Carrier 02: Shadow of the Mark (24 page)

“Leave her alone!” I shouted, halting the air and dropping the grip on the guard’s throat. He sucked in a huge, rasping breath and coughed.

“You stupid bitch!” he growled, lurching for me.

“Nobody touches her!” Anú snapped. The guard’s face contorted with rage, and his eyes bulged, but he backed down.

I peered into the car. Anú looked like a frail child, but her face was wizened and lined like a corpse. Bits of dead flesh clung to her bones, and she was partially bald, with tufts of white and gray hair on one side of her head. Her eyes held no color. They were coal dark and lifeless. Soulless.

Matthew stepped in between us, all smiles and fake charm. “Anú, you said you wouldn’t harm them, right?”

Anú didn’t acknowledge that he’d spoken. Her black gaze remained fixed on me.

Matthew cleared his throat. “Anú, you have your amulet and the Marked Ones. So if it’s alright with you, I want to get out of this shithole and back to civilization.”

“Yes, you’ve proved useful.” Anú pulled her hand back inside the car. A second later, the flash of a blade blinded me before it sank into Matthew’s throat, slicing deep and long. I heard the blood whooshing in my head, matching the blood that gushed from the wound. He dropped to his knees, still smiling stupidly, and fell face-first into the wet dirt.

“His disrespect for the Marked was his greatest downfall. Get everyone in position,” Anú ordered. “If anyone harms the fourth, they will suffer my wrath.”

Two guards grabbed me on either side and held me tight. Anú leaned from the car and pointed a second silver knife at Caitlin while staring at me. “You use your element against them and I’ll use this on your friend.”

The guard with the purple face and bulging eyes leaned into the car and gently picked up Anú, covered her head with her hood, and carried her toward me. The amulet hung around her tiny neck, looking heavy and awkward. She slithered her hand out from the white wrap she wore and moved toward my Mark again. I cringed away from her touch and her merciless, dead eyes.

“How can you be alive?” I gasped.

Her hand paused on its way to me. I focused on it rather than look into her eyes. The milky white, paper-thin skin began to develop a haze around it, like a mist hanging on a damp field in the early morning.

She swiped her hand away and tucked it back under her white wrap. “Do I look alive to you?
You
have my life.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

From the confines of her guard’s arms, she leaned in, put her face close to mine, and parted her lips in a feline gesture like she was going to hiss. “I am the original fourth of royal blood. It was my destiny to be the Cluaín, but the Order denied me my birthright.”

Frustration boiled over in me. “Well, you’re welcome to it! I never
wanted
to be a Cluaín in the first place.”

Her hand shot back out and grabbed me by the neck. For someone so small and frail, her grip dug into my flesh. I tried desperately to peel her bony fingers away but couldn’t. I struggled for air.

Fionn lurched for us. “Stop it!” But a swift kick in the lower back silenced him as he fell forward. Randel swooped down and clawed at the guard’s face.

“Will somebody shoot that friggin bird!” the guard growled, swiping at Randel.

“No! No gunfire. Not when I’m so close. We cannot be disturbed.” Anú’s arm started to smoke again, the haze drifting toward my nose, where the vapor stung like acid. Black blotches blurred my vision, and my blood pounded in my ears. I fought to stay conscious. Then suddenly Anú cried out and let go, whipping her hand under the white cloth. “Do you see what they’ve done to me, what I’m reduced to?” she screeched, and glanced down at herself. “This body, once a vessel for great power, is being eroded to dust by the very elements it was born to hold.” I cowered away from her, covering my nose, trying to make the stinging stop. Anú laughed bitterly.

“My appearance disgusts you, doesn’t it, Megan? But I wear the decay like a badge of persistence. I’ve done what I’ve had to do. Being the Cluaín enabled me to take the elements of the Marked. When the Order stole my Mark, they took away my ability to hold the elements, but they couldn’t take my birthright from me. I discovered I still had the power to take and absorb the elemental power. I could only hold the power for a fleeting moment, but it was enough to rejuvenate me and to prolong my existence until once again, I got the chance to do what the Order denied me. Take a good long look, Megan. You may as well get used to it, because what you see before you is your future. It’s what we Cluaín do.”

“I will NEVER be like you.” I heaved in a breath and coughed, my lungs burning from her toxicity.

