I got up and grabbed the clothing that Mona had so carefully packed in the bag and changed quickly. I chose the black cotton skirt and a white satin top with pearl buttons up the front. I pulled them on then walked into the bathroom to do my hair and makeup. I made sure that all my trinkets were in place, from the diamond earrings to the toe ring. I pulled on a pair of nude silk stockings and my heels and emerged from the room with grace.
I descended the staircase with ease and elegance as I had been taught. I entered the lobby with a stern look on my face. Be one with the coldness. I had to tell myself this several times before I saw her standing in the middle of the room. Her red hair was pulled back in a bun and she wore camo pants and a white t-shirt. Her mother was taking this army thing to an extreme. I had to fight the urge to attack her. No, this was what I had to do for Wesley.
“Prudence?” she asked in her annoying broken English.
“Lilly?” I asked, standing ten feet from her and eyeing her from head to toe. I didn’t have to hide my disapproval. I also knew better than to call her Miranda because that would have meant I knew her when she was stalking Wesley.
“I have heard so much about you,” she said, stepping toward me, her green eyes questioning.
“I have heard so much about you,” I repeated and watched her approach curiously.
“So you are her then? The one my Harbinger was talking about. You are the one to help us rid the world of the Wardens?” She smiled angrily.
“Some would say that the Wardens are nothing but myth,” I said dryly.
“I have a feeling you know better. You are supposed to be all-knowing.” She was standing directly in front of me with her eyes glaring into mine.
“I didn’t say I thought they were myth, I just said some believe it,” I said coldly, my eyes penetrating hers.
“Before I take you to the camp I need to perform a test. You know, to make sure that you are who you say you are.” She smiled a crooked smile and backed away, motioning for another to join us. “This is John Borrows, my second-in-command. He is a man of great power.” John stepped forward and I glared at him.
“Show us what you can do. Marshall said you can create objects from the air.” John’s voice echoed through my whole body. Memories of that night in the alley started to appear but I pushed them back. I pushed everything back.
I threw my hands up and electricity shot from my fingers. I bowed my head and wished for something to happen that would show that I was her, the one that they had been waiting for. When I opened my eyes both Miranda and John were staring around them in awe. I had somehow managed to bring the lobby to life. The dull drab brown walls were now white, the bubbled lights were now crystal chandeliers and the unstocked bar in the corner suddenly had spirits galore.
“Amazing,” he said, stepping toward me and looking in my eyes. “Absolutely amazing.” His face softened and he looked toward Miranda. “She is who she says she is.”
Why did that seem too easy?
“Who else would I be? Seriously I do not have all day,” I said, putting my hands on my hips.
“Change it back,” Miranda demanded and I huffed, snapping my fingers. The glamor faded. “Was it real?” She asked, looking around the room again.
“Was what real?” I asked her, my eyes narrowing more.
“The alcohol, the lights? Was any of it real?” She was amazed, I could tell that much, but she still had questions.
“If you had touched it you would have found out,” I growled at her.
“You are a vicious little thing, aren’t you?” John asked me and I flashed him a toothy smile. I had to remember my elegance came first. “I think we should take her.”
“Of course, you do. You will fall for a pretty face at the drop of a hat.” She glared at John and then looked back at me. “Is that your car outside?”
“Yes.” I cocked my head to the side.
“John will drive you in your car to the campsite. From there you will have to walk. I doubt your heels are going to work in the dirt.” She was impressed with me but not with my appearance.
“I am sure I have something that is better suited,” I said to her harshly. “I am prepared for everything.”
“I have a feeling that you are.” She narrowed her eyes and I saw the girl from my dreams. I wanted to punch her but I held back.
“Marshall, get Miss Prudence’s stuff from her room and meet us outside. I will be driving her to the campsite this evening,” John instructed, and Marshall ran off to do as he was told.
“You can change when we get there,” Miranda instructed and turned to walk away.
“She always this happy?” I asked as soon as she was out of earshot.
“She’s going through a lot right now. She doesn’t mean to be so rude,” John said. This was probably the first real conversation that I had ever had with the boy.
“I see,” I said as I watched Marshall walking down the stairs, carrying my bag in his hands.
“I wasn’t sure if you wanted to leave everything in the room or not. I was going to grab the comforter but I figured you would just create one when we got there.” He smiled at me sweetly. The boy might be on the wrong side of the battlefield.
“No, it’s fine, just leave it. The magic will wear off soon enough,” I said, smiling at him.
“Marshall will be your assistant as long as you are in the camp,” John instructed as he had me follow him out of the hotel. “I hope you don’t mind me driving. Lilly feels that you should be blindfolded about halfway there so that you do not know where you are.”
I rolled my eyes. “I have an internal GPS.” I reached in my handbag and pulled on the key to the car. “Be gentle with her, she’s my baby.”
“Trust me, I will. This is a Bentley. I would hate to have to pay for this,” he said, taking the key gratefully.
We got into the car and Marshall crawled into the back seat, buckling himself up. “I have everything, Miss Prudence.” I heard him pat my bag and I shook my head.
