The Prophecies (The Sentinel Series Book 2) (19 page)

I smiled, wryly. ‘I let my heart rule my mouth.’

He frowned. ‘You’re not doing yourself any favours. I won’t ever let them hurt you, I promise you that but I may have very little control over your freedom. If the majority vote to keep you here there won’t be much I can do. You said to Samuel that he needs to think carefully about the decisions he makes. I urge you to do the same. The Oraculum will break, I have no doubt about that, and it seems it will be within the next week. How many stand for you will have a lot to do with how you behave over the next few weeks. If you want to walk out of here, then just apologise for your actions and promise never to do it again. And try to keep your head down for the next few weeks, don’t do anything rash.’

Cain was right. They were already wary of me through no fault of my own; I didn’t need to add to it.

Cain stood to leave, sensing my agreement.

‘Who is in charge of the Oraculum?’

He stopped. ‘No one, we are all equal.’

I shook my head. ‘They defer to you, I’ve seen it, I’ve heard it.’

‘You’re mistaken.’

I stared at him. He was embarrassed.

He looked down. ‘I’m the strongest. But it doesn’t mean anything, we are equal.’

‘You’re the strongest person in the world?’

He smiled. ‘I think that honour falls to you.’

I woke the next morning with a jerk, feeling like I had just been zapped with a small bolt of electricity. The light hadn’t changed, as there were no windows down here, but I looked at my watch and it was already past nine in the morning. I looked down by my side, the tiny mouse of my brother was curled up tightly in a ball, snoring softly.

I suddenly had a feeling that I wasn’t alone and I rolled over to look at the cell door.

A tall boy about my age stood before me. He was definitely not a member of the Oraculum. He was incredibly good looking, sort of beautiful, with brown eyes that looked so familiar. But his beauty was marred by the cold look of arrogance across his face.

He let out a bitter laugh. ‘It’s funny to see you on that side of the bars and me out here.’

I stared at him. Why did his face look so familiar, like I had seen him somewhere before?

‘And you can’t do anything with your powers can you, whereas I could burn you to ash if I wanted.’ His hand flickered with a white hot flame. ‘It’s pathetic really.’

‘Do I know you?’ I asked, as I stood up, quickly shielding myself in case he decided that he would burn me to ash.

He smiled cruelly. ‘I’m Adam. Remember my name. Because before the end you will be either screaming that name, begging me to kill you, or you will be kneeling before me, pledging to me, pledging to obey me.’

A metal clanking at the end of the dark corridor indicated I had another visitor and Adam turned and hurried back up the corridor. He ducked into an archway on the side as Jonah appeared from the gloom. When Jonah had walked past the archway Adam ran up the corridor, and disappeared into the darkness. I heard the metal gate open quietly at the end, and then close again.

I quickly went back to the bed, scooped the tiny mouse up in my hand and put it in my pocket. I felt it stir for a moment, presumably as he woke up, then he was still.

Jonah unlocked the door to my cell and held it open for me. I walked out and without a word he walked back up the corridor. As the Guardian opened the gate at the end of the corridor, Jonah seemed to look at me with a feigned indifference, like he was bored by me, by this whole farce.

I followed him up the winding stairs and into the chamber, where he took his place behind the empty plinth. All of the Oraculum stared down at me, but Samuel and Nathaniel were talking quietly, not even giving me the time of day.

I was unsure whether to wait for them to finish but last time my silence had angered them, so I decided to press on.

‘I want to say I’m sorry,’ I said in a loud clear voice. Samuel and Nathaniel stopped talking to peer down at me, Samuel with a look of distaste. ‘You have all given me so much and by going to the Reapers, not only was I letting you down, but also I let down my friends, my family and the hundreds of Guardians that have pledged to me.’

I paused but a stony silence was all that met me, so I pressed on. ‘I realise that had I died then the world and billions of people would have been at risk. I understand my duty now and I won’t let you down. Know that I have been training every day and will continue to do so, so I am ready to face my destiny, to do the job I was created for. Know that I am willing to die to save the world.’

I saw Cain give me the tiniest of smiles.

