The Prophecies (The Sentinel Series Book 2) (31 page)

I slowly, carefully pulled the knife out of my arm and rolled to my knees. I staggered up onto my feet, holding the knife in one hand and pressing the wound to my stomach with the other.

Adam stared at me, incredulous, furious, as he touched his nose gingerly.

‘It might take me a really long time to die, but I’m not going to lie down and wait for death to come. If you want to me to die, come and get me,’ I growled, through the pain.

Adam eyed the knife in my blood stained hand. ‘You know, I’m not really that bothered about seeing you die, that will happen soon enough for real anyway. What I really want is to see you in pain.’

‘Good luck with that,’ I hissed.

Adam smiled, a hard satisfied smile and vanished.

I fell to my knees, the pain so intense. I coughed, finding it hard to breathe. I had to wake up. I pushed myself back to my feet again, as Adam reappeared holding Lucas round the throat.

I ran forwards to stop him, but holding his hand out towards me, I ran into a solid wall. With his eyes firmly on me, he clamped a hand to Lucas’s head, just like Nereus had done to Samuel and I screamed as a wave of liquid fire erupted from Adam’s hand and engulfed Lucas’s body, burning him to dust, that blew away in the gentle breeze.

I screamed a loud, agonizing scream, as I sagged to my knees.

Adam stood over me cruelly. ‘That’s the pain I wanted to see.’

I woke up crying.

‘Evie, baby it’s ok,’ Seth said, holding me tight against him.

I fought against him in the darkness, and he released me.

I formed a ball of light in my hand and let it float above me, searching the room for Lucas. Was he here, was he alive?

All my personal guard were standing round me, looking concerned but as soon as I saw Lucas I threw myself into his arms, calming down almost instantly as I felt his embrace tighten around me.

‘Eve, are you ok?’ Eli asked quietly.

‘Are you hurt,’ asked Noah.

‘I’m sorry,’ I mumbled, my face pressed against Lucas’s chest.

‘What happened?’ said Eli.

It had felt so real. Adam had entered my dream, I knew that, just as Cain had on many occasions. It was real because Adam had made it real.

I pulled away and sat down next to Seth who immediately wrapped his arm round me.

‘Does anyone know who Adam is?’ I asked, quietly.

Silence. Long and ominous. They knew who he was.

Quinn knelt down by my side. As I looked at his face, lit up in the flickering light from my ball of fire, my heart leapt with a sick recognition. Why hadn’t I realised this before.

‘What happened Eve, it was just a dream,’ Quinn said, taking my hand.

‘You know Adam don’t you?’ I asked. Why hadn’t Quinn told me? Why hadn’t I seen it when I first met Adam? I should have known it all along.

‘No, I’ve never met Adam before,’ Quinn replied. The look of confusion on his face told me he was telling the truth.

‘He’s your brother,’ I said. And as soon as I said it I knew it to be true. The resemblance between Quinn and Adam was startling.

‘What?’ Quinn looked startled. ‘I don’t have a brother; you’re the only family I have.’

Eli sighed, heavily. ‘Technically that’s not true Quinn.’

Quinn stood up, anger and confusion on his face. ‘I have a brother?’

‘Yes, a full brother, Eve’s half-brother,’ Eli explained.

Quinn’s mouth fell open and as he had no words to fill the silence I decided to fill it.

‘And why does my brother hate me so much?’ I asked quietly.

‘It was just a dream baby, it didn’t mean anything,’ Seth said, stroking my back.

I shook my head. ‘No it wasn’t just a dream, he entered my dream just like Cain does. The first time we met, when I went to the Oraculum for the first time, he hated me then, said I’d be begging him to kill me before the end.’

‘Where was I when you met him? Quinn said, quietly.

‘You were asleep,’ I said. ‘He loathes me so much, but I don’t understand why.’

Eli shook his head angrily. ‘Because you’re the Sentinel and he’s not.’

Noah stepped forward. ‘He was born a year after you were, using Quinn’s Mum and Dad’s DNA to blend with the Donum, Oraculum and Guardian DNA. The more shape shifter in the DNA the more likely it would fuse with the other chromosomes. You were quite sick when you were born, with the weird cocktail of DNA in your body. They didn’t think you were going to survive, so they made another child just in case, hedging their bets I think. You soon got better and by the time Adam was born it was quite clear how strong you were going to be.’

