04 Last (18 page)

“They can speak with you if they feel like it,” Daniel said. “The choice is theirs.”

He walked away without another word, rebuking her meddling with his pointed silence. He held the door open for me, and we left Odette to her room of splendor. He left the door open, and I looked back one last time. I could not help but be drawn to the sight of her; it was a curiosity I could not resist. She looked small surrounded by the vaulted wealth of the large room, but I had never seen someone look so impossibly determined. Her determination made her more powerful than all the years she had collected on earth. It also made her look lonely. Her determination came with a price. The ‘greater good’ as she had called it, had left her with an empire of soldiers and long years of catering to Lorian and Darian’s war-mongering – hiding the war that raged around humanity in the dark, atoning for a mistake she had made in her youth – but it had left her with few other comforts. Affection, peace…they were wasted on people less willing to appreciate the splendor of such things.

In that moment – though I would have never admitted it to Daniel – I understood her. I empathized with her. I could already feel the cost of the fight with Marcus wearing on me. It permeated every good moment. It was the tension that held me back from true happiness. But I had Daniel and the others to keep the darkness from consuming me. They kept me grounded in the present, instead of focused on the past and the seemingly insurmountable odds in front of us. She had no one.

I turned my back on the sight of Odette and walked out to the lofty corridor where the others were waiting impatiently to hear what she had said.

Chapter 7

The others did not take long to decide if they wanted to speak with Odette. They were all curious to see what she had to say. Odette spoke with everyone, except for Jackson and Margaret, who didn’t seem to merit her words of ‘wisdom.’

Daniel and I waited in the hall for the others to have their talk. After each meeting, which was held in private, the person Odette had talked with looked upset. No one looked more upset than Spider. He actually shook as he stepped out through the door.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “What did she say?”

Alex looked up from where she was leaning against the wall; she had been doing her best to keep everyone from asking her the same thing. Asking her had been useless; she was locked down tighter than when I had asked about her emotions on Eli and Reaper. The others were spaced throughout the space. Jackson and Margaret were close to us, but the others maintained a more significant distance – distance that gave them room to think. Silence permeated the hall.

Spider shrugged at my question and kept his eyes on the ground. His whole body was a brick wall; he was shut down and unwilling to bring down his barriers. I put a hand on his shoulder, but he did not respond to the touch. I lowered my hand, even as I tried to catch his eye. I hadn’t seen him look so bothered since he had sold me out to Anna in the streets of New Orleans.

“Are we done here?” Reaper asked as I lowered my hand.

Reaper was pacing the hall. His normal sense of charm and cool awareness was gone. He was bothered, and he was having trouble hiding it.

“We’re done,” Daniel agreed.

“Then let’s go,” Reaper urged us.

“Just a moment more,” a voice added from the door.

Odette had finally moved away from the table. Serenity moved to her side. Odette put a gentle hand on Serenity’s arm, almost as if she were leaning on Serenity, though her eyes didn’t move from the group gathered in the hall.

“What is it?” Reaper asked.

“A favor. Take Serenity and Eli along with you on your journey.”

“I’m not certain…” Reaper started to decline the offer.

I knew his impending refusal was not just because he did not trust Serenity. Eli’s presence made him more uncomfortable than he was willing to admit. The man Alex had joined with was not a man Reaper happily trusted in combat and with his life. It was difficult to find trust around such burning emotions.

“If you do not take them along, they will be forced to follow you. Would it not be better to have them as part of your group, rather than causing mischief where you cannot keep an eye on them?” Odette asked.

Reaper looked to Daniel for his opinion. Daniel didn’t look happy, but he had the most experience dealing with Odette. He knew that she would do whatever it took to get her way. She was relentless.

“Only if you promise that I can kill Serenity if she double-crosses us,” Daniel said.

“You can try,” Odette said.

Serenity smirked at Odette’s words, liking her master’s faith in her abilities. Odette turned to Serenity and took her hands in a motherly gesture. They didn’t share words, but the gesture was enough. Serenity was perhaps the one person Odette had that kept the loneliness at bay. Odette dropped Serenity’s hands and turned to us again.

“Be careful on your journey,” Odette said. “The nine will be watching.”

We turned away from her without answering and walked the corridor back to the main room. As we walked, Reaper pulled out his phone and dialed a number. He talked to the person on the other end for a brief moment and hung up again. I knew he had just summoned Sara to pick us up.

Ileana was in the large front room when we walked back through. She was chatting to a group of people, all smiles and full of warmth. She called out to Serenity as we were passing.

“Out again?” she asked Serenity.

“Always,” Serenity said.

Ileana looked us over again. Her face told me she had heard about our meeting Odette in private. It was strange enough to merit more than a passing share of curiosity. The others were just as curious. There was something else…jealousy. They were eager to be the ones to escort us, instead of Serenity.

“Until next time, I suppose,” Ileana said.

“Behave,” Serenity said.

Ileana smirked and turned back to the group of people surrounding her. When we were outside, Jackson glanced at Serenity.

“Does the prodigal daughter have some competition?” Jackson asked.

“Ileana is not competition,” Serenity said. “I compete with no one. I do my duty.”

“Doesn’t it bother you a little that all those people were hanging on to her every word, while you’re stuck with us?” Daniel asked.

Serenity looked over her shoulder, at the large door we had passed through. There was regret, but also determination.

“Duty has its own rewards,” she replied.

Sara was waiting for us on the bridge. Her hands were tucked in to her pockets, and she held an air of being forced to wait for an eternity. Despite her impatient calm, her clothes were covered in soot and silver blood stained her black shirt.

