Forsaken (12 page)

“But I haven’t seen anything!  Most of the time, I was stuck in illusions.”
 

He nods.  “You’d be surprised with how much your subconscious holds.”
 

“What do I need to do?”
 

“Be willing to let me in,” he says.
 

I sigh.  “Fine, but not now.  We need to stop wasting time and find him.”
 

He nods.  “Hunter and I searched for the demon before.  We’ll split up.  Ethan, Jennifer
and I will go to the places where he is less likely to be.  You, Hunter and Chase
will go to the others.  Some of the places are tricky, with warded doors and doors
that take us into illusions.  You must be careful.”  He pauses.  “Whether you sense
them or not, don’t let them know you’re there… just come for us and let us know what’s
happening.”
 

I shake my head.  I don’t trust Xavier enough to take the chance of him finding Trent
before we do.  “No, we will go to all places together.”
 

Xavier nods.  “Very well, then we start with the most difficult place and work our
way to the others.  We need more weapons.  Hunter, would you come back to the Academy
to help me get them?”
 

Hunter agrees and as soon as they are gone, Ethan comes to sit next to me.
 

He watches Jennifer with such adoration.  Then he looks from her to me, “Kayla, what
you did for the Forsaken… do you think you could heal Jennifer too?  Make her an angel
again?”
 

She gasps.  “Ethan, that is not necessary.  It doesn’t matter.”
 

He looks at her and his tone softens.  “You’re right.  It doesn’t matter to me.  I
love you whether you’re fallen or not, but I know it matters to you and you deserve
better than this.”
 

She stands up and walks over to him.  She kneels down in front of him and puts her
hands over his.  “It doesn’t matter, love.”
 

“Please let her try this for you,” he begs.
 

I shrug.  “It won’t hurt to try.”
 

Jennifer looks into Ethan’s eyes.  “I’ll try, but I’m doing this for you, not for
me.  Ethan smiles down at her.  He then stands up, helping her up as well and gives
her his seat.  Jennifer sits next to me and I close my eyes, and when I’m finally
able to get into her head, it’s not a memory that I see, it’s a message.  “Please
tell him that you can’t.  I know what will happen if this works and I couldn’t bare
him wanting to stay away because he is afraid of me becoming a fallen once again.”
 

I slowly open my eyes.  “I can’t, Ethan.  I’m sorry.”
 

I can see the disappointment all over his face.  He shakes his head.  “But you were
able to do this with beings from Hell.  I don’t understand.  Jennifer deserves this.
 It should be easy…. It should be much easier than it was for you healing the others.”
 

I look away from him, not knowing what to say.  I also don’t want to lie to him.  It
was hard enough to say that I couldn’t do this without even trying.
 

“It’s okay, love,” says Jennifer.  “It’s not meant to be.”
 

Ethan kneels down in front of her.  “But I know it in my heart that it is.  The dark
wings don’t belong to you.  I see goodness in you everyday and it kills me to see
you being cursed with this darkness of your wings.”
 

Jennifer leans closer to him and puts her hand against his cheek.  He closes his eyes
and takes a deep breath.
 

“I see the same in you, Ethan.  This is not fair to either of us, but reality is that
we fell.”  He opens his eyes and a tear runs down his face.  She wipes the tear away.
 “What matters to me is that we’re still together, Ethan.  I miss being able to help
humans and our kind like I used to, but I wouldn’t be able to focus on any of that
without you by my side.”
 

He smiles up at her then looks at me, “Thank you for trying.”
 

When Xavier and Hunter return, everyone’s mood is down, but they don’t ask why and
we offer no explanation.
 

Once everyone has a weapon, Xavier transports us to a cabin in the middle of a forest.
 I stand a few feet away from the front door, holding my dagger.  Xavier masks our
presence.  I can sense that Ezra has been here.  We all can.  I shiver just thinking
about him.
 

“Can you tell if he’s still there?” Hunter asks Xavier.
 

I close my eyes.  I know that he is here.  Without so much as a word, I rush toward
the cabin.  I don’t even need anyone to transport me in.  I kick in the door and run
inside.  When inside, I stop and turn around and they are all behind me, ready to
fight.
 

“They were just here,” says Jennifer.  “They know we are after Trent.  They won’t
come back.”
 

“Back from where?” asks Hunter.
 

I walk over toward a door at the end of the hallway.  The door is warm.  I sigh.  I
close my eyes and I’m inside Trent’s head.  He is crying and scared.  He is in the
room where Samael and I used to be.  Ezra is telling him that is where they are staying
for a while.
 

“Come here, boy.” Ezra says while looking out the window.  “Do you see those two creatures?”
he says looking at the Forsaken.
 

Trent nods.
 

“I want you to destroy them.”
 

Trent looks terrified.
 

“I don’t want to,” he says.
 

Ezra nods.  “I won’t be back until you do.”
 

He turns around and leaves Trent there alone.
 

I can feel as if I’m out of breath, but I can’t pull myself away from his head.  I
feel what he feels and suddenly, the terror turns into joy and it scares me for only
a moment, until I hear him say, “Hi Sam!”
 

I look where he is looking but I see no one.
 

Trent nods.  “Okay…. I understand… Are you going to stay with me until Kayla comes?”
 He smiles and I know that at least for now, Samael is watching over him, but I don’t
know for how long.
 

I pull myself out of his head and gasp for air.  I run outside and sit on the floor
to catch my breath.
 

Hunter is by my side within a matter of seconds.  “What happened?  Are you okay?”
 

I nod.
 

“How did you get into the Otherworld?” I ask.
 

“With their help,” he says as he looks at the others.  
 

