04 Last (15 page)

“Right,” I agreed, uncomfortably.

“What kind of sand was it?” Daniel asked.

“The cracked kind. It was really dry. There was a flat area, backed by mountains. The mountain had a building dug right in to it…”

“Sounds familiar,” Reaper said. “Marcus does love to build his fortresses straight in to mountains.”

“It’s not as safe as he thinks, though,” King said with a satisfied smile.

Daniel was still focused on my dream.

“Any other details?” Daniel asked.

I shut my eyes and focused. It wasn’t the sort of details I liked to remember; not when it brought such terror to my heart. I couldn’t imagine the landscape without seeing Marcus’ yellow eyes and long, white hair. His eyes were similar to the last time I had seen them: playfully and deadly. We were on a balcony. The sky was a brilliant blue. The sand was dry and cracked. Mountains rose up around the valley. Soldiers marched around on the valley floor. Some dug in to the mountain. I wasn’t sure if they were digging to build another addition to the fortress or for some other reason. I focused on what was in front of me. There was a gap in the mountains and in the far distance, I saw a glittering…or was it a sparkle?

“Water,” I said. “Far away…You can only see it from the top of the tower.”

“Water near the desert?” Daniel asked.

He thought about it and a slow smile formed on his face. He caught Reaper’s eye and his smile grew.

“What?” I demanded.

“Old habits die hard,” Daniel said.

Reaper finally understood. “Israel.”

“He used to make a pilgrimage there every year,” Daniel said. “He said there was something special about it… I thought he was just talking about an arms dealer or something similar. I never got around to going there with him, before he tried to kill me.”

“Yeah, that puts a damper on even the best of friendships,” I agreed.

“You do realize that’s a long shot…a long shot backed by the fact that Israel is, you know, a whole freaking country,” King said.

“We’ve operated with less going for us,” River reminded King.

“There’s no denying that,” King said.

“We should start checking it out,” Reaper said. “Find a couple of our sources…the reliable kind. Ask them if they’ve heard anything…spread some money around in the right places.”

“In the meantime, we should point our ship in that direction,” River added.

“Do it,” Reaper agreed.

“Is it true you’re going to go with Clare to meet Odette?” Sara asked Reaper.

“Yes,” Reaper agreed.

“Keep your eyes open,” Sara warned.

“Plan on it,” Reaper said.

The discussion switched to mundane matters. They talked about who to send to collect information and what sources to use. Spider had quite a few names, even more than Reaper. When nothing was left to say, the meeting broke up. As we stood to go our separate ways, King caught my attention. I hovered near the back of the group as Spider distracted Daniel with a technical question about computers. They walked out of the room without noticing I was no longer with them. When Daniel was safely out of the galley, King handed me a key. My hand wrapped around the key without thought. It was as natural as taking a friend’s hand.

“No problems?” I asked.

“Nope,” King said.

“Thanks again for doing this,” I said.

King smiled, his neon eyes sparkling with the secret between us.

“No problem,” King said.

Daniel reappeared in the doorway. He had noticed I was longer with him and had come to find me. I put the key in my pocket, before he could see it, and made a face at him for interrupting. Daniel’s expression was different as he looked between King and me – less suspicious than before and infinitely more curious. It was the sort of expression that worked hard to convince me to tell him all my secrets. I was not enticed to oblige. I went to Daniel and took his hand. King left us with a smile on his face.

“It’s not working,” I said. “Would you like to try another expression? Perhaps one with pouting involved?”

Daniel frowned at my question. “I don’t pout…”

“Not with your face,” I said.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Daniel said.

“Sure, it does,” I said.

“About as much sense as you wearing pink.”

“I wore pink once,” I admitted.

“When?”

“To a funeral,” I said.

Daniel looked shocked.

“It was Naomi’s grandmother’s favorite color,” I said. “Naomi wore pink, too. We all did.”

“Oh,” Daniel said.

He pulled me away from the cafeteria door and led me to our room. When we were safely inside, Daniel sat on the bunk. He made me sit next to him. There was a long pause in which I felt the wheels turning in his head.

“I wanted to talk to you,” he said.

“Is this not talking? It feels like talking. My mouth is moving and everything,” I said.

“This is serious,” he said.

“Our talks have turned that way recently,” I said.

“We’re going to meet Odette soon…as soon as Serenity realizes Alex is awake,” he said in a serious voice.

“Yeah, I figured,” I said.

“I know you have a wonderful habit of speaking your mind. Usually, I admire that habit, but, when you see Odette, I think it would be best if you shelved your propensity to talk back,” he suggested.

His suggestion was startling.

“Are you afraid of her?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.

There was no hesitation, no sense that he had to think about my question. His fear was real.

“I’ll do my best,” I promised.

“That’s not a real promise,” Daniel said. “You say that then, when you speak your mind, you say to me you only promised to ‘do your best.’”

I sighed. “You know me too well.”

“Not half as well as I would like,” Daniel said.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Yes,” Daniel agreed.

“I will speak my mind, Daniel,” I said. “I will say what I think. Fear won’t change that, no matter who I am talking to.”

“Acting brave won’t shelf the fear, either,” Daniel said.

“It’s better than weeping in the dark,” I said.

“Is that what happened down in the tunnels?” he asked pointedly.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said.

“Of course you don’t,” Daniel said dryly.

He turned to me and took my hand. I had never seen him look so serious.

“Odette is unlike anyone you will ever meet. Think before you speak…that’s all I’m asking.”

