Dawn (15 page)

I kissed her on the lips and handed her back to Teegan. I walked away and picked up the duffel bag again, doing my best to ignore Rose's cries behind me. Jace took my hand and we walked out of the house, each determined to bring our son back home to make our family complete again.

When we reached the airport, we found the helipad where Sam, the pilot who took me down south, Ian, Lux, and my dad were waiting for us.

“Hey, let me get that for you,” Lux said when I approached the helicopter, taking my duffel bag out of my hand.

“Thanks,” I told her.

My dad looked at me and said, “I just wanted to wish you luck before you left, and I wanted to make sure you haven't changed your mind about taking more people with you. I would feel a lot better if you did, just in case you need them.”

“No,” I told him, “I haven't changed my mind about that. I still think it's better for us to go in quietly, not with guns blazing.”

My father nodded. “It probably is but...just be careful. She won't just let you leave, Skye. And if you get the chance to kill her take it. Don't hesitate. She doesn't deserve a second thought. Ok?”

“If I see a safe opportunity to kill her I will,” I promised.

My dad drew me into his arms and hugged me against his chest.

“Just be careful. That's all I ask.”

I hugged him back, tightening my arms around his waist.

“I'll be back before you have a chance to miss me,” I promised him.

He kissed the top of my head and let me go.

Jace took one of my hands into his before we got into the helicopter.

As we lifted off, I looked out the window on my side. My father watched us leave and didn't seem to stop until we were well out of sight.

During the ride, I couldn't help but notice how intimately comfortable Ian and Lux seemed to be with one another now. They sat across from us with Lux sitting on Ian's lap practically sucking each other's faces off. It was a little disturbing.

Jace squeezed my hand which forced me to drag my eyes away from the open display of affection playing out across from us.

“You ok?” He asked me.

“I'm ready to have this over with to be honest.”

“Your dad is right you know. When the time comes to kill her, don't hesitate.”

“I can kill her,” I said, but I wasn't sure if I was saying it for Jace's peace of mind or my own.

“I know you can. I know you will.”

The way Jace said his words, filled with such certainty, made me wonder something. Something I never thought to ask him before now.

I looked into his eyes to make sure he didn't try to sugar coat the truth.

“Have you seen me do it?” I asked, knowing he had seen glimpses of my future.

“I think so,” he said hesitantly. “I've seen you standing over her with your sword raised while she's knelt in front of you. I've always assumed it was the moment you kill her.”

“Did you see where it will happen?”

“It was only a short glimpse, but it looked like you were standing on top of a mountain.”

“A mountain?”

“It was rocky,” Jace said, his eyes becoming slightly unfocused as he seemed to picture the scene in his mind, “there were some patches of dead grass scattered among the cracks in the rock. You had your sword raised and you were...crying.”

“Crying?” I asked, baffled by this. “Why would I be crying?”

Jace shook his head. “I don't know. I didn't see that part.”

“Maybe I was crying with joy to finally have it all over with,” I reasoned.

“It didn't seem like that kind of cry. You looked sad, like you didn’t really want to do it.”

I shook my head. “That doesn't make any sense. I'll be the first one to dance on that woman's grave.”

“I keep telling you it's not going to be that easy,” I heard Ian say.

I looked over at him and noticed he and Lux had finally stopped pawing one another.

“The two of you through making out?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at them.

Lux blushed and Ian just grinned like the cat who ate the canary.

“For now,” Ian replied, placing a possessive arm around Lux who didn't seem to mind the show of affection one little bit. “But stop trying to change the subject. Killing the queen isn't going to be easy on you, Skye. You actually have a heart and a conscience, unlike her. And when have any of Jace's visions been wrong? It's better if you prepare yourself for what's coming so you can do what needs to be done.”

“She knows what needs to be done,” Jace said in my defense, sounding irritated by Ian's words.

“I'm not questioning her desire to do it,” Ian replied. “But knowing, hell even wanting, to do something is completely different from actually
doing
it.”

“I'll kill her when the time comes,” I told Ian, feeling a cold hardness overcome me. “I will end this nightmare for all of us.”

Ian narrowed his eyes at me.

“Just prepare yourself,” Ian warned. “You’ll feel guilty about it afterward, but just keep in mind it has to be done if we’re ever going to have a world worth living in again.”

