“I’m sorry, okay?” Kara said aloud. “There. Does that make you happy?”
William sighed. “Come on, Kara.”
“What are you sorry for?” I asked.
“William thinks they followed me to the haven. That it was my fault they found us.”
“Well, they showed up right after you,” he added.
He was probably right. It was an unlikely coincidence. I closed my eyes, immediately regretting the thought. I wished she couldn’t hear what I was thinking.
“Don’t worry. I’m used to it,” she said under her breath. If it was her fault they found us, I knew it wasn’t
intentional. I’d been inside her head, felt her guilt at the loss of Anna and Chloe. She was with us now. I was sure of it.
“Even if they did follow you, Kara, they were supposed to. Everything happens for a reason. I’ve learned that by now.”
I couldn’t see her through the dark, but I could feel her looking at me. I really am sorry, she said with genuine regret. I never should have come.
I’m glad you did, I answered, surprised by the thought. Whenever I expected the van to roll to a stop, it kept on.
There wasn’t much else to do but sleep. I rested my head on William’s shoulder and tried to forget the flames as we huddled together in the deepest corner of the cab. Kara kept her distance, staying close to the back hatch. In time, we all drifted off, glad to be alive.
When I woke up, William was still asleep next to me, but we were alone. The back door of the van was left open letting the early morning light in. We’d driven through the night.
I nudged William, eager to get out. “Hey, we’re here.”
He sat up, his grown out hair sticking up in places, and I laughed as he squinted away from the light.
“What?” he asked. “Rough night?”
He smiled. “Get me out of this van.”
We shuffled out of the back, and my heart stopped when I realized where we were. William walked on unaffected, but I couldn’t move.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, turning back to me.
I couldn’t believe it. Of all the places, how could they choose this one? I didn’t like the feelings it stirred up in me, and I didn’t want everyone rifling around here either. This place was a part of me that I didn’t want to share.
“Why here?”
“Why not here?” William answered without understanding.
A buried ache I’d learned to keep hidden over the years suddenly throbbed in my chest. “This is my parents’ house.”
***
I let William go in on his own. I wasn’t ready to face the inside of the house just yet. Instead I kicked past the sagebrush down to the creek where I used to play as a kid, giving myself a moment to think. There was so much to process. Rescuing Anna and Chloe was always at the forefront of my mind, but now there was the news about Iosif, Christoph’s new plans, the attack, and knowing that The Council was actively hunting us down. They were close. Too close. Not to mention after all of that, being here forced me to relive moments with my parents before their death, each memory adding to the burden that already weighed so much.
They let me be for a while, but William was sent to drag me home before I was ready. Moments of peace were a luxury in war, one I’d have to live without.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he approached.
“No,” I answered truthfully, chucking a handful of pebbles into the water.
He took my arms without asking and wrapped them around his waist. “Me either.”
“Throwing rocks helps.” I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. At least we had each other. I pressed my cheek into his chest, letting the soft sound of his heart settle my own. “They got to us so easily.”
“I know.” He ran his fingers through my hair. “But my dad’s here. He says they’ve lost us. We should be safe.”
“That’s good,” I said, feeling relieved for William. “Did he say how he knew they were coming?”
“He had Descendants in place, watching the area.”
“Maybe one of them was followed. It might not have been Kara.”
He pulled away just enough to look me in the eyes. “You’re sure she’s on our side?”
I nodded. “Did you ask your dad about everyone? How are your mom and sister?”
“He said they’re all being watched. There have been some disappearances, but nobody you know.”
Being watched. I worried for them. If there were already disappearances, if The Council was tightening their grip, his family would be in more danger than anyone else. Why weren’t they being hidden?
“Can I ask you something?” I pulled my arms from around his waist and folded them across my chest. I felt guilty for even thinking it. “Why was your dad never punished after he started the last war? He never went into hiding, never had to run. How is it he was even allowed to teach at the Institute? And now . . . he shows up, and suddenly we’re attacked—”
“Wait,” William interrupted. His eyebrows pulled together. “You’re right. My dad’s probably here to kill us.”
I rolled my eyes. He wasn’t taking me seriously. “Okay, so what? I’m just crazy.”
“No,” he laughed. “Come on. I’m just teasing you. You’re being smart. It’s good to be cautious, but I know my dad’s one of the good guys.”
“Then explain why he wasn’t killed for starting a war, and why his family isn’t being protected or hidden when The Council is out hunting us.”
He reached forward and took both of my hands. “My family is different,” he answered, folding and unfolding his fingers in the grooves of mine. “My dad’s part of The Council and my . . .” He let his words trail off. “My sister is his heir.” Something about that fact made him sad, but he continued. “He’s protected in a way that most aren’t. If a Council member is killed, the rest of them lose their powers and the next generation inherits them.
