The Breaker's Resolution: (YA Paranormal Romance) (Fixed Points Book 4) (21 page)

A motor revved from ahead. Looking up, I saw a figure on a motorcycle, sitting in the living room. He was dressed in black leather with a white helmet and a black shade that covered his face entirely. A drawing of an open eye sat above the visor. He had a pistol in his hand.

Instinctively, the shade poured out of me, throwing up a shield to protect us.

“That’s interesting.” The rider said. “I’ll be back soon, and next time I won’t miss.”

He revved the engine and tore out of the house, leaving skid marks on the living carpet and my biological mother bleeding to death in the bedroom.

“Why are you still here?!’ The visage of Chant yelled at me, striking his cane against the ground of wherever it was he was actually standing. “Have your ears stopped working along with your head? I told you to take cover!”

I moved toward him. ”No,” I said plainly.

“Is this purposeful?” He asked with a quizzical look on his wrinkled face. “Are you actually so vindictive and petty that you’d risk your own life and the lives of all the people in the entire world just to get a rise out of us?”

“Not at all,” I answered. “But I’m not running. If what you’re saying is true, then there are people out there fighting each other, hurting each other, and maybe even killing each other all because of me.  If I run, what does that tell them?”

“That you’re not a complete imbecile,” Chant grunted. “And that what they’re fighting for isn’t foolish enough to throw himself in harm’s way when he has much bigger issues to tend to.”

“It says I’m a coward,” I answered. “That I won’t fight with them, and who’d fight for someone who won’t stand alongside them?”

“Those who were raised to do just that,” Chant answered. “Now we have allowed your ridiculousness for far too long. You may be the Dragon, but we are the Council and, as such, are not without powers of our own.” He looked from one member of the Council to the other, nodding as if some unspoken conversation had been going on between them the entire time. “Half of our population has turned against us. Do you not understand that, Dragon? See for yourself.” The visage of the Council was replaced by visions of the Hourglass. The Main Area was in chaos. Houses were on fire, people found in the streets, and blood stained the walls. I couldn’t leave, not with things like this. If I did, then it would never end.

“This is our darkest hour, Dragon,” Ilsa piped up from beside Chant, reappearing before me. “Our entire way of life is being threatened and, regardless of the outcome here, things will never be the same.”

I knew she was right. Treachery like this had never been seen inside of the Hourglass. Half the Breakers in the Hourglass- half the Breakers in the world- had been lying this entire time. There was no normal after this, not ever.

“So if you refuse to adhere to our commands in this time of war, it will be considered a fatal crime against your own race. And you will be punished as such.”

“You can’t threaten me, Ilsa. I have to go out there. Maybe I can stop this.”

“Your family will be eradicated, their lands will be redistributed, and their names will be stricken from the Great Record. It will be as if the Lightfoot bloodline never existed. If that’s what you want, then by all means, run into the fray. But if not, then head westward into the forest. We’ve sent reinforcements to help you.”

And with that, the Council disappeared.

“Those jackasses,” I gritted my teeth. “Can you believe them?”

“It is you that I cannot believe,” Sevie said, turning toward me. “Have you lost your mind?”

“You really think I care about the family name. I can’t let people die because of me.”

“People die because of what they do, because of the choices they make. You’re no more responsible for that than I am for it. What I can’t believe is how shortsighted you’re being. When you die out there- and trust me, I’ve seen enough to know that you will, regardless of what some dead little seer girl told you- what do you think will happen after that? Do you think the people fighting for you now will just give up and turn over a new leaf?” He shook his head. “They know where she is, Owen. The only thing stopping every single person out there from rushing over to try and kill Cresta, is there belief that you’re going to do it. Once you’re gone, it’ll be a free for all. How long do you think she’ll last with that?”

My brows knitted together nervously. I had never considered that. Would throwing myself on the sword for some ideal actually put Cresta in more danger? And what about Merrin? Our life forces were tied together. If I died, then she died. What was I thinking? I couldn’t afford to be so selfless anymore.

“When did you get smarter than me?” I asked, worry coloring my words.

“When I remembered who I was,” he said. “Don’t worry. I won’t be for much longer.”

“You won’t be smarter, or you won’t be who you were?” I asked, staring at him incredulously.

“Take your pick, but that doesn’t matter right now. Regardless of who I am, who I was, or who I’m going to be in the future, you’re my brother. And the fact of the matter is, I’d rather not see you dead. So my suggestion, pride and good intentions aside, is for you to head westward like the Council said and wait for those reinforcements.”

“I can’t do that,” I said.

“You can. You have to,” Sevie answered. “Cresta depends on it, and so much more.”

“Cresta’s not the only woman in my life,” I answered, and though the words seemed foreign on my tongue, I knew they were true. “I have to protect Merrin. They’ll come for her. Especially since our energies are connected. If she dies, I die. They’re try to get to her to kill me. She’s in as much danger as I am. And she’s weak, Sevie. She’s still sick. If I don’t get to her, she won’t stand a-”

A man jumped out from behind the barn. He had a knife in his hand and he charged me, screaming something I didn’t take bother to try and understand. My hands instinctively went to my face, but it didn’t matter.

A dagger came flying through the air, striking the man in the chest and knocking him down. He collapsed onto the ground and started shaking.

Quickly, I turned to find the source of the dagger.

Merrin stood before us, dressed in her Breaker uniform; a skintight black leather number that hugged her in all the right places. She was bright. She was vibrant. She was badass.

“Go ahead dear, “she smiled. “Finish your sentence. She won’t be able to what?”

“Point taken,” I grinned.

“Hell broke loose in the Main Area quicker. As soon as it started, I left. I knew I had to get to you.” Merrin advanced on us, leaning over and pulling her dagger out of the now still man’s chest.

