The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) (69 page)

“You seem very interested in having me do a lot of your work,” Connor said, clearly annoyed. “You want me to shoot this Allison. You want me to interrogate a Starborn.”

“Your brother.”

Connor shrugged. “I just don’t get it.”

Jeremiah leaned forward. “There is nothing for you to get,” he said through clenched teeth. “You do what I ask of you or you die. Simple as that.”

Connor sat back in his chair and sighed. “What do you want me to ask him?”

“You’re his brother,” Jeremiah said. “Play it like you’re there to help him. Even tell him you can help him escape if he lets you know what the Starborns’ next plan is.”

“I’ll do it, but he’sou’ not going to talk.”

Jeremiah turned to Trace. “Show him the way.”

Connor was rubbing his face when he felt Trace grab him by the arm and pull him upward to stand. “Come on,” Trace said. As they walked out of the room, he let go of Connor’s arm and shook his head. “Are you just trying to make yourself useless to Jeremiah? We talked about this. That’s the same as trying to get yourself killed.” He laughed. “You’ve got some nerve questioning the boss like that. He must think you’re good for something, or else you would definitely be dead by now.”

Connor didn’t respond to anything Trace said as they walked through the lavish hallways of the Center. They traveled up at least four floors before they reached a very different, stark hallway with dark grey walls. A guard waited next to a steel door and stood straighter when he saw Trace and Connor approaching. 

“Do you have a radio or anything electronic on you?” the guard asked.

“No,” Trace said. “We don’t.”

Connor couldn’t help but notice that the only light in this hallway was from windows that showed through to the outside. It was the same case for the room they entered when the guard let them through. He didn’t know why, but Connor’s heart jumped when he saw Aaron sitting slumped against the wall. The large window sat framed above his head. This was the perfect prison to hold someone like Aaron. No electrical power. In here, he was a normal man, trapped by walls. 

Aaron scowled when he saw Connor approaching. “What are you doing here?”

“Working for Jeremiah,” Connor answered. For a moment, he thought about trying to knock Trace out and then going for the guard’s gun, but he wasn’t sure what kind of power Trace had. Any action like that against a Starborn could be futile. 

“You’re a lousy traitor,” Aaron said. “I’m surprised they even let you stay on their side with all the Screven soldier’s you’ve killed.”

“Sacrifices had to be made.” Connor hated the charade. Pretending to be one of the bad guys made him hate the sound of his own voice. He wished there was a way to communicate to Aaron that he wasn’t really with them and that he was only trying to provide a way for
me
to track Jeremiah. 

He noticed the blood on the back of the wall where Aaron had leaned against it. “Are you alright? Have you been shot?”

“What do you care?”

“Can you communicate with him?”

Aaron looked at Connor with a confused look on his face. “What?”

Connor closed his eyes for a moment, thinking about me. The words came across as clear as if he were speaking them out loud.
I’m talking to you, Mora. Can you communicate with Aaron? Tell him I’m not a traitor!

My eyes snapped open. Christopher had since let go of my hand and was sitting next to me asleep, and there was no one else around. Closing my eyes, I thought about Aaron. As soon as my consciousness was near him, I called out. 

“Aaron,” I said. “Connor is on our side. The two of you need to figure a way out of there together.”

I got no response. Instead, Aaron continued to talk to Connor. 

“I knew from the beginning that I couldn’t trust you,” he said. “Why do you think I never told you about my gift?”

“Probably because you were ashamed,” Connor said. “You used them to kill my parents.”

“So they’re
your
parents now,” Aaron said. “I see. Well, that’s not why I kept it from you. You’ve been a Jeremiah fanboy from the beginning. You only helped us out of Salem because you’re infatuated with Mora.”

“Don’t talk about her,” Connor said. 

I could see his face turn red with anger. I suddenly realized that he was no longer playing the part of the bad guy. In his frustration with Aaron, it was coming out naturally. 

Trying to diffuse the situation, I called out again. “Aaron!” I said. “He’s on our side!”

Still nothing. Aaron just sat there, loathing. 