‘So what? He’s jealous? Jealous of all the people wanting me dead, of putting my life on hold so I can be strong enough to save the world?’ I sat up, my voice getting unnaturally high with anger.

‘I think he’d quite like the adoration,’ Eli said, quietly.

‘I never wanted any of that; I never wanted the people bowing to me, obeying my every whim.’

‘Yes, but he did.’

I shook my head, wearily. I had never imagined that anyone would be jealous of me. I hadn’t asked for any of this and I would be quite happy if none of it had ever happened, if I had gone on, blissfully unaware of the end of the world, and carried on at school, went to university, trained to be a doctor, and married Seth. How could he be envious of what I had? The only cool thing was the powers but he had that and I wasn’t allowed to do what I wanted with them anyway.

‘So what happened after he was born? Did he know about me, about my destiny?’

Eli nodded. ‘Yes he was told about you very early on, about how his half-sister was the saviour of the world, and that he wasn’t. That he would be expected to protect you, look after you. He didn’t like that. Especially as he became proficient in his powers quite quickly too, where you couldn’t do anything.’

‘Only because I was never told I had these powers, I didn’t know what to look for.’

‘But there was something else, it was also clear very early on to your Guardians that he was dark, the cocktail of DNA in him, made him sick, mentally. It happens sometimes, when we meddle in science, try to force something that shouldn’t be forced. The scientists made a koala, tortoise hybrid once, two of the most laid back creatures in the animal kingdom, but the reptile mammal mix was not supposed to be, and the animal was deranged,’ Eli said.

Noah elaborated. ‘I was sitting in a park with you two one day, he was about eighteen months old, and a little rabbit hopped up to the two of you. You were really excited and tried to stroke it, Adam grabbed it and snapped it’s neck.’

‘But that could have been an accident, children are sometimes quite rough with animals, because they don’t understand the concept of being gentle, he was only one.’ Quite why I was defending Adam, I didn’t know. I had seen what he was capable of in the dream, that sick, twisted mentality. But I had to understand whether this was because of something that had happened to him or because he was born that way.

‘Then he ate the rabbit raw, whilst it was still kicking, ripped it open with his teeth and ate its heart while it beat in his mouth. And that wasn’t the first time either. There were many such incidents.’ Noah said.

I swallowed.

Noah pressed on. ‘I was your personal guard when you were younger and he hated me, hated that you had someone to protect you when he had no one. By the time he was three and you were four, he was already physically stronger than you, the Guardian mix was stronger in him, and the Guardians mature much faster than humans. He tried to kill you, three times, each time more painful than the next. He didn’t want to kill you quickly, he wanted to hear you scream. After that they locked him up. He was kept at the Oraculum’s castle in the cells for years. I tried to talk to him, tried to get him to see sense, but the only thing he spoke about was how he was going to kill you one day. He appeared in my dreams as well, years ago, showing me him killing you in the most painful torturous ways. Then I heard that he had appeared in the Oraculum’s dreams too, showing them the same thing. They didn’t like that and they managed to stop him from using his powers. He appeared in your dream tonight?’

I nodded. ‘He stabbed me, said he wanted to watch me die, said that he hoped if I died in my dreams that I would die for real. As I lay there bleeding to death, I did everything I could to wake up, but I couldn’t.’ I swallowed, tears forming in my eyes as I thought about the next bit. ‘Then he killed Lucas, burned him to dust, like Nereus did to Samuel.’

Quinn finally broke his silence. ‘Why was I never told?’

‘I’m sorry Quinn, that was never my decision,’ Eli said. ‘I was only told about Adam a few years ago, when I was chosen to lead Eve’s personal guard. I haven’t really given him much thought, he was in a cell, he was hardly a threat. I think the Oraculum thought it might cause complications if you knew. You were so protective over Eve, I think they thought that if you knew about Adam you wouldn’t like that he was to be locked in a cell for the rest of his life.’

Quinn shook his head incredulously, not really sure what to do with this new information. He had a brother, a full brother, and one that hated me with an all-consuming wrath.

Eli turned to Noah. ‘I don’t understand, how is he suddenly able to use his powers, they had them blocked.’

Noah shrugged. ‘I understood that he was always closely monitored.’

