cheeks rose along with the crooked lift of his lips.
“I don’t understand it either, but I’ve talked to Patrick about it. We believe it is because of your mind being open to me. But there is still so much to learn.”
“So I was talking to you even when I wasn’t?”
“It was more like you were sending images of your location, like a personal GPS.”
It didn’t matter how you spun what he was saying, I still felt like a freak; or at least, not normal.
“Where did he take me?” I asked.
The curiosity had been chewing inside of me. I wanted to know the place I had almost known as my last. Sean hesitated, his mouth slightly open, almost like he was deciding if the answer would be all right for me to know. I didn’t like how it felt similar to a parent deciding whether their child could see an R-rated movie. But thankfully he relented at my irritated gaze.
“It was an old warehouse in Jacksonville that hadn’t been used in decades. He had you in one of the old boiler rooms,” Sean said.
So, I was right about the smell of rusted metal. I couldn’t hide my satisfaction at that, at least until I thought of what we were really talking about. We still hadn’t gotten to how Sean could read my pain.
“We were getting closer but not before it started,” Sean said.
I knew what it meant. Henry’s acid-peeling, muscle-ripping torture. It was something I would never forget as long as I lived.
Sean looked down at my hand, curling his left one into a fist. Finally, that anger was pulsing outward, at least for a minute before he regained his composure and lifted his lids. In his eyes he carried the weight of the world. The helplessness seeped from the tiny bit of wetness he tried to withhold.
“I could feel it, Em.” His voice was almost a whisper. “I could feel your pain. Each electric shock, each burn from under your skin, the stabbing of your clenched fists, the struggle for oxygen.”
I sat frozen, looking at Sean. I knew we were special but never that we would carry such a unique bond, something I wished now that I could protect him from. I slid my right hand over, clasping my fingers around his hand. If we had one thing in common, it was that we would gladly take the burden of each other’s pain away. I only wish it were that simple now.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
That was all I could say aloud before all three immortals exhaled in humor at my words. Though it was sudden, I found their laughter quite pleasant. And for them it seemed necessary, like a ray of sunlight beaming down after days of only gloomy rain.
“You are sorry for being abandoned, captured, and close to dying?” Liam said.
I shrugged, or at least attempted to, as my eyes met Liam’s. It was the second time he had spoken since I woke. I felt the urge to have him alone. There would be time later to have some privacy with my brother. Sean rose chivalrously, Grace just a moment behind. I grinned gratefully. Sometimes it was nice to have him read my thoughts, like now.
“Wait,” I said. I halted them at the foot of the bed as my attention was caught on Grace’s hand. Maybe I was groggy from waking up after being tortured, or just merely distracted by the fact that I thought I was dead, but now there was no missing the silver diamond band wrapped around Grace’s left ring finger.
I focused my gaze on Sean, who now wore a grin at reading the thoughts from my mind. “We wanted to wait until after you got better,” he said.
My gaze bounced back to Grace’s glow, one that wasn’t in her eyes but in her expression, her raised cheeks, and unrelenting smile. It was pure bliss. Though my thoughts reminded me of Sean’s age, not a single part of me could protest. They were soul mates. Their destiny together was already written.
“I suppose congratulations are in order,” I said.
The sapphire blue of her eyes seemed to carry from her lips.
“I do hope you will be involved,” Grace said.
I could feel the surprise lift my brow.
“Really?”
“Of course,” she said.
“It will be nice to have a piece of family there,” Sean said.
I grazed my top teet
h on my lower lips as my eyes squinted. “What do you mean?”
I watched as my brother and Grace exchanged a smile. “Immortal ceremonies are different,” Grace said. “Humans from our former lives are not usually a part of them.”
My eyebrows lifted in realization of what she meant. Unlike the typical wedding no one from Sean’s family would be attending this particular ceremony. In fact, I would be the only human even present. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that yet. “How’s Mom going to take that?”
“You’ll be the only one to know about it,” Sean said.
Oh boy, I thought. Enter guilt later.
“So it’s like a secret wedding?”
“Well, more like a secret from humans.” Sean had an amused curve in his lips. “By August, everyone I know will just expect I have broken up with my girlfriend and gone off to college.”
“Oh,” I said. Sean nodded. Good to know the updated story of my brother now. Though I knew the chances were slim of avoiding the questions, I hoped no one would ask if they were still together next year. Sure, I could lie, I just didn’t like the festering guilt afterward. But I had time to worry about that later. For now I was lost in images of what their ceremony would be like, what exactly different meant. It seemed before I had time to ask they had already locked hands and walked out of the room. Nice timing. I could have sworn I heard Sean’s exhaled laughter.
I moaned at my body’s stiffness that I tried to forget.
“Do you need to rest, love?” Liam asked.
He began to lift off the bed. “No,” I said.
He gave me a crooked smile that melted my heart before moving back to his previous position. As I smiled in return, my curiosity flooded back. “What happened to Henry?”
I got the details of how they knew to find me but that wasn’t the end of the story. Liam used the back of his hand to swipe a strand of hair off my cheek. It was almost the same hesitation Sean had shown. He wanted to tell me but didn’t want to relive it.
“When Katherine was killed, Henry lost touch of his moral compass. It’s a rare thing with immortals of the new order but not unheard of with our kind.” Liam grinned slightly to expose his disappointment at one such valued ally. “To see a centuries old friend turn against everything we believe in this world makes the betrayal all the more worse.”
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