I hesitated before nodding slowly.

Once we reached our destination, Sam landed the helicopter on the opposite side of the lake from the queen’s compound. From what Gina the scout told us, we knew this side of the lake was deserted. The Geneva camp was directly across the lake from where we were, and the vineyard where Ava and Jackson were being held was only a couple of miles south of the queen's residence along the lake shore.

As part of our supplies, we brought two self-inflatable rubber rafts with oars to cross the lake in. Lux and I would use one to go get Simon while Ian and Jace used the other to rescue Jackson and Ava.

“Get Simon and get out,” Jace said as he helped me drag the raft Lux and I would be using to the shoreline. “Tonight isn't the night you kill her.”

“Ok,” I said, secretly hoping maybe Jace's vision was wrong and an opportunity would present itself that would allow me to kill the queen once and for all.

Jace walked over to my side of the raft and drew me into his arms, hugging me like he feared he might not ever see me again.

“No unnecessary risks, you hear me?  I want my family back together all healthy and happy tonight.”

“We will be,” I promised him. “We'll all be together soon.”

Jace pulled back and cupped my face in his hands.

“Be careful,” he ordered, kissing me on the lips.

When he pulled back, I hugged him around the neck fiercely before letting him walk away.

“If anyone in this world has something to fight for,” I whispered to him, “it's me.”

Jace hugged me tightly to him before we released one another.

I watched him walk over to the other raft and knew in that moment I would do whatever it took to make my family whole again.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Lux and I got into our raft and I rowed it to the other side of the lake. It wasn't a big deal for me to do it all by myself with my Harvester strength, and I wanted to make sure Lux's arms were well rested to shoot her arrows.

“So,” I said to her as I rowed us across the smooth surface of the lake, “you and Ian seem to have gotten close awfully fast.”

Lux smiled shyly. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“Is it love?”

“In less than 48 hours?” Lux laughed nervously. “Not exactly, at least not yet anyway. No, we're just having fun with one another. We seem to fit pretty well together. I get him and he gets me. That's about all I want right now.”  Lux tilted her head to the side. “But damn girl, how did you luck up with Jace?  He's gorgeous and obviously sweet as hell on you. How did you find one another in this god forsaken future of yours?”

“It's kind of a long story,” I said and proceeded to tell Lux how Jace was able to find me in that library all those months ago and how we ended up where we were now.

By the time I was through retelling our story to her, we reached the other side of the lake.

“You
do
have a lot to fight for,” Lux said to me as we drug the raft onto shore.

“Yes, I do,” I agreed, grabbing my belt with the gun holster and sword from the raft while Lux retrieved her bow and quiver of arrows.

“Now let's go get my son,” I said.

We made our way along the quarter mile stretch of shoreline towards the queen’s residence. After traveling through a scattering of bare trees, we came to the backside of the mansion. It reminded me of an Italian style villa I had seen in a picture book once. There was an empty in ground pool in the back facing the lake. Positioned between the pool and the mansion was the remnants of what had to have been a beautifully manicured garden before the war complete with hedge rows and carved stone statues.

Two bulky male Harvesters stood guard at the back door. Lux and I crouched down behind a row of dead bushes. I raised two fingers up at Lux silently asking if she could take them both out without raising an alarm. She understood my meaning and nodded. Lux pulled out two arrows from her quiver and positioned them in a V formation in her bow before standing up from the cover of the bushes and firing them. Each arrow hit its target in the middle of the forehead. The Harvester's dropped to the ground without making much more than a slight thump as they fell.

We raced up to the door and stood on either side of it with our backs against the stonewall of the house. I peeked through the glass door and didn't see anyone within the room on the other side. The room looked like a library with a metal walkway allowing access to the second tier of filled bookshelves.

I tested the door handle and found it unlocked. I quietly turned the knob and let the door swing open. Two female Harvesters came running into the room from the outer hallway. Lux shot the one coming at her with an arrow through the neck, dropping the Harvester to her knees and gasping for air as she fell onto the hardwood floor. I ran at the other one and smashed my fist into her face, caving her noise into her skull as a spray of blood gushed forth effectively knocking her out without much effort. I broke both their necks just to make sure they didn't wake up before we were able to make our escape.