I switched to follow Connor. “He’s not hearing me,” I said. 

This is bad
, Connor thought. “I’m not here to argue with you, Aaron. We need to know what you’re planning.”

“I’m not saying anything to you or them,” Aaron nodded at Trace when he said this. “You can kill me, but I’m not talking.”

Connor looked at Trace, clearly not sure what to do. “I’ve done my best,” he said. “He won’t talk to me. What more do you want?”

Trace shook his head. “Nothing for now.” He looked at Aaron. “We’ll be back, I’m sure.”

“You’re tough now that you’ve got me without my gift,” Aaron snapped. 

Trace smiled. “And for all you know, you were the last person I touched. That would mean I have no
gift
here, either, since there isn’t any electricity.”

Aaron stared for a long moment. 

As I sat and watched them, part of me want to shout out for Connor to attack Trace, because if what he was saying was true, Trace would have no power in that room. But what if he had touched Jeremiah or Anthony? If Connor tried something, he would be dead. 

Trace let out a laugh and turned his back on Aaron, walking out of the room. Aaron must have had the same thoughts as me because he sat there motionless. 

Before the door closed, Connor looked back at Aaron. It seemed that Aaron wanted to kill him. But Connor looked at him almost apologetically. He didn’t want to be against Aaron. He
wasn’t
against Aaron. How could he communicate that to him? As the door shut, Trace led Connor back down the hall. 

“Now you can’t get your brother to talk,” he said. “You’re just about to lose every bit of usefulness you have.”

Connor ignored him. 

I opened my eyes to find Christopher still asleep, though I wasn’t sure how he had slept through all of my talking. I closed my eyes in search of Evelyn this time. I found her and Jeffrey walking through the streets. But when I looked more closely, I was surprised to see them so near the hideout. 

They looked over their shoulders to make sure there were no Screven guards watching them. They crossed the courtyard and finally made it into the hideout. At first, I wanted to get up and greet them, but I didn’t have the energy. Besides, they would have so many people coming up to them to make sure they were all right. 

Minutes went by and I just kept my head rested against the wall. I thought about Jake and Grandma at Springhill. It wasn’t a pretty sight there. Most of the dead had already been piled up and burned. The two of them were helping to clean the village while others worked hard to finish the wall. I was glad they were still working on the wall, but I hoped they wouldn’t need it for long. All I could think about was them living out their days in New Haven away from all this mess. I didn’t want them to have to rebuild with the rest of the world. I wanted them to be in a new one. A place where they could have a brand new start. 

I couldn’t help but smile at them, even though there weren’t smiles on their faces. They were staring at tragedy all around them. But I would rather have them stare at iI couldt than be a part of it. Of course, one was always part of it in some way. These were our friends. People we lived with. I silently hoped that my family would never have to face such disaster again. 

More minutes passed until I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Christopher who pointed at Evelyn standing above us. 

“Don’t get up,” she said as she got to her knees and sat in front of us. “You two probably feel terrible.”

Neither one of us answered.

“I see you made it out alive,” I said. 

Evelyn nodded, but the look on her face showed nothing but deep concern. “I was told Aaron was shot, but no one here saw it happen.” She looked at Christopher. “Could I speak with Mora alone for a minute?”

“If you’re asking me to leave so you can discuss her ability to see people from far away, I don’t think it’s necessary,” he answered. 

Evelyn and I looked at him sharply.

He waved us off. “Sadie mentioned something about it.”

I shook my head. “So, Sadie just claims to have no interest in other people’s thoughts, yet she really does?”

Christopher shrugged. “She tells people that so they feel more comfortable around her.” 

“Fine,” Evelyn said. “Tell me what you saw.”

“Aaron is alive. Jeremiah has him somewhere in the Center. No access to electricity.”

“I’m glad he’s okay,” she said. “What about Connor?”

“He’s in a tight spot. He’s keeping up with his act, but I’m afraid Jeremiah is starting to catch on. If we’re going to attack and know exactly where Jeremiah is, then we need to do it soon.”