I needed to speak to Cain about this, but with the bond that Persia had placed on us, there was no way he could find us.

‘He won’t get to you Eve, he’ll never get anywhere near you,’ Eli mistook my silence for concern for my safety.

But it was hard to find any fear in me. So I had one more person that wanted me dead, he would have to join a very long queue.

‘Thanks Eli,’ I yawned, suddenly feeling very tired.

‘We’ll leave you to go back to sleep,’ Lucas said and they resumed their positions on the floor though I suspected sleep would be a long way off for most of them.

I let my light wink out and only then did I see Quinn’s silhouette as he stared out of the window into the darkness beyond. Realising that everyone was going back to sleep, Quinn made to go back to his bed too.

I caught his hand as he walked past.

‘I didn’t know, Quinn. I met him once, but I didn’t know who he was then. It was just now, when I saw him and you straight after, that I realised how similar you two are. I’m sorry.’

‘We are nothing alike Eve, we might look alike, but I would never hurt you, never. If he wants to kill you, he’s no brother of mine.’

I squeezed his hand and he bent to kiss me fiercely on the head and then he walked back to his bed.

Seth pulled me down on top of him but despite his warm embrace I really didn’t want to go back to sleep if Adam was going to torture and kill my loved ones in my dreams.

I watched the room turn through a murky grey, to bright dazzling daylight.

I saw Eli get up and Seth sat up too. At some unspoken communication Seth joined him and the rest of my personal guard and they left the room, though I could see Noah and Ethan standing sentry at the open doorway.

I looked over at Persia and Quinn, they evidently hadn’t slept either. I stood up and went to sit next to Persia who was sitting against the wall. She leaned her head against my shoulder.

‘Are you ok?’ I asked.

‘When Adam killed Lucas, in your dream, do you think it was a prophecy?’

I shook my head. ‘No definitely not. Adam entered my dream; it was very different to a prophecy.’

Persia sighed with relief. ‘I couldn’t lose him too.’

I stroked her hair. ‘I love him too. I won’t let anything hurt him.’

‘I know you won’t.’

‘I know things are getting a bit dangerous around me, if you wanted to leave, I would understand.’

‘Don’t talk rubbish. I’m never leaving you so you can forget any ideas like that.’

I smiled as I hugged her tighter against me.

I looked over at Quinn who was staring at me intently.

‘Are you ok about last night, about Adam?’
I asked in his head.

He seemed surprised to hear my voice but after a moment he answered.

‘I wish I had been told, but it doesn’t change anything, if he wants you dead, he’ll have to come through me first.’

‘But he’s your full brother Quinn, I’m just your half-sister, you would seriously choose me over him.’

Quinn shook his head. ‘If he was like you, if he had compassion and love in his heart instead of hate and revenge then maybe it would be different. As far as I am concerned there’s no choice Eve, you are the single most important person in my life and you always will be.’

I smiled, gratefully.

Seth poked his head round the door. ‘Hey you guys ready to go?’

I frowned in confusion and then stood up and took his outstretched hand.

He led me downstairs and outside where all my Guardians were waiting. Quinn and Persia followed.

‘I have good news. Zach has taken control of Fort Naga, he and the Guardlings are in charge down there now. He forced all the Guardians that weren’t pledged to you to leave. I mean, there wasn’t that many that weren’t pledged to you anyway, they were outnumbered, so it wasn’t that hard for him, but we can go back if you want.’

‘Is it safe? With the Oraculum, some of them can slide too.’

Eli nodded. ‘Yes it could be a problem, but I don’t think they will risk coming themselves, not with the amount of Guardians there to protect you. Besides we don’t have to stay there for long, just long enough to pack and gather up your remaining Guardians and take them with you.’

‘It’d be nice to get back to somewhere with a shower though and my bed.’ The thought of climbing back into my nice comfy bed now, was a very tempting one. ‘Ok.’ I nodded.

I closed my eyes and slid us back to the fort, to the roof, where only a few hours before my Guardians had fought for my life. It was quiet when we landed, the hot sun high in the sky.

I made my way back down towards my bedroom, wondering if it had been trashed by the Oraculum’s Guardians, the Oraclings as Zach called them, but it was exactly as we had left it.

Seth lay down on the bed.