Anú turned her dead glare to Fionn. “Her ignorance is fitting for the Order. Did you not let her in on their little secret?” Anú cackled. “The Order doesn’t like that part of our history, so they left it out of the translations of the Scribes. The truth is not something they like the Marked to know.”

“What truth?” I asked, terrified.

“The female fourth of royal blood—the Cluaín—holds the key to the ultimate prize, the power of all five elements. You and I have the ability to combine and take the four elements and open the door to the fifth, the most powerful element of all. To enter this world, the fifth—spirit—must be borne by the fourth’s royal blood. The blood of the fourth still runs deep in my veins. I will be young and beautiful again and will have the fifth element. I’ve earned it, living off the dregs of the Marked, taking what I could of their elements with the help of the amber shard. It kept me alive long enough in this damned life to find the next Cluaín.”

“So if you can just take them, then what do you need me for?”

“Don’t you see? I can only hold the powers long enough to regenerate. I’d never be able to take all four individually—I’d start to lose them before I’d taken the last. That’s why I needed another Cluaín, to take all four elements in one go, and take what is rightfully mine. The Order thought they were being so clever when they killed Emma and Stephen DeRís; they thought they’d stopped the cycle of the fourth again. But they were wrong . . . as usual.”

I shook my head. “No! The Knox killed them.”

“Why would I kill Emma’s unborn child? It was the one thing I was after. She was destined to be the next Cluaín; at least she would have been when Emma transferred her element to her, like my mother was supposed to do to me. But the Order would never have allowed it, just as they didn’t for me. As soon as they discovered the child she was carrying was a girl, they sacrificed her. And in doing so, the Order lost the fourth to the Sidhe, those stupid fools. The Sidhe bided his time, waiting for the last moment to keep you hidden from all of us. That time has taken its toll on me, but it’s been worth the wait. Now I have the Marked four, and the amulet is mine. I’m taking back my rightful place.”

“You’re lying,” I said. “How could you possibly know all that?”

Anú sneered. “I know it because I lived it, you stupid girl. And you should know it too. Do you really think the Order would lose such information? The naivety of generations of Marked never ceases to amaze me. Do you really believe they lost the ability to translate texts? I’ve sat by for centuries, watching as the Order ruined a once-great institution with ignorance and lies, all in a bid to prolong their own existence.”

Fionn lifted his head from the dirt. “Don’t listen to her, Megan.”

Anú glared at him. “Poor Fionn, blinded by love. You put your faith in the wrong people. I empathize with you. They betrayed me too.” She nudged her guard, and he stalked closer to me. Her deathly black stare pierced me, boring right into my soul. “And you, Megan. Don’t be so harsh in your judgment of me. We are one and the same.”

I glared back and remained silent.

“You’ve tasted water, haven’t you? I have too. I knew it as soon as the element was within you. It enabled our connection. Did you know each Marked leaves their own signature on the element they possess? A signature linking the generations of Marked, like a family, all waiting for the circle to come full.”

“What happens when the circle comes full?”

“The Marked line comes to its end, and elements return to Danu. It’s what she always intended. But the Order decided to keep the elements earthbound to prove to her that humans could handle her gift. Generation after generation, they failed. And instead of admitting their failings, and enjoying the power of the institution they reigned over, they hid the knowledge of the Cluaín with lies and rewritten Scribes, and disposed of every female fourth of royal blood or those who had the potential to become her.” She swiped at my blouse, ripping it open and revealing the swirling scar left behind by Adam’s element. “But they didn’t get you, and your power has grown fast.” She pushed my head to the side, fingering my Mark. “The fifth circle has already begun. You started the call as soon as you took your first element. Spirit is already on its way.” Her eyes looked hungry. She nudged her guard again. “Quick, get everyone in position. Let’s not wait a moment longer.” She pointed at Fionn. “Bring the girl and the guardian with you.”

I was shoved down the field to where Adam, Áine, and Rían lay motionless. Áine’s eyes met mine, and her voice spoke to me in my head.
Buy time. Cú and Sebastian are coming with help. Do what you have to do to stay alive
.

I nodded in her direction and kept moving.

The guards dragged Adam, Rían, and Áine by the feet and put them into the same positions we’d practiced for the alignment.

Rían’s eyes cleared a little, and he pushed himself up onto his elbows. “Get off m . . .” He collapsed back to the ground and rolled over.

“Good, they’re nearly lucid,” Anú said. “We must act now.”