“Thank you, Marshall,” I said politely.
“You are welcome ma’am,” he answered as John got in on the driver’s side of my car.
“So, Prudence, I feel as if I know you from somewhere,” John said. I was apparently everyone’s déjà vu.
“Unless you have been to Maine recently I do not believe that we have.” I reached over and turned down the radio as he started the car.
“No, never been to Maine. Must have stared too long at the Harbinger’s drawings, you just seem familiar,” he said, shrugging.
“Maybe you dreamed about me and didn’t even know it,” I said. The fear and anger had subsided in my gut but I still did not trust this man in any way.
“I would hope it to be a good dream.” He grinned at me, put the car in drive, pulled out of the hotel parking lot and we headed back down the highway. “We had to move a few times over the course of the last few months. Just recently we were able to conceal the camp from human eyes.”
“What is this camp that you are taking me to?” I asked quietly.
“It’s a prison camp in a way. We have managed to apprehend several of the enemy. They were on their way to the unknown camp. We also have a Harbinger. One of Lilly’s pets. I have been pleading with her for months just to kill him. However, he saw you and here you are so he must have some form of power.” He was still disgusted with Wesley. There was a time when he thought that Wesley was going to set him free.
“Will I meet this Harbinger that you said saw me?” I asked calmly.
“Yes, Lilly thinks it will scare him into complete submission once he knows that his visions are real. Maybe then he won’t be so prone to hide things,” John said as he put his foot to the gas pedal and pushed the Bentley to its limits.
“Hide things?” I asked, glancing at the dark-haired man in the driver’s seat of my car.
“Yeah. He blames fudged information or an incomplete vision. If you ask me
I think he’s useless. Only very few of his visions ever come into fruition.” He sounded cynical.
“Most likely because they were spoken of in entirety. It is believed, by most, that if you speak of a vision, or prophecy, the timeline will change. Either the vision itself is altered or it never happens at all,” I responded.
“I never knew that,” he said, shrugging.
“This could be your problem. Instead of trying to decipher the vision from the image, you are openly asking him to explain what is happening or what will happen. It may be in your battle planner’s best interest to not involve the Harbinger boy in any conversation concerning a vision,” I pointed out, wondering where all this knowledge was coming from.
“Interesting. Your advice has been noted. We sure could have used you a year ago.” He laughed.
“I have had a lot going on, I apologize for my tardiness.” I bowed my head.
“Oh no! Please do not apologize for that. I was merely making a comment. The last year has been quite successful. The Queen’s Army is growing massively. Anyone found to oppose it has been obliterated.” He looked at me apologetically.
“I suppose that could be considered successful but as I understand, the Warden Army still grows even while the obliterating is occurring,” I pointed out, trying to sound as if my interest was only statistical.
“When word got out what was happening a lot of beings ran. Still, our camps remain stronger. If there were no wards on their camp we would have infiltrated long ago.” He sounded irritated of their one failure.
“Wards are hard to break. Especially if the witch that created them is extremely skilled,” I said. My knowledge of witchcraft was confusing me. How the Hell was I able to figure any of this out?
“True. Still, it has been our one great failure. Lilly was close to taking out the Fire Warden but fell back when her mother told her that it was not a good idea to kill her. Apparently if there is another angel-demon mixed child on Earth there is a chance that the power passes to them. Though it would buy us time there was always a possibility that this person could be stronger, faster, and harder to kill than the current one.” I knew what he said was a lie. He may not have known it was, but even I knew that this was impossible. There were no other Celestial mixes in the world. I was the last one to ever be born.
“I’m not so sure that is true, Mr. Borrows,” I said, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye.
“Either way, her mother called her off. The problem now is that she knows who she is and what she is capable of, making her a harder target than she was a year ago,” he pointed out.
“What does Ms. Lilly have against this Fire Warden?” I asked, my blood wanting to boil out of any opening it could as the fire inside me was held at bay.
“It all started with Wesley. It’s always been about that boy. She was enamored with him, Claimed him and then this Fire bitch comes in and breaks down everything she had been working for. If it wasn’t for her threatening to kill everyone he ever loved he would have fought till his dying breath.” John groaned. This was not a subject that he enjoyed speaking of.
“So this war is over a silly teenage boy?” I laughed. He looked over at me and narrowed his eyes. My comment must have made him a bit upset.
“No, this war was a long time coming. However, it did advance the launch date by about two hundred years,” he answered, his face turning back to normal.
“So what were you going to do over this time period then? Scout the girls one by one until you were able to wipe them out? I mean, come on, Mr. Borrows, taking them out one at a time has a better chance of failure than taking them all in one swoop.” I laughed again and turned my head toward the window. I didn’t want to see his expression.
“I guess knowledge does come with age,” he said and I felt a cold chill flow up my spine. While I, myself, found no offense in what he just said something inside of me was quite offended.
