Broken (20 page)

I don’t have time for this distraction, but I don’t want to hurt Jez either. Born in the same year, same province, to parents who were best friends, we became good friends too. So, taking a deep breath, I choose my words with care. ‘I have never felt for you what you wanted me to, Jez. I’m sorry that hurt your feelings.’

Looking down at her boots she whispers, ‘Was it something I did?’

I peer at her sideways – and her stunning turquoise eyes flutter up at me. She has not stopped trying to get my attention since we were babes in our cribs. Intelligent, talented, a skilled healer, known across the provinces for her exotic beauty, why can’t she let go of her obsession with making
me
her life partner? What is the real reason? Angels take partners for eternity. Wouldn’t she want someone who wants her as much in return?

‘Did I push you too hard,’ she persists, ‘to make you love me?’

‘Yes, you did, but that’s not the reason. I don’t know why any of us think and feel certain ways. I only know that we do. Jez, I have loved Ebony for far longer than you can imagine.’

Her head snaps up. ‘What do you mean? You only met recently.’

‘She forged a mind-link with me from her mother’s womb just before she was born and subsequently abducted, letting me know she was coming, that the seven years that had passed since we’d been together in Peridis were almost over and we could finally be together again, but in our corporeal bodies at last. I was so overexcited I ended up ruining everything. The time came for her birth and the midwife Myrinda, hurried me out. My fingers fumbled in the silk strands of the protective birthing chamber. One ray of light beaming out from the Lavender Forest that dark night was all it took to alert the enemy to her position.’

She inhales a sharp breath. ‘I didn’t know any of that.’ She stares into the darkness and the swirling snow that has begun to fall again. ‘You really knew her in the spirit world?’

‘We were lovers for three thousand years.’

She gasps, her mouth gaping open. I lift her chin with my finger, closing her mouth with a smile. ‘Are you OK, Jez? Do you understand the torture it’s been to come so close to being together again, only to have Ebony stolen and hidden away from me? I was only seven at the time, but my soul was much older.’

‘Why didn’t you tell anyone?’

‘I wanted to tell
everyone
, to shout it from temple balconies all over Aarabyth, but the enemy took her away that night, and left behind so much grief. My father’s soldiers hid in the trees not to give away the position of the birthing chamber. The enemy attacked from the sky with fire and explosives. I can still remember the scent of soldiers’ flesh burning as they fell to the ground. I still see the flames corroding their wings in my nightmares.’

‘So you kept it to yourself.’

‘No one knows other than Ebony’s parents, who still can’t recall anything from that night. I suspect Michael knows something, and recently I told my brother Gabe. And now you know.’

‘You must hate me!’

I take her hand and place it between my two palms. ‘I don’t hate you, Jez. I don’t know if I can hate. But that doesn’t stop me from determining right from wrong, or being able to act and make harsh decisions when they’re called for. I can still get angry. From Peridis, Ebony and I saw the wars, both of angels and of men, and, unable to do anything, we wept.’

Tears flow freely down her face, freezing like twin glaciers before they fall away. I pat the top of her hand. ‘Jez, I would like us to remain the friends I believe we were always meant to be, before you fell in love with my adorable eyes.’

She giggles, as I hoped she would, but her creamy skin flushing bright pink is a surprise. ‘How did you know about that?’

‘We’re Seraphim. Our words rumbled through those school halls from one set of ears to another’s without much thought for consequences in those youthful days.’

She laughs and adds softly, ‘I’m sorry, Thane.’

‘What for?’

‘Everything,’ she says, and this time, for the first time, she looks as if she truly means it. Suddenly the smile dissolves, she pulls her hand from mine, grasps the hilt of her sword and cocks her head.

What do you hear?

The wind picks up and it starts snowing heavier. She relaxes her stance slightly. ‘It’s just the wind.’

On our feet now, we both listen to the darkness, searching for the sound of movement. Snow whirls around us. After a while Jez sighs. ‘We did have fun in those school halls.’ She smiles to herself. ‘It’s a shame Ebony missed that.’

‘Yes, it is.’

‘Does she recall the mind-link she forged with you?’

I take my time answering. ‘Not yet.’

‘So you think she will in time?’

‘I’m hoping she does.’

‘And if she doesn’t?’

‘That will make no difference to me.’

‘Thane . . .’ she starts, and stops when she sees the look in my eyes.

I don’t want to hear it, but until she asks she won’t be satisfied. ‘Go on. Spit it out.’

‘Since Ebony has no memory of a vision she
supposedly
experienced, isn’t it plausible the girl you found is not the infant Ebrielle sixteen years later? How do you know with certainty Ebony is the same Ebrielle you knew in the spirit world?’

I don’t answer. First my brother has doubts, now Jez. I don’t dare ask my
father
for his opinion.

She misreads my silence for an invitation to be candid. ‘What if the real Ebrielle is still waiting for you to find her?’

‘
Real
,
Jez?
Real?
’

‘What if the Ebony you found is part of an elaborate plan to keep you away from the real abducted angel?’

‘Ebony is not a decoy.’

‘How can you be so sure?’

‘I just know, all right?’

She lays her hand on my arm as I prepare to leave. ‘Think about it, Thane. Just promise me you’ll think about it.’

28

Jordan

After spending my first two periods ditching classes and searching the internet on a library computer, I don’t find anything that connects Mr Zee to Dr West. I find loads about Dr West, his home town, where he went to boarding school, his achievements and placements in research and medicine in Brisbane, Melbourne and London.

At least
he
looks legit.