“You might get your shot after all,” Evelyn said. “Allison is broken. She’s upset about the prisoners obviously, but she now wants to make a full-on attack against the Center this evening instead of tomorrow morning.”

“Why does she think that will work?” I asked. 

“She doesn’t,” Evelyn said. “The attack itself will be no good. She only hopes we are able to get the explosives into the basement of the Center and somehow get someone to detonate it. She doesn’t really expect us to survive this.”

“Well,” I said, “I’m not planning on dying until I’m face to face with Jeremiah.”

“But if we can take down the Center with him in it, you won’t have to be face to face with him.”

“I plan to make sure he stays put,” I said. “I’m going down with the Center.”

Evelyn paused at my words. Talks of planned deaths and sacrifices were not conversation pieces we were used to. I had obviously come to grips with my mortality, but Evelyn still seemed to have trouble hearing about it. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked. 

She looked down at the floor. “It’s just…” She stopped herself to take a deep breath. “It’s just that you were supposed to be the one to carry on after Jeremiah was gone. In a sense, I have been looking for someone to take my place when I’m gone. A person who can train other Starborns to help rid the world of the greyskins and whatever else might be lurking out there. When I first touched your arm, I knew you would be the one to carry the torch.”

“Why me?” I asked. 

“There’s just something about your passion, Mora. Your drive to protect the ones you love. Most of the others that I’ve met and examined, in part, only looked out for themselves. Aaron included. But from the start, you were completely selfless, and I knew that you were the one I wanted to carry on.”

I felt deeply touched by hereat words. I had never known that she saw me in that way. I figured that she just liked my ability and saw it as a way to help her cause against Jeremiah. It made sense, I guess. From the moment we met, she had taken a strong interest in me, always trying  to help me see things her way. Especially with the dreams. I was probably one of the only people in the world who knew about the origins of the greyskins so intimately. I bet even Jeffrey hadn’t seen all that I had seen. 

“If you have time to get some rest,” Evelyn said, “you might be able to see more of what I’m talking about.” 

“When can I rest?” I asked. “Also, it doesn’t really matter anymore. I’m going to die.”

“I guess it would just make me feel better knowing that you knew everything,” she said. She looked down at the ground again and then stood.
“We won’t be leaving for another hour. You might have time to catch up on some sleep.”

With that, she turned and walked away. 

I dropped my head and looked at Christopher who seemed to be in some kind of daze, staring at nothing in particular. I waved my hand in front of his face and he shook his head quickly. 

“Sorry,” he said. “Just thinking.”

“Don’t worry about anything she said. She’s just nervous.”

“Sounds like she had a lot planned for you,” he said, still not looking at me. 

“Plans change, I guess. Except ours.”

He looked at me. 

“You just need to help me one more time before we leave,” I said. “In fact, I think it would be a good idea for you to stay back here when we go.”

“No,” he said, sitting up straighter. “I’m going with you all the way.”

“That wasn’t the plan.”

“I have to be able to help you,” he said. “If you get sick in the middle of the Center, I need to be there to help you up.”

“No you don’t.”

“I’m not going to listen to you on this,” he said. It was the first time I had heard Christopher raise his voice. 

I held up my hands in surrender. “Okay. Okay. I just think it’s a little foolish for you to go running into the very place that has a half-dead man in need of a healer.”

“No more crazy than coming here in the first place,” he argued. 

I supposed he was right. This is what we had signed up for. We weren’t in Screven to hide. I had asked him to come along. I wouldn’t be able to change his mind. A part of me thought about just knocking him out and tying him to a chair, but I decided against it. I wasn’t going to tell him what he could and couldn’t do. 

After a few seconds of silence, Christopher spoke up again. “That was some heavy stuff she was saying.”

I nodded. 

“I guess you should probably get to sleep,” he said. “Figure out what else she’s trying to tell you.”

I scooted down the wall until my body was on its side and straight on the floor. My head rested on my hands as I closed my eyes. I don’t know if it was all the commotion we had gone through, or if the virus was getting worse, but my eyes felt so heavy. 

It only took me a few seconds until I fell into the dream world that Evelyn wanted me to see.  

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
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