‘But you gave me this compassion so I would want to fight for the world and it is this compassion that made me want to fight for my friends too. I can’t promise that I won’t go to help my friends again…’ Cain’s smile vanished and Matthias rolled his eyes. ‘…But I will promise that if there is a next time I will only go if there is no other solution and even then I will go with a hundred Guardians packed tightly around me and I promise that if the need calls for it, I will get out of there, even if that means leaving my friends behind.’ Ok, the rest of it was true; one teeny white lie wouldn’t hurt.

The Oraculum started mumbling between them.

Nereus stood up smiling. ‘I say we take a vote. Either she stays here with us in the castle, or she is allowed to go home. All those who feel Eve should be allowed home, stand with me now.’

Helez immediately stood. The others were more reluctant to show their allegiance. Cain stood next as did Leon. I just needed one more and the majority would be standing for my freedom. The silence dragged on. Samuel definitely wouldn’t stand for me and Sebastian probably wouldn’t either. Matthias was probably loyal to me but didn’t want it known. Nathaniel was closely linked with Samuel so he probably wouldn’t vote for me either and I didn’t know about Jonah.

Nereus shifted awkwardly, wondering whether that was the final count or whether to give them more time.

‘Gentlemen,’ Cain prompted. ‘We called Eve here to apologise which she has done. It was never our intention to keep her here against her will. Is there anyone else who will stand for what is right?’

Matthias reluctantly stood up and so did Jonah.

I let out a sigh of relief. I would be going home today after all.

‘Matthias!’ hissed Samuel. ‘What about my prophecy?’

‘Samuel if your prophecy is right….’

‘Are you doubting me?’ Samuel growled.

Matthias sighed. ‘No, I’m saying that if you’re right then keeping her here might be the start of that. At least out there she will be happy and your prophecy has less chance of coming true if she is happy.’

‘We can’t change the prophecies,’ Samuel muttered, angrily.

‘I know. Which is why we must focus on the prophecy we have all seen of Eve saving the world, and ensuring that that still happens.’

Samuel stood, but not to vote for me, to storm out.

‘Enough,’ Nereus said. ‘The council has spoken, Eve you are free to go.’

‘I’ll walk you out to the helicopter,’ Helez said. He swept his cloak around him and walked down the steps towards me. As soon as he reached the floor the Guardians behind me opened the doors and I followed Helez along the black marble corridor to the main entrance. The Guardians here swept the doors open too. The bright daylight flooding in hurt my eyes. Helez walked out but as we walked under the great portcullis he stopped and drew me to one side. I could hear the helicopter coming into land.

‘Eve, I am loyal to you, I hope you know that, but I want to take this opportunity now to apologise for whatever it is that causes you to kill me,’ he said, quietly, his turquoise eyes searching mine.

‘Maybe I don’t.’

‘It has been foreseen.’

‘Maybe, now I know about it, maybe now we both know about it, it doesn’t happen.’

Helez smiled, sadly. ‘I like your optimism.’

I sighed. ‘Helez, there are only two things that could ever prompt me to kill, an attack on my life or an attack on those that I love.’

‘I know, so whatever it is, I’m sorry.’

‘I’m sorry too.’ I hoped the day wouldn’t come when I would kill one who was loyal to me. I hoped the prophecies were wrong.

Helez touched my arm warmly, then swept back into the castle. I watched him go. There was another reason why I might kill Helez. The malevolent monster within, the one that turned mad with all the power in me, as Samuel predicted. I hoped, more than anything, that Samuel’s prophecy was a lie, that the day I turned mad and evil would never come.

I walked over to the helicopter, climbed on and sat down thoughtfully, doing up my seatbelt. Quinn stirred in my pocket and I put my hand in to stop him from shifting. The pilot worked for the Oraculum, he didn’t need to see a naked man appear where there wasn’t one before.

As the helicopter gently took off, I noticed there was a woman sitting opposite me. I smiled at her. She was no doubt on her way to the fort too, for some reason. She smiled back warmly and I looked out the window as the black castle disappeared beneath the clouds. When I turned back to the woman I realised she had moved to sit next to me and as a sharp pain stabbed into my neck I knew nothing more.