He let go of my hands and walked to the edge of the creek without looking back. His palm settled on the back of his neck the way it always did when something was bothering him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“My sister . . . she shouldn’t be the one to carry that burden.” He was quiet for a moment, watching the water, but when I put a hand to his arm he looked up, and I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it. “Christoph didn’t want to lose his power,” he continued, “so they ended it with a truce. I think he’s always been afraid my dad would take his own life just to spite him, so he’s left him alone. My dad would never kill himself, though. He wouldn’t want to leave Edith with Council responsibilities so young, but Christoph doesn’t know that. Besides, my dad has a lot of Descendants on his side. Descendants who listen to him. If he disappeared or was killed, it wouldn’t go over well. And I’m sure my mother and sister are protected. My dad wouldn’t leave them alone if they weren’t safe.”
“So, your sister doesn’t have your dad’s ability yet?”
“Well, she does, it’s in her bloodline, but it hasn’t manifested. She won’t be able to mimic powers until he or one of the other Council members dies.”
I picked a flat rock off the ground and skipped it across the pooling part of the creek.
“Do you think Christoph has children?”
“I’m sure they all do,” he answered, finding his own rock. “It’s sort of an unspoken law. If there are no heirs, then there is no Council. Nobody’s seen them, though.” He smiled as the water splashed four times. “Beat ya.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, looking back at him. “I didn’t mean to accuse . . .”
“It’s okay. I forget sometimes that you don’t know everything most Descendants know.” He put his arm around me and kissed my cheek. “It’s not your fault you were forced to live as a hermit.”
I laughed, grateful for his light-heartedness, and shoved him with my shoulder. “Well, who’s the hermit now?”
“Yeah, I guess it’s contagious.” I could feel him smile w
ithout seeing it as he leaned his head into mine. “They want to go over the plan,” he said, trying to coax me into going home. He knew it would work. Even with everything going on around us, there was one thing that kept me stable, focused. I was determined to get Anna and Chloe back.
Dr. Nickel, Mac, and Kara all looked up as William and I entered through the back door. I avoided Dr. Nickel’s eyes, hoping he wasn’t mimicking Kara’s ability to see inside my mind. The three of them were seated at my family’s kitchen table, and it was obvious they had been waiting.
I looked around, catching sight of the old iron stove that relied on a wood burning fire to heat its surface, the cutting board counter top that had large bin-sized drawers once filled to the brim with fluffy white flour and heaps of sugar. On my left, the hand carved sofa that my dad crafted in his shop still sat against the wall, the cushions rotted and disintegrating. Cobwebs clung to corners and layers of dirt and dust caked the old wood floor. My chest went hollow at the sight of it.
“Is someone going to tell me why we are here?” I asked, gripping the back of an empty table chair.
I expected Mac to answer, since my question was directed at him, but Kara spoke up instead.
“I told him to come here,” she admitted. “I know you don’t like it, but your parents knew Chilcoot was a good place to hide. The Council was never able to find you when you lived here.”
As hard as it was to be in my old house, she did have a point. Maybe we would be safe here. I felt safe.
“I guess you’re right,” I accepted, pulling the chair out to sit with them. I pushed the ache away again, trying not to let the sight of my father’s hand carved furniture affect me. “Did you find anything else of use while you were digging around in my memories?”
Kara and I smiled at each other. Me forgiving, her apologetic.
“So, what’s the plan?” she asked.
“Don’t look at me,” I said. “Mac’s in charge.”
They all stared at each other like they knew something I didn’t.
“I hate to break it to you, kiddo, but this is your call.”
“My call?” I asked. Since when did I know anything about how to rescue people, especially from The Council? Sure, this whole mission was to help my friends, but Mac had been orchestrating this from the beginning. Now suddenly I was in charge?
“I don’t remember my name being in no prophecy,” Mac added.
My eyes shifted from face to face, getting a sense that they were all in agreement. “But I don’t know anything about The Council,” I said, pushing my chair away and rising to my feet. “I don’t even know where they live.” My voice was too high. Panicked. Frustrated.
“They live in Beverly Hills,” Dr. Nickel answered.
His response surprised me. Beverly Hills? The name alone was intimidating, and it didn’t help that they were all looking at me, expecting me to come up with the whole thing. I wasn’t qualified. I had no idea where to start.
“I need a minute,” I said, heading for my parents’ bedroom.
I shut the door behind me, and wiped my clammy hands on my jeans. My parents’ room was exactly how I’d left it, only now it was a ghost’s room. All the color deadened by dust and decay. I went to the wooden chair in front of my mother’s vanity and stared at the gray image of myself in the dust-covered mirror. We had been so focused on training I hadn’t even thought about a plan, simply because it never occurred to me that I’d have to come up with one. But this was my problem, not anybody else’s. In fact, none of them were required to take any part in Anna and Chloe’s rescue. This was my responsibility, and I needed to get it together. I combed my fingers through my hair, brushing it out of my face, and took a deep breath.
“Okay,” I said, coming out of my parents’ room with newfound confidence. I’d avoided their room for so many years, and now I wondered why. My parents had been gone for decades, but maybe it was them who gave me the strength. “I don’t think we should use numbers or force.”
Mac laughed. “Good, because we don’t have numbers.”
“Stealth is the way to go. I want to get in and out of the house quickly and quietly if possible.”