Just before morning break I have a free period and meet Skinner in our usual disgusting conference room, but once I start asking questions about Dr Adrian West he gets in a foul mood and is no help at all. He rambles on about how behind I am on my mission. ‘Get a move on,’ he says. ‘You’re taking too long, dude.’

‘I’m doing the best I can,’ I shout.

He moves fast, lifts me off the ground, and shoves my back up against a timber post between stalls. ‘Listen to me, Jordan, if you don’t make your move on Ebony now, or tell her something that will end her relationship with the prince right away, it will be too late and your mother will rot in Skade.’

He lets me go and storms out. Shoving my hands in my pockets I stare after him, wondering what’s got him all worked up. My pockets start vibrating. Strange, as I only have one phone. I pull it out and see it’s not my phone at all, but both my hands trembling. I shove them back in my pockets and go to fourth period.

Before I walk into class I meet up with Danny. ‘Hey, Jordy, you look like death. What’s going on?’

‘Long story. Don’t worry about it.’

‘Are you sure I can’t help?’

I think about how two heads are supposedly better than one, but there’s so much I haven’t told him and don’t have time to explain now. ‘Nah, but thanks anyway.’ A sense of urgency comes over me and I change my mind about going into class. ‘If anyone’s asking for me, tell them I’ll be in the library.’

‘Sure. No worries,’ Danny says as he watches me leave.

Back in the library I get straight on to the internet. I research Mr Zee again, but come up empty, like he doesn’t exist – in this world at least.

I have better luck with Dr West, finding an image of his wife with their two young sons. The kids look just like him, but nothing like Ebony.

All morning I’ve been freaking out that I’m helping Ebony fall into a trap. Skinner was no help. But there is someone who knows the truth.

It’s like he’s expecting me. He opens the door before I finish knocking. ‘Come in, Mr Blake. Take a seat.’

Of the four science teachers that share this office, Mr Zee is the only one here. The office is a mess with over-stacked bookshelves, bags on the floor, jackets draped over chairs, computers blinking on desks, in-trays buried under piles of papers, red pens scattered everywhere.

‘Nice,’ I murmur sarcastically. He points to a desk in the far corner. It’s Mr Zee’s and it’s nothing like the rest of the room. It’s immaculate. Not a pen outta place. The desktop is polished timber, with a black laptop open in the centre.

I sink into his visitor’s chair while he walks round to the other side, sits, closes his laptop and looks directly at me. ‘Let us be civil about this,’ he says in his deep, smooth, foreign accent. ‘You and I want the same thing.’

‘Ebony is not a “thing”.’

‘No, she’s my niece.’

‘You can turn off the bullshit now.’

He peers at me too long. ‘What would you like to know, Jordan?’

‘If Ebony goes with you today, will I ever see her again?’

‘Straight to the point,’ he says, nodding like he approves.

‘Answer the question!’

But he just stares at me with his penetrating dark eyes.

‘I take that to mean a big fat NO.’ Pissed off, I get up to leave. ‘I knew this was a trap when you made sure no one would be in the car with you except Ebony.’

Oh, man, he really is a dark angel. He really is working for Prince Luca.

‘So what are you going to do?’

‘What do you think? Warn the girls. Stop Ebony from going with you. It won’t take much. She suspects a trap anyway.’ My voice lowers with the muted sounds of my own self-contempt. ‘She was only going because I assured her it was what she needed.
I
pushed her.’

‘Be careful, Jordan, there are dire ramifications for breaking an angelic agreement, and you have your mother to consider.’

‘Don’t bring my mother into this! All I had to do to fulfil my end of the deal was break the lovebirds up. That’s all. I checked with Adam Skinner. And don’t try to deny the two of you are working together.’

He lifts both hands into the air like it’s a done thing.

‘According to angelic law, no human can be taken against their will. So how do you explain what you’re doing to Ebony?’

‘You’re absolutely right, Jordan. But what does the law say about angels?’

Oh, shit!
I take a punt, ‘The same. Why would it be different?’

‘With angels there are many variables.’

‘Stop with the bullshit and just explain.’

‘A soldier has no Free Will. They do what they are ordered. There are more angelic soldiers than any other kind.’

‘But Ebony’s not a soldier.’ I remember how Mr Zee pressured her to say certain words this morning, and suddenly I get it. ‘Why did you manipulate Ebony into saying no one was coercing her?’

‘My employer is thorough. He likes to cover all possibilities.’

‘Like what?’

‘A defence in case the enemy suggests that since Ebony was raised human, she may have still thought like one at the time, suggesting the Free Will law should apply.’

Man
, he really is thorough. What chance does Ebony have against this monster’s sharp mind, or his lies?

The thought barrels into my head – she has Thane on her side. It ignites hope inside me. But who knows where he is? Or if he can even return in time?

I gotta get word to Gabe.

‘Jordan, do you really think I’m going to let you go now?’

He’s reading my thoughts. Shit! I should have been scrambling them. My hands tremble. I ball them into fists. I can’t lose my cool now. I have to warn Ebony.

‘Remember your mother is depending on you for her freedom.’

‘I have until Ebony turns eighteen.
He’s
the one not waiting. That’s not my fault. Prince Luca can’t punish my mother for changing the arrangement midstream.’

‘You had months to do your part. You were naive to think he would wait more than a year. That was your mistake. You should have realised that right
now
, with Nathaneal indisposed, the timing was perfect. Remember, Jordan, you had Ebony all to yourself for weeks. Did you think we did not know that? If you could not make her fall for you in that time, it’s clear you were never going to make it happen.’

‘What are you saying? What happens now?’

He makes a steeple with his fingers. ‘That’s not up to me. Maybe there’s time for the two of you to work something out. My employer is not averse to negotiating.’