My head snapped up as I heard Simon's plaintive cry come from the room right above our heads.

I listened for the sound of extra heartbeats in the house to determine how many more Harvesters we would have to go through but could only hear two, both of them emanating from the room Simon was in.

“Come on,” I told Lux as I walked towards the foyer.

A polished wood staircase led from the entry way of the house up to the second floor. I ran up the steps two at a time.

Once on the second floor landing I told Lux. “Stay here and look out for trouble. I'm going to get my son.”

Lux nodded and drew an arrow from her quiver as I walked down the hallway to the room I knew Simon was in. I could smell the faint scent of hyacinth and knew the queen was in the room with him. I turned the knob of the door and pushed it inward.

The queen sat in a rocking chair with Simon sitting on her lap crying for all he was worth. His wails grew louder when he saw me.

“I was wondering how long it would take you to figure out where I was,” the queen said, holding Simon awkwardly on her lap as he stretched his little arms out in my direction as if begging me to come to him.

I crossed the threshold and walked into the room.

“Give me my son,” I demanded.

The queen smiled. “In a moment, I will, and I won’t even fight you for him. All I ask in return is that you stand there and listen to what I have to say first.”

“What could you possibly have to say that would interest me?”

“What if I told you I've finally figured out a way to have you come back to me of your own free will?” She asked, a hint of triumph on her face warning me I wasn’t going to like what she had to say next.

“I'd say you're even crazier than I thought you were,” I replied.

The queen smiled. “What exactly would you give for Jace's life?”

My heart missed a beat.

“What do you mean?” I asked, having to take in a deep breath to even ask my next question. “What have you done?”

“If we hadn't been so rudely interrupted by Ash in our little game, Jace would have eventually died. Of course, I was going to make you believe you were the one who did it, but I couldn't simply leave things to chance now could I?  I was biding my time, waiting for you to get to your breaking point before I killed him myself.”

“How?” I asked, my heart racing because I knew what she was telling me was the truth. Her expression was too happy for it not to be.

“I implanted a nano-bomb at the base of his brain stem before you even got there,” she said, her eyes twinkling with pleasure at her own ingenious.

“How is it triggered?”

“Oh, I have the only trigger. All I have to do is send someone to get within range of him to set it off.”

I looked into her eyes, hoping to see some shred of decency I could reason with but seeing none. She knew she had me. I knew she had me. It was insane to try and bargain with a mad woman, but I attempted it anyway. I had nothing to lose.

“Let me go back to say goodbye,” I said. “If you let me do that, I'll come to you of my own free will. That's what you want, right?  For me to choose to be with you for eternity?”

“Of course that's what I want. But, know that if you try to remove the bomb or even if you just try to scan for it in an MRI, it will self-detonate. One touch by any outside force and it will explode. So, if you're thinking about removing it from Jace when you return to your group so you don't have to keep your end of this little bargain, I advise you to think again. Jace will either die from old age with the bomb lodged inside him, or when you try to remove it. The choice is yours to make.”

“I will come to you after I say goodbye,” I told her. “I won't break my promise.”

“Then for god’s sake come take this child from me,” the queen said holding Simon out from her like he was a piece of trash she wanted to throw away. “He's stretched my last nerve with his incessant whining.”

I quickly walked across the carpeted floor and took Simon out of the queen's grasp. Simon instantly quieted.

“You're just going to let me walk out of here with him?” I asked, not understanding the reason why.

“I don't need him just yet,” the queen replied. “He and his sister might be of use to us one day in the future, but right now they will serve me better remaining with Jace. If I know him, he will stay with the children and do what he can to protect them after you've come to me.”

The queen stood from the rocking chair and smoothed down the material of the sleeveless white jersey dress she wore.

“So go make your goodbyes, Skye. I will have Walsh come get you from the Roanoke facility when I'm ready for you to join me. I would like to get our new home set up first.”

“Our new home?”

The queen smiled. “Oh yes. You didn't think we would be staying here did you?  It's not nearly fortified enough. No, I will be vacating these premises as soon as you leave and going to put the finishing touches on our new home. When you come back to me, we'll figure out how to make you a true Harvester again. I promise you that.”