“So, the house in Beverly Hills, are we sure that is our target?” Mac asked.
I had only assumed. It seemed the most logical. If Anna and Chloe really were bait, why not lead me right to them? We only had one shot, one night that the oracle had said would work. My only reassurance was that if we did go on that night, we would succeed in rescuing them, which meant wherever we ended up would have to be the right place.
“It has to be,” I decided, moving to sit back in my seat across from William. “It was the first thing I thought of, and the oracle said, ‘they’ll be where you’ll expect them to be.’ I remember that.”
“They’ve kept others there in the past. It’s as good a theory as any,” Kara added.
“If that’s the case, the place will be heavily guarded. I think I should go in first, ahead of you,” William said decidedly.
“No,” I reacted on impulse. I didn’t like the idea of him being the front line. What if he got hurt or worse? “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” We stared at each other.
“Elyse, that’s what Mac has been training me for, to get in unseen so I can clear the way for you. You know it should be me.”
I didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. He could use his ability to persuade those he encountered in our favor. Everything in me was fighting it, but I knew he was the key to slipping past security.
“Mac has to go with you,” I added.
William glanced briefly at his uncle. “Yeah. I’m sure I’ll have no problem sneaking a six foot three man-beast past everyone.”
“Hey. Who taught you all the tricks?” Mac defended himself.
I ignored them, determined to keep focused. “Dr. Nickel, if it’s okay, I think I’d like you to stay behind. I’m sure everything will go smoothly, but if it doesn’t, I’ll need someone to take my place.” Mac had taught me to be prepared for every scenario, even if I was sure of the outcome.
“I’m sure that isn’t—”
“Dad,” William interrupted, his eyes drifting toward me. “She calls the shots.”
Dr. Nickel stayed quiet.
“I want to keep this small,” I continued. “Besides, we need you home, keeping an eye on everyone.”
“All right,” he nodded.
“Kara, you and I will follow behind William and Mac,” I continued. “How well do you know the place?”
“Better than most,” she answered. “I’ll follow their thoughts once we get in close. I’m sure I can get us to where we need to be. I’ve seen most of the hidden passageways in the minds of others who work there. I know more than Christoph realizes.”
“If I’m not going to be involved, the less I know the better,” Dr. Nickel interrupted as he pushed his chair back and stood to leave. He looked at William for a long moment. “Be safe, son.” Then he addressed the rest of us. “Good luck.”
5.
THE NEXT MORNING I WOKE before everyone else. I hadn’t slept well in my parents’ room. The house made me tense, but thankfully the creek settled my nerves. I sat on the cold dirt as the sky grew brighter. The water at my feet trickled past stone making music with the mockingbirds as they sang proudly for the dawn. Four weeks until the end of February. I breathed in the cold sweet smell of nature and closed my eyes. It seemed like an eternity and nothing at the same time. At least here I could escape, pretend like war wasn’t somewhere in my future.
“But it is,” Kara said, sitting down beside me.
“I know,” I answered, staring into the creek. “Can’t I just pretend like it’s not?”
“No.” She looked at me, and I looked back. “You run, Elyse. You always want to run. How do you expect to beat Christoph or win a war when you’re always trying to look the other way?”
“I don’t expect to beat him,” I answered honestly.
Sh
e ignored me and kept on. “You have to be ready for anything, anytime. Your mind should always be thinking of your next move, not acting like there isn’t one.”
“My mind doesn’t work like that. I’m not . . . I don’t know what to do first, let alone what I’m supposed to do next.”
“First, you should know your enemy,” she said, throwing a pebble into the rippling water at our feet, “what makes him tick. Christoph is very closed off. Not many people know much about him. I can’t get inside his head, but I’ve been inside others, Council aides who’ve seen things.” She offered her hand to me. “You could start there.”
I stared down at her palm. It wouldn’t hurt to know more about the man I was supposed to destroy. I nodded my head and turned to face her as she pressed her fingers to my temple. This might be the most valuable weapon she had against him—a secret.
The memory was distant, and I could tell as I looked through a young girl’s eyes that it didn’t belong to her. The details were washed and muted, the sensations dull and forgotten with age, but I watched secretly from another room as a young Christoph spoke to his father.
“You’ll come to understand in time, Christoph.” The man’s stare was intimidating. He looked almost ghostly with his thick white sideburns and cheeks that sunk into shadows on his long face. “I used to be naïve as you are, but I’ve seen things. They’re not a race worth saving.”
The boy’s blond hair was combed to the side and fell forward slightly as he bowed his head. “Yes, sir. I only thought . . .”
“They’re all the same, son.” His voice was cold and unyielding as he busied himself with papers behind an oak desk. “I had to watch my mother burn at the stake for being taken as a witch. They’ll never accept us. Look at them now. My mother was killed in 1692. It’s nearly 170 years later, and they’re still persecuting others because they’re different. Their own kind, no less. Enslaving them because of the color of their skin.”
“Nettie is one of us,” the boy whispered. He stood some distance away, seemingly afraid to come closer.
Uprising (Children of the Gods) Page 5