“Get in another fight with your brother?” I teased her.

Sara looked down at her shirt. “No. Not enough blood, if that was the case.”

“Oh, right…” I said.

“Did everything go okay?” Reaper asked.

Sara nodded and pulled a thumb-drive out of her pocket. She handed it to Reaper then held out her hands to us. Reaper put the thumb-drive in to his pocket before taking her hand. Eli was the last one to touch her. When his hand connected, we were taken back through the world of moving darkness.

The party was still raging when we were set down in the galley. I could hear it over the sounds of the ship. Preacher and Daniel’s parents were sitting in a corner of the galley, talking quietly. They looked up when we appeared in front of them. Their faces showed their relief.

“It went well?” Beatrice asked.

“She wants us to see the historian,” Daniel replied. “She’s the key to understanding Clare.”

“She’ll kill you,” Beatrice said.

“We have a plan,” Daniel said.

He pulled the piece of paper out from his pocket and handed it to Beatrice. She looked at the sword for a long moment. There was no recognition, nothing beyond the knowledge that the sword wasn’t as normal as it appeared on paper.

Alex had walked around Beatrice and Han, also to look at the drawing. She snatched the paper from Beatrice’s hand the second she saw it. She had a different reaction. For the first time since Eli had made his surprise appearance, I saw genuine emotion on her face. It was excitement.

“This is the sword!” she said.

“Yeah…” I said.

“No, I mean, this is the sword!” she repeated. “The sword your grandfather was talking about in the book. It was given to your family from a great warrior the Michaels rescued. They sheltered her and gave her a place to hide after a fight left her wounded and on the brink of death. He mentioned the person having remarkable healing abilities. In return, she gave them this sword. Your grandfather went on and on about it,” Alex said. “The page with drawing was gone from the book, but this is definitely it. His descriptions were very accurate.”

“Your family sheltered the historian?” Daniel asked a frown on his face.

“I guess…” I said. “Why do you look so confused?”

“The historian is a legend…in battle, in intellect. There is no equal. She doesn’t just simply fall in battle.”

“Maybe she was having an off day,” I suggested.

Daniel shook his head at my words but did not argue. Reaper had more things on his mind than a sword. He turned to Serenity and Eli, who was listening to us talk. Reaper’s expression was one he reserved for business transactions and people he wasn’t sure were enemies or friends.

“Our deal was to bring you along, but that does not make either of you Saints. You are not my people. You do not have a say in what we do. You tag along. You fight, if you wish, but you are not trusted.”

“Darling, is that anyway to talk to an old friend?” Serenity asked.

“You are not an old friend,” Reaper said. “You are someone I have always been forced to tread lightly around. Not anymore. The Saints are not Odette’s playthings. We fight our own battles.”

I was surprised at his tone. Reaper was used to playing both sides of the table – it was how the Saints stayed under the radar. It was how they kept doing what they were doing. His words made me wonder what Odette had said to him.

Serenity’s mouth twitched at his words. It was as if she wanted to say something, perhaps tell him all the ways she could help, but she didn’t. She merely shrugged and, with a hand on Eli’s forearm, left the galley.

Daniel was smiling.

“That was refreshing,” he said to Reaper.

“Way sexy,” Jackson added.

“I’m tired of playing games,” Reaper admitted. “We have more serious things in play than her seductions.”

Alex looked up from the drawing at his use of the word ‘seduction.’ Reaper looked at me, though I knew he was aware of Alex’s look. I wondered if his treatment of Serenity had anything to do with Alex. It was possible.

“What now?” Reaper asked. “You mentioned a sword…”

“We have to go back to King’s Cross,” I said.

“And do some digging,” Daniel said.

“I could send my people,” Reaper suggested. “We could have the sword dug out in no time.”

“No!” I said. “I mean…I think only a few of us should go. We should keep things quiet…for now. I don’t know where this is going to take us.”

“Fine,” Reaper agreed. He looked at Daniel. “Do you know where the historian is?” he asked. “The last time I heard of her she was terrorizing cities across the world. But I am certain those stories were exaggerations.”

“The historian doesn’t terrorize. She never did,” Daniel said. “She’s in an abandoned mining town in Idaho now. She has cut off ties to all of our kind. She makes it clear that she doesn’t want visitors.”

“A silver mine?” Reaper asked carefully.

“Yes. You can see why our kind keep their distance,” Daniel said. “Getting trapped there would be death.”

“So, the plan is to get the sword, see the historian and save the world?” I asked.

“Something like that,” Daniel agreed.

“First, you rest,” Beatrice said. “You’ve had a long night…you all look like you need a long shower and time to collect your thoughts.”

“We’re fine,” Daniel said.

Beatrice eyed Spider, who was fighting his sleepiness now that he was back on the boat and the relative safety that implied. Alex looked wired, but the bags under her eyes and her emotional turmoil were as clear as day. I knew that she had to be battling a headache as well.

“Don’t argue with me, Daniel,” Beatrice said. “You need rest. The sword can wait until tomorrow.”

Beatrice’s tone was firm. There was no room for argument. Daniel didn’t try.

“Okay,” Daniel agreed.

Reaper sat down at the table and his laptop, to continue his work, but Beatrice was in full mom mode. Her edict had meant him as well.

“That means you, too,” Beatrice told Reaper. “Come on, everyone out.”

Reaper looked startled at her command. No one bossed him around like that, not even me. Beatrice forced Reaper to stand – he had found a smile around his surprise – and forced us all out of the galley. We separated in the hall and went to our rooms. I sat down on the bunk and waited for Daniel to join me. He sat down, just as wired, just as anxious to be moving.