“With knowledge comes power, my child,” I seethed, making it known that his comment had hit a nerve.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Encampment
We drove for an hour in silence until John handed me a blindfold and Marshall nicely tied it in the back. I could see nothing but darkness as I felt the car turning this way and that. Obviously, he was trying to confuse me but I still had a feeling that I knew where I was. Once we stopped I felt Marshall’s soft warm hand grab me gently around the arm and help me out of the car.
I heard them open the trunk and remove the suitcase that I had in the back. They shut the car and I heard John set the alarm. I had a feeling it was concealed from sight because I could sense there were other vehicles in the vicinity.
“Do you have any tennis shoes? You are going to want to put them on,” John asked to my right.
“Yes, in the bag under the clothing,” I said loudly, not sure how far off from me he was. I heard the zipper of the bag open and then him rummaging through my things, finding the tennis shoes I had described. “Marshall, help Miss Prudence to put her shoes on and hand me the heels.” Marshall led me to a pile of logs and helped me sit. Now you might be wondering how I knew they were logs. I could smell the wood, and the splinters that poked me in the butt upon sitting were a good indication.
“Please, Miss Prudence, allow me.” I felt Marshall’s fingers pull the shoes from my feet and a moment later he was putting the tennis shoes on and lacing them up. Once he had them tied he took my hands and helped me stand again. This boy was far too gentle to be part of this group. Sure, he had the facial appearance of a pissed-off teenager, but it still didn’t match the tenderness I felt from his presence.
I was led down a long path with John holding my hand and pulling me along while Marshall was in the rear lugging my suitcases and cursing about how much crap I had brought.
“A lady must be prepared for anything,” I said, laughing, at one point. I could hear a mixture of laughter and crying once we got close enough to the camp. This overwhelming feeling took over. These were prisoners, people who were picked up while they were on their way to join my group.
“You are one hell of a lady,” John said, picking me up and over what I assumed was a pile of stones.
“I will take that as a compliment, Mr. Borrows,” I said sweetly. Being Prudence was becoming easier and easier as the time passed. All I prayed for was that Dawn was not lost along the way.
“It’s just John ma’am,” he replied. I could sense that he was trying to be informal with me. What had Mona made them believe? She said I had to act like royalty.
“John, how much longer until we reach the camp? My eyes, I feel, are starting to cramp,” I asked him nicely as he picked me up and moved me over another pile of something.
“Not much longer Miss Prudence,” he said, taking my hand firmly and leading me again toward the laughter and tears.
It wasn’t long before we stopped and he removed the blindfold. There were trees to my left and trees to my right. They had actually created their camp within the forest itself and I could see the glittering force field around the camp that kept them concealed from the human eye.
“Welcome to the Prison Camp, Miss Prudence,” John said to me with a smile on his face. I looked around at the wood enclosures, many of them with bars on the windows.
Turning my nose up, I looked at him.
“It’s a bit dirty don’t you think?” I asked. Acting as if I was above them all was becoming easier the more I took on the role.
“Well it is in the woods, Miss Prudence,” he said, laughing, before motioning for me to follow. I heard Marshall huffing behind us. I was beginning to think the poor boy had not been ready for the heavy lifting.
“Of course, I suppose that does make sense,” I said with no inflection in my voice. I followed him closely, taking in the camp. I could see the prisoners they were talking about. Their dirty faces looked at me with fear. Good news must travel fast.
We stopped outside a large tent and John pushed the f
laps open so that I could enter the enclosure. I marveled at the beauty that was around me. There were Tiffany lamps and cashmere couches. Hidden behind a sheer wall was a large bed that looked extremely comfortable.
“This will be your tent. We went out of our way to make sure you were comfortable while you were staying with us,” John said proudly as my eyes opened wide.
“Thank you,” I said, my voice hushed. I was awed by what they had done just for me. It still made me question what Mona had been able to create for this person I was pretending to be.
“You approve?” he asked as I looked at him. I nodded politely.
“Of course! Of all things, I was not expecting this,” I said, pointing to the room that surrounded me. “This is just lovely.”
“Lilly will be pleased.” He looked at me, his face flushed.
“I don’t think anything can please that girl,” I said flatly as Marshall put the bags down on the ground. He huffed and puffed until I turned to look at him. “Marshall, please have a seat and rest.”
The boy did as he was told and the moment his butt hit the couch he looked at me and smiled. “Thank you, Miss Prudence,” he said, leaning back and looking at the ‘A’-framed top of the tent.
“I will leave you to unpack. There are not many of us here right now as there was a call for volunteers and half our troops went.” He walked toward the tent’s entrance and motioned for Marshall to follow.
The tired boy looked upset as he went to stand. I could sense there was a good heart in him. It was just hidden behind years and years of remorse and regret. He may have had a chilling smile but his eyes told me a different story.
“Leave the boy,” I instructed. John looked at me with a crooked smile and glanced at Marshall. I had no idea what he was thinking about my request. In a way, I thought maybe it pleased him. Then again, when it came to John I never understood anything that man did.
“As you wish,” he said, bowing. Marshall sat back down and looked at me with a confused expression.
The Wardens Boxed Set Page 76