“What did you give them?” I asked.

“Just a little something our friends in the Order gave us,” the bulging-eyed guard said with a leer. “Rohypnol. Apparently it’s the one drug with the power to disable your elements. I’d love to give it a go on you.”

“Quiet, you fool! We need her in control for the transfer,” Anú said, raising a hand to his face and scratching it like a wild animal.

I scanned the trees for Chloe but didn’t see her. I had to stall Anú. “How many Cluaín are there?”

She pointed a bony finger at me. “Just one. There is only one Cluaín born every fourth generation. But nobody was ever counting on me being around for longer than my own.”

Two guards lined up behind Anú. Caitlin and Fionn were forced to their knees in front of the guards, with a knife at each of their throats. Caitlin’s head hung low, and she whimpered. Fionn stared at Anú, his battered face defiant.

Anú pulled her hood down, revealing tufts of white-gray hair that blurred into her skin. “All you have to do is let the elements flow through you, like you’ve been practicing for the alignment. I’ll do the rest.”

“Wait! Don’t you need the other Marked?” I asked.
Where are you, Chloe?

She shook her head. “They’re merely vessels. We are the Cluaín; we’re the ones that matter.”

“But if there can only be one, and I have the Mark, how can you be a Cluaín?”

Her face writhed with rage. “I may not bear a Mark anymore, but I’m still a Cluaín! I shall bear the fifth. It was my destiny.”

“But you’re not Marked anymore, so you’re not
really
a Cluaín, are you? You need me.”

She screeched, “I am the rightful owner of that power. You should never have received such a gift. You’re not worthy!”

There was no sign of Cú, Sebastian, or Chloe. I didn’t know how to begin stalling this centuries-old psycho, but I seemed to have hit a nerve in her.

I raised my chin in defiance. “I don’t know about that. The Sidhe selected me. From what I hear, you had to kill your own mother to claim your Mark. That doesn’t sound like rightful ownership to me.”

“Ownership is ownership. Who cares if it’s rightful or not? My mother was weak. She chose the Order over her own daughter. She believed in the lies. I was betrayed!” Anú spat through clenched teeth. “I don’t need my Mark to get what I want. All I need is the combined power of the four elements for a few moments. I may not be able to do that by myself, but you can. When you take all four elements, you’ll call upon the fifth. By the time it gets here, I’ll have stripped you of your Mark and the elements you hold. All the elemental imprints in me will confuse the powers. For a few moments, they will recognize me as the true Cluaín, and that will allow me to hold them just long enough to use their power to rejuvenate me and for the fifth to recognize me as the royal blood that will bear it. Now start,” Anú demanded.

I glared at her. “No!”

“I command you to start!” She summoned the first guard to her. He pushed Fionn in her direction, with the blade already pressed into his throat. Blood pearled on his skin. Anú took the knife from the guard and ran her tiny fingers along the blade. “You will do this.” Staring at me, she drove the knife into Fionn’s side. He groaned and slowly fell to the ground.

“NO! Stop. I’ll do it,” I cried out, not taking my eyes off Fionn.

“Good. Because next time it will be his throat.”

“I need to be touching them to do it. The elements only pass to and from me when there’s physical contact.”

Anú sighed. “Fine. Do what you must.”

I dropped to my knees in front of Rían. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to do,” I whispered, and took Rían’s hand in mine. His eyes flared to a glowing orange as flames ignited around him. I put my other hand out and touched Áine’s cheek. A tear trickled down my face as Áine’s body was encased in ribbons of green and brown, and root networks and opening leaves flickered over her until she became one with the ground. Their energy burned close to me, and my own element jolted in my chest, trying to escape, wanting to join earth and fire. But to my left, burning brighter than the others, was water. I could feel Adam’s element like an old friend, working its way toward me, familiar and warm.

I gazed at Adam’s body, now encased in a coffin of water. His eyes burned dark and vivid behind the liquid, calling to me. I clenched my eyes shut and tried to block out the calling, until I could bear it no longer. The air whipped around me, and my eyes burst open, knowing they burned white and intense. Earth and fire gathered above my head, swirling together in a magical dance. I felt my chest open as the energy built, my element drawing the others in. Áine was first to go. She writhed and squirmed under her prison of branches and leaves until she came to a stop. The cage of growth fell away and revealed her limp and unmoving body.