“I don't want to be a Harvester,” I told her.

The smile on the queen's face faltered slightly.

“I will not watch you die, Skye” she said, a new madness entering her eyes. “I won't allow it.”

“My mother's dead,” I told her, watching for her reaction to the news. “We found her in your laboratory and set her free. We set her soul free.”

The queen looked at me in confusion. “Her soul? You saw it?”

“Yes. I saw it.”

“Well,” the queen shrugged, “she wasn't of any use to me anymore anyway. Honestly, I'm not even sure why I was keeping her body around. I’ve already transplanted all of her organs into myself.”

“Are you the only person you ever think about?”

“I'm thinking of you right now,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her. “I'm giving you the peace of mind that the children you care about will be taken care of by someone you love. If I were you, I would be thankful for that kindness. Now, go before I change my mind about this bargain of ours. I'm not a patient person, Skye. And if you’re thinking about double crossing me, don't. You won't like the consequences of such an action. By the way, I've already moved Jackson and Ava to our new home, just in case you were planning to go rescue them too. They're not here anymore so don't waste your time.”

“How will I know when Walsh is ready to pick me up?”

“Don't worry. He'll find you. If anyone knows the Roanoke camp better than I do, it's Walsh. He'll be in and out before they know what's happened.”

“I won't double cross you,” I promised the queen. “Just leave my family alone and I’ll keep my end of the bargain.”

I turned on my heels and left the room. Our bargain was set. I didn't see any reason to stay longer than I needed to.

Lux was standing in the same exact spot where I left her on the landing.

She glanced my way but kept her bow and arrow aimed in the direction of the foyer as I walked out of the room with Simon.

“How did you get him without having to fight her for him?” Lux asked, following behind me as I quickly made my way down the stairs and headed back the way we came in.

“She didn't want a fight,” I said. “Let's get out of here first. I'll explain it to you later.”

Lux didn't argue, just followed my lead.

As soon as we stepped out the back door I sensed them.

“Take Simon,” I told Lux, handing her my son.

It seemed like I was always handing Lux one of my children to safeguard while I had to plow through the Harvesters who foolishly tried to get in our way.

I drew my gun and grabbed the one Lux had in the holster on her right thigh.

Two Harvesters came running around the right side of the mansion. In quick succession, I shot each of them in both of their knee caps dropping them to the ground screaming in pain. With the Cain virus coated bullets, I knew they wouldn’t be regenerating and were, for all practical purposes, out of the fight. They lay on the ground screaming some choice words at me. So, I shot them both twice on either side of their shoulders.

One of the Harvesters passed out, presumably from the pain, and the other one was too busy groaning in misery to say much of anything.

I always felt a certain amount of hate from Harvesters I encountered, but for some reason, the tension I felt in the air that night all seemed to be directed towards one target, me. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that if I didn't kill them they would kill me.

Obviously, they didn't get the memo about the bargain I just struck with their queen.

From the sound of running feet approaching us, I knew there were at least ten more Harvesters coming our way who would have to be dealt with.

“I need you to run,” I told Lux. “Run as fast as you can to the raft. I'll be right behind you as soon as I can make it. Whatever you hear happen behind you, don't waste time by looking back. Your only priority is getting to the raft and making sure Simon gets to Jace. Do you understand me?”

Lux nodded. “Yes, I understand. But what about you? I can stay and help you fight them off.”

“No, Simon is the only person you need to worry about right now. I'll be fine,” I told her, not completely believing my own words. Something was wrong with the Harvesters approaching us, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what the problem was. “Now go. Run like the devil himself is chasing after you.”

Lux nodded again and took off running with Simon crying for all he was worth in her arms.

I only had a few seconds to watch my son being taken away from me once again before returning my attention back to the Harvesters coming my way.

I held the guns out in front of me and slowly backed up into the house. I was in desperate need of a more defensible position. I glanced around the room and saw the spiral metal staircase leading to the walkway which ran along the second tier of bookshelves. I was halfway up the stairs when the Harvesters first entered the room. When I reached the top, I spun around and shot the two Harvesters who had followed me up the stairs in the middle of their foreheads. I didn’t like killing if I didn’t have to, but this was a have to kind of situation.