“Your confidence in me is overwhelming,” I said, refusing to promise to anything.

“I know…” Daniel agreed.

“What are Margaret and Jackson going to do?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Daniel asked.

“Serenity didn’t invite them to come along,” I said. “Are they going to stay here on the boat?”

Daniel smiled. “Don’t worry about them…”

Before I could reply, or ask what he meant, he leaned forward and kissed me. It was unexpected, but just what I needed. After the fighting, and the sense of urgency of the past couple of hours, my body was full of energy. The adrenaline was easy to access. It was more than adrenaline. It was desire. I caved in to his kiss and pulled him in close. His body language was just as aggressive. He had just as much pent up energy channeling through his body. We fell back to the bed. His hands explored my body as I held him tight. My hands worked to pull his shirt over his head. Just as I managed to pull it to his neck, a knock came from the door. Daniel pulled away from with an irritated sigh. He pulled his shirt back down to its proper place and moved off me. I looked at the door as Daniel opened it with a firm tug.

“What?” Daniel asked in an irritated voice.

Reaper held up his hands at Daniel’s combative voice, a gesture he came in peace.

“Serenity asked me to come get you. She’s ready to leave.”

“Of course she is,” Daniel said.

Daniel turned to me.

“Are you ready?” Daniel asked.

“Are you?” I asked back.

Daniel pushed the door open wider and gestured for me to go first. I got off the bed and followed Reaper down the narrow corridor. Daniel followed after me, the corridor too narrow for us all to walk comfortably side-by-side. We didn’t speak, but the air was full of sounds. The ship hummed with the sound of the engine and the sounds of merry-making from below. The engine was on full-steam ahead. I knew it was a long trip to get Israel, longer than I wanted to think about. I just hoped it wasn’t another diversion, something to pull us off of Marcus’ real trail…again.

Serenity was waiting for us on the deck of the boat. The snow was wiping past with vicious fury; the storm had gotten stronger as the night had worn on. Her hair was tucked under a toboggan and a dainty scarf was wrapped around her neck. Eli and Mick were standing behind her, their positions mimicking the first time we had seen them. Eli looked unchanged, his sour expression as dominant as ever. Spider and Alex glared at him from their position near the railing, though Spider’s glare was tainted by the fact that he looked ready to throw up. I knew Spider’s appearance on deck meant he had made his choice – he would be coming with us. Sara was waiting between the two groups to take us wherever Serenity told her to go.

“Finally,” Serenity said. “We’ve been waiting forever.”

“You’ve been waiting for five minutes and twenty six seconds,” Reaper replied.

“Hm,” Serenity said noncommittally.

Serenity held her hand out to Sara, her golden eyes on the door behind us. I sensed urgency about her actions; she was eager to get off the boat and take us to meet Odette. It made me wonder if Serenity was operating under an unspoken deadline…or if there was more to the meeting than she had let on.

Just as Sara’s hand connected with Serenity’s, the door to the inside was pushed open with a shove. Margaret was outlined by the frame of the door. Jackson hovered behind her, his face excited at the prospect of violence looming on Margaret’s elfish features. Beatrice and Han poked their heads out from behind Jackson’s back, their faces worried at that same looming violence.

“We are going,” Margaret said in a firm voice.

“Odette was very clear…” Serenity started to protest.

Lightning crackled over our heads with the sort of alarming closeness that made us all duck automatically. Daniel was the only one not to duck. He pulled me back to my feet as Margaret raised an eyebrow at Serenity. It was a single eyebrow raise, but it was enough.

Serenity sighed. “Of course, exceptions can be made for every rule,” she said.

Sara dusted off her winter clothes that had been dirtied with her dive to the ground and held out her hands again. Her expression was full of dry humor.

“Everyone who wants a ride should hang on,” Sara said.

Han and Beatrice looked at us in worry as Jackson and Margaret stepped out of the doorway. Daniel was just as worried; he was upset at the idea of leaving them alone after finding them so recently. The weight of the seeming abandonment was a tough burden to shoulder. Beatrice noticed. She waved as Han wrapped his arm around her shoulders, a sign that she and Han would be fine.

Daniel and I moved to Sara, understanding moving between us like a living thing. We both knew meeting Odette was no small thing. Everything would change…or nothing at all. It was a strange contradiction to face. But it was one we had promised to face – for Han and Beatrice. For ourselves.

Daniel’s eyes told me to be ready. And I was. More than he knew. My whole life had built up to the truth Odette was about to tell me. I could take it – I could take it more than I could take the worry of unanswered questions and doubt over my abilities.

I had never felt so ready for a conversation in my entire life.

Chapter 6

When the darkness of traveling passed, we were in front of a castle.

The castle had a large tower at the front entrance and large walls five stories high. Four small towers were to the right of the front entrance. Other towers, some squat, others round and tall were spaced around the castle in an asymmetrical fashion. All of the towers had red-orange roofs; the castle walls were a light brown stone. The stone and the roof added to the archaic feel of the structure; it was a place where time stood still. It was a direct link to centuries of human existence. It was a link to the past that Watchers would take comfort in.

Directly in front of us, at the large front gate, were four men. They were wearing black clothing and dark sunglasses and looked as if they had watched too many spy movies. They weren’t visibly armed, but I could tell they had weapons. Despite their attempt at fierceness, they weren’t nearly as intimidating as the castle.

Spider whistled in appreciation when he saw the building. His eyes were full of wonder and he had trouble keeping his normal cool. The street kid had been replaced by a tourist.