“How did you find me? Did you follow the energy that comes from our connection?” I asked.

“You’re at your mother’s house, Owen. It’s not exactly off the beaten path as far as hideouts go. It’s also why we have to move now. People will undoubtedly come here looking for us.”

“Mother!” I gasped. “They’ll come for her. For her and Father.”

“It’s taken care of,” Merrin answered. “I sent them toward the Council chambers through an out of use back channel that the newer generations don’t really know about. It pays to have a historian as a father sometimes.”

“You’re glorious,” Sevie-or the person that used to be Sevie- said, looking her up and down. “You really married up, Big Brother.”

“I shine in an emergency,” she answered, wiping the blood off her blade with the man’s own shirt and sticking it back into her belt.

“Well hell if you weren’t born into just the right life then,” Sevie smiled.

“I said we need to move, and I meant it,” Merrin said, and didn’t waste any time getting toward the woods.

I struck off behind her with Sevie right at my heels. It was amazing how quickly she moved now, especially considering that just yesterday she had been hooked up to machines in the Medic Bay. It was as though she had made a full recovery in the span of three hours.

A lesser guy would have probably felt really cocky about his prowess, given her quick turnaround. Okay, so maybe I
did
feel a little bit cocky. But a lesser guy would have admitted it.

“The Council said that reinforcements would be sent westward to meet us,” I said, bridging the gap between Merrin and me and struggling to keep pace with her as she darted through treelines.

“They better move quickly,” she answered, sounding barely even winded as she chugged along. “Before I left, I heard shouts about the insurgents breaking into the Holding Facilities.”

“Fate’s hand!” I stammered. The Holding Facilities were the one place inside all of the Hourglass that held many of the contemporary products that needed to be studied and understood, but that the Council deemed had no place within the walls of the Breaker sanctuary. If they had gotten into the Holding Facilities, then they have found semi-automatic weaponry, explosives and even motorized vehicles.  “That means they’re mobilized,” I shuddered.

No vehicles existed within the Hourglass. They were unnecessary and took away from the lifestyle with which we were trying to build, or at least that was the load of garbage we got sold every time we asked if we could see a real live car.

But they did exist within the Holding Facilities and, if the insurgents found them, it was akin to them having wings.

We were sitting ducks.

“We’re running ducks at the moment,” she corrected me, “And if we can meet up with those reinforcements, then at least we can put a line of bodies between you and the people who want you dead.”

“That doesn’t sound like a great option,” I admitted, thinking about what might happen to that line of bodies as they stood up for me.

“Life seems full of ‘not great options’ these days,” she retorted without breaking stride.

We ran for what seemed like hours, barely stopping to catch our breath. It had all come up so quickly that we had been forced to leave with nothing. No food, no water, not even a compass to make sure that we were going in the direction we needed to.

But we had also managed to steer clear of any of the insurgents. We hadn’t heard as much as an errant footfall as we made our way toward…wherever it was we were supposed to be going.

We decided to break in a clearing. The curvature of the land worked to our advantage, pitching up o that we could see for miles in either direction. Though it gave me comfort-knowing that nothing dangerous was on the horizon- it also confirmed that we were deep within these woods. Nothing but greenery and trees stretched out as far as the eye could see.

And it would be dark soon.

The sun was maybe two hours from dipping behind the Great Wall, and we were more than that from getting out of these damn woods. It’s like it had tricked us. Sure, we had run for hours, maybe as much as six (Thank Fate for Breaker endurance). But from the looks of where we were, it was as though the forest was expanding from the inside out. It was like we were days away from getting out of here.

“Are you okay?” I asked, looking at Merrin as she leaned against a tree.

“I’m fine,” she answered, and really sounded like she was, which I couldn’t believe.

“What about you?” I asked, looking over at Sevie.

“I could use a glass of water, but otherwise, I’m amazing.”

“Maybe I can find a stream around here or something,” I suggested, feeling more than a little guilty for putting them through this.

“There’s no time for that,” Merrin said, her arms crossed as she leaned against the tree. “We have to keep moving.”

“To where?” I asked, running my hands through my hair. “We have no idea where we’re going!”

“Of course we do,” Merrin sighed. “We’re going westward toward reinforcements.”

“We’ve been going westward for hours. It’ll be dark soon, and then what will we do? Even if we find reinforcements, what does that mean? Are we really going to start trusting the Council now?”

“I’m not sure what else you’d have us do, Owen,” Merrin glared at me. “We are where we are, and all that’s left foor us is to do what we think is right.”

I slid down the trunk of a nearby tree until I was resting on the ground, bark scratching my back on the way down. “I’m not even sure what that is anymore.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Merrin answered, looking down at me. “The way I see it, you’ve been doing what you had to this whole time. Whether or not Cresta and the others would agree with you is beside the point. You’re a good man, Owen Lightfoot and, regardless of what happens next, you’ll continue to be a good man. That’s what matters.”

I looked up at her, stumbling as I tried to find the words to answer that. Was I a good man? Was I really? Or was I a boy running around in his father’s shoes trying to put fires out with my bare hands?

Before I could answer that, Sevie’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.

“Do you hear that?” My brother asked, standing to attention. His eyes widened as he took the sound in. “It’s a rumbling. They’re coming.”

The sound reached our ears an instant after Sevie’s words did. A motorized humming the likes of which had probably never been heard inside the Hourglass beat through the air.

“Dammit,” Merrin said, her body straightening up. “Can you tell which direction it’s coming from?”

“It sounds…” I swallowed hard. “It sounds like all of them.”

As if on que, a sea of headlights appeared on the horizon…on
all
of the horizons. Somehow, the insurgents knew where we were. They were descending on us and, in seconds, we’d be surrounded.