“I need to go back.  Trent is at the house where I was.  Samael is with him but I
don’t know for how long.”
 

Xavier shakes his head.  “Absolutely not.  We go back to the Academy right now.  It
is time for the others to know what is happening.”
 

I look over at Hunter, concern all over his face, but I know there is nothing he can
do, even if he wanted to.
 

“I’m not going back to the Academy,” I say.
 

“Kayla,” says Xavier.  “It’s safe there.”
 

I shake my head.  “I want to stay with Ethan and Jennifer.  I won’t allow the fallen
at the Academy to use me to find Trent.”
 

Xavier shakes his head and walks over to Hunter who looks like he is about to pass
out.  “You are ready to protect her on your own,” he says and hands him his sword.
 “I can’t help from here on out.”  Then Xavier leaves.
 

As soon as he is gone, I face Ethan and Chase.  “I need your help to get me to the
Otherworld.”
 

“Kayla!” says Hunter.
 

“I’m going to go get him.”
 

Hunter shakes his head.  “Not without me, you are not.”
 

I nod.  “Okay.  You and Chase can come along.”
 

“When?” he asks.
 

“As soon as possible.  If we get lucky, Ezra won’t even be there.  The Forsaken will
be able to help us and Trent can take down the wards.”
 

“He can?” he asks.
 

“Yes.”
 

We go back to the lake house first.  I want to change my clothes into something more
appropriate for the heat, and Hunter wants to make sure we are all well fed.
 

Once we get back to the cabin, we are shocked to see that we have guests waiting:
Stephaine and Benjamin.
 

As we approach them, Benjamin watches me curiously and I watch him.  No matter how
many times I’ve seen him or even what I lived through, he still terrifies me.  
 

He doesn’t look happy to be here at all and I don’t like it one bit.  I also don’t
like that with my hair darkened, one can tell that we are brother and sister and I
know that as soon as we are done with this, I want my natural hair color back.  I
know how stupid it is to worry about something like this with everything going on,
but I don’t want to look in the mirror and think about him.  I don’t want anything
in common with the demon.
 

“What are you doing here?” I snap.
 

“Why the hostility, little sis?  As far as I know, you are here thanks to me.”
 

“No.  I’m here thanks to Hunter and Chase… and myself.”
 

Stephaine steps forward.  “We come in peace.  We just need to talk.”
 

I look from Benjamin to Stephaine and I see that she looks the same except for the
black wings, which don’t seem like they belong at all.  She also looks extremely tired.
 

“What is it?” I ask.
 

“Can we go inside the house?”
 

Ethan starts to say yes, but I stop him.  “You can.  He,” I say looking at Benjamin,
“he can stay out here.”
 

“Ouch, sis… words hurt, you know?”
 

“What do you want Benjamin?”
 

“For starters, I want to be away from here.  Let’s make it clear that I’m here mostly
for her.”
 

“That’s sweet,” I say sarcastically.
 

He looks at Stephaine, “I told you this was a bad idea.”
 

“Just tell them,” says Stephaine.
 

He looks at her with such intensity and devotion that for a split second, I almost
forget what he really is.
 

He turns his gaze on me.  “Father came looking for me.”
 

I give him a puzzled look wondering why he has come to warn us.
 

As if reading my mind, he says, “I’m not here to warn you.  I’m here to recruit you.”
 

“You.  Recruit me?” I laugh.
 

“The old man has gone mad.  He plans to give control to a kid.  He wants the kid to
destroy the world like—like it’s a simple video game. I told him I’d join him.”
 

“And how are you here now?  Don’t you think he will find that suspicious?”
 

He shakes his head.  “He trusts me.  Besides, I told I just need some time before
then.”
 

I laugh at the absurdity of it all.  “And he agreed?  Just like that?”
 

“Well, he told me I have twenty-four hours to stop playing house with Steph and then
I better be by his side.”
 

“Why are you telling us all of this?  Why do you want to ‘recruit me’?”
 

He sighs.  “You ask too many questions, sis.  You should learn to trust people.”
 

Hunter grins and shakes his head.
 

“I need your help because if the kid destroys the world like father plans, Steph will
be destroyed along with everything else.”
 

I see Stephaine approach him and wrap her arms around his waist.
 

“And you trust him?” I ask her.
 

“With my heart and soul,” says Stephaine.
 

I nod and look over at Ethan.
 

“Do you mind if we go inside and talk?”
 

***
 
 

We all gather around the living room.
 

“What’s your plan?” I ask Benjamin.
 

“Well, you and I are the only ones who can enter Hell.”
 

“So can Hunter,” I say.
 

Benjamin shakes his head.  “Seriously?”
 

I nod.  “He goes where I go.”
 

I can feel Hunter’s hand on mine and without looking at him, I can tell he’s smiling.
 

Benjamin shrugs.  “Whatever.  Any way… it seems to me that the easiest thing to do
is to take out the boy.”
 

I’m shocked at how careless he sounds about it.  Hunter senses me tense and get nervous
about it all.
 

“Absolutely not,” says Hunter.  “You won’t even come close to the boy.”
 

Benjamin laughs.  “Look at you being all understanding and stuff.  Do you even know
how the boy was created?  Do you know who he belongs to?”
 

“And you do?” I ask Benjamin.
 

“Of course.  Father told me everything.”
 

I drop down to the couch.
 

“Don’t you know how he was created?” he asks.
 

I shake my head.
 

“The kid belongs to you and Samael.”
 

“But we—”
 

“Relax,” says Benjamin.  “He was created by Lilith with yours and Samael’s blood.”
 

“How come he looks like us?”  That is one thing I’ve never been able to get off my
mind.