I forced my eyes open and looked around. I was in a dark room, strapped to a chair. Shadows moved round at the far end, but I couldn’t make them out. I reached for my powers, but again there was nothing there. How many times would I be caught out like this? I had got out of this situation before with the Reapers, but I had been flooded with a rage, a vengeful wrath to kill the Reapers for what they were doing to Clementine. It was unlikely I’d be able to recreate those feelings here. This had to be something to do with the Oraculum, this was part of the telling off. Something to scare me perhaps. I cursed myself for trusting Cain, when all the time he had this up his sleeve. It had to be them, it had happened on their helicopter.

I looked down at my pocket and the small mouse shaped bulge was gone. My heart leapt, a sick painful feeling ripping through my stomach.

One of the shadows came closer; the woman from the helicopter. She pulled up a chair and sat down facing me. She looked to be in her late forties, early fifties, with greying blonde hair tied back in a bun. Her lips were thin and her eyes a cold blue.

‘Eve, how you feeling? A bit groggy I bet. Sorry about that.’ She smiled warmly at me.

She was right, I did feel groggy. I shook my head, willing it to clear. ‘Where’s my…mouse?’ I asked, I didn’t want to say brother.

‘Quinn? Oh he’s fine,’ she gestured to a little table in the corner of the room, where a mouse lay curled up. I could see the rising and falling of his tiny body, breathing deeply as he slept. ‘I didn’t even know he was with you, until your pocket started moving, then I guessed it was him. I was surprised to see him again after all this time, though he wasn’t too pleased to see me.’ She fingered a deep bite mark on her thumb. ‘I had to give him some drugs. He’ll be out for hours yet, might even be tomorrow before he wakes up, with a banging headache no doubt.’ She grinned. ‘Now have you eaten today? James?’ She called to the shadow behind her. ‘Grab us that sandwich from the fridge will you.’ She turned back to me. ‘You should eat something it will make you feel better.’

‘Who are you?’ I muttered.

‘Sophia, do you not recognise me?’

I peered at her trying to place her face, but there was nothing about this woman that I had seen before. I shook my head.

‘No, I don’t suppose you do, the last time you saw me you were only one. I was one of the scientists working on the Sentinel project. You look so like your Mum you know.’

‘You knew my Mum?’

‘Yes, Laurel and I were friends, until she betrayed me.’

I looked at her in confusion, my brain slowly beginning to clear. The other shadow suddenly emerged from the darkness, bringing with him a plate with a sandwich on it. He gave it to Sophia.

‘I would cut your hands free so you can eat it, but I know you’re a bit of a demon with the old martial arts. I’ll feed it to you.’ She broke a chunk off and offered it to me.

‘No thanks,’ I muttered.

‘Don’t be stupid. If I wanted you dead I would have done it by now. I could have killed you as soon as you stepped on that helicopter, but you’re important to me alive. Now eat, you need to keep your strength up.’ She offered it to me again, but I shook my head.

‘Look its fine.’ She put the bit she had been offering me in her mouth, chewed it and then swallowed, then took another big bite of the sandwich. ‘See, it’s not poison,’ she said through a mouthful of chicken and bread. She tore off another chunk and offered it to me and I reluctantly took it. I was starving; I had hardly eaten anything for two days.

I swallowed it. ‘My Mum betrayed you?’ Was this the reason why she had captured me, as some revenge for what my Mum had done?

‘Yes, but I don’t blame her really. You see I’m a shape shifter too, a dormant one just like your Mum, just like you, I imagine. You probably already know that you were made with a lot of shape shifting genes to help to fuse the genes from the Zeki, Donum, Oraculum and Guardians. They did a lot of research into it, into adapting the shape shifting gene in this way. Well I was abusing this research. Behind their backs I was creating a drug to temporarily activate the shape shifting gene, therefore allowing dormant shape shifters like myself to shift temporarily. Laurel found out what I was doing and told me I had to stop, which of course I didn’t. She didn’t like it, but kept quiet about it, she wasn’t about to grass on a friend.’ Sophia tore off another chunk of the sandwich and passed it to me, thoughtfully.

‘After you were born, I decided to try out some of my drugs on you. Your Mum caught me and for her that was the final straw. She went straight to the Oraculum and they kicked me off the project.’

‘So you’ve captured me as revenge for what my Mum did, or to try out some of these drugs?’

Sophia laughed, loudly. ‘No hun, not at all. Like I said, I don’t blame Laurel for that, she was protecting her daughter. And no, I’ve not brought you here to test the drugs out on you; I perfected the drugs years ago.’