Secret of Betrayal: Book Two of The Destroyer Trilogy (33 page)

“It’s very possible,” he admits. “You can never
truly know the depths of what a person is willing to do. Give them a deep
enough reason to betray, a threat terrifying enough to break them, and they’ll
do it. It could be any of your friends.” He speaks as if he’s dealt with this
before.

“I can’t believe either of them would ever hurt
me like that,” I say.

He shrugs sadly. “Nobody ever does, Libby.”

 More than anyone, that lesson should be
ingrained in me. My mom abandoned me and later tried her best to kill me before
Milo was forced to knock her out. Whatever his reason, my dad tried to steal my
talents. And those two are really only the beginning of the list. Will either
Milo or Braden really be added to that group? I just can’t see it.

“The prophecy says they’ll fail,” I say.
“Whoever it turns out to be, it isn’t going to work. They’ll try, but somehow
I’ll end up stopping them and figuring out their secret, whatever that means.
Any ideas?”

All I get is bland, emotional nothingness.
Helpful.

“Why would they even give this to new recruits?
I mean, it isn’t very inspirational for them. Their goal is to kill me, and
their own Seeker tells them it won’t work. Why do they even try?”

“Maybe they don’t see it as a prophecy,” Mr.
Walters says. “Not all visions of the future are sure events. Some can be
changed under the right circumstances.” He pauses as a ripple of pain seems to
course through him. Is there something else he wants to tell me? I won’t find
out. It passes and he looks back up at me. “Or maybe there’s another reason
entirely,” he says with a shrug that seems too tight.

“Okay.” I wait to see if he’s going to expound
on that. He doesn’t, of course. “Well, the last part you must know something
about, because you said almost the same thing to me once before. S
he will
learn the value of destruction, of gathering power, and will turn it against
us.
You know what value I’m supposed to find in destruction,” I say.

“That isn’t a question,” Mr. Walters reminds me.

I’m getting tired of this game. I want to just
jump inside his head and dig around for a while. Who knows what I could come up
with that way? Somehow I doubt the man covered in scars would ever want me
poking around in his promises and memories. “Fine,” I grumble. “Do I really
have to destroy the Guardians completely?”

Yes.

“Do I have to destroy anyone else?”

Hesitation, but yes.

“Destroying them, these people, real people,
will make everything better somehow?”

Absolutely yes.

“The prophecy said they can’t stop me, that I’ll
destroy the world. How can I destroy it and save it at the same time?”

It’s not a yes or no question. Mr. Walters can’t
give me a clear answer. His complex wave of emotions simply tells me it is
possible. I can do both. He and Saia have both told me there is beauty in the
aftermath of destruction. Crushing the Guardians will be a heavy price to pay
for any kind of happy ending. Not all of them are murdering, evil people. What
could possibly be worth so many lives?

Braden’s words come drifting back into my mind.
Rescuing the Ciphers won’t be the end. There’s more I have to do. More people I
have to protect? More pain and suffering I will have to face and put an end to?
There are more deadly secrets hiding behind Guardian Oaths and promises. The
weight of understanding settles over me.

“Will something worse than what’s happening to
the Ciphers now happen if I don’t fulfill my purpose?”

Yes.

Chapter 2
5

Twisted

Acting normal around Braden was hard enough
before Mr. Walters’ teaser. Now it’s practically impossible. Most everyone is
too wrapped up in planning and training to notice my odd behavior, but I can
tell Braden thinks something is up. I’ve been avoiding him as much as possible
over the last two weeks. It hasn’t been easy. Not when he’s one of the ones
training me, always present at every group planning session, and popping up
unannounced at my motel room or any other place I happen to be. He must think
it has something to do with the prophecy, though, because he hasn’t pestered me
to tell him what’s wrong. I’m happy to let him keep thinking that for now. I’ve
got too many other things to wrangle with at the moment.
Like
kicking off the largest scale rescue-slash-prison break in history.

“So, you three are sure the escape route is set?
There aren’t any holes or mislabeled corridors, no chance it will fail?” I ask.
Braden, Mr. Walters, Milo, and Lance all nod. They’re sure. I glance around the
room.

Celia and Mrs. Hanover have safe houses and
transportation ready near every compound. When I assigned them the task, I
honestly didn’t know if they could do it. I was afraid covering the thousands
of Guardian compounds worldwide would be way too daunting to be able to pull
off. Thanks to Braden, again, we were able to figure out which of those
thousands of compounds actually hold Ciphers. Luckily it wasn’t very many. Just
under a dozen serve as prisons. Out-of-the-way compounds with smaller
populations were chosen to hold the Ciphers, one for each area of Guardian
control.

Casey, Braden, Milo, and I have been training
the Ciphers in the spirit world nonstop for the last several months. There’s
only so much you can teach a Cipher about using talents since they can’t
actually practice what you’re teaching them, but we’ve explained and
demonstrated until every theory and practice we know is ingrained in them. I’m
just praying with everything I’ve got that when they wake up in their bodies
they’ll be able to use some of what we’ve taught them. This escape is
incredibly risky. Hopefully they won’t need to fight.

“Okay, so what haven’t we covered? Who still
needs to report?” I ask. I’m having a hard time keeping track of everything.

Mr. Walters clears his throat. “I believe we’re
up to me. I’ve had a difficult time getting the information you wanted, mainly
because the one trustworthy source I have on the matter has been living in the
South American jungle until recently, but I believe I’ve found the answer to
your question about performing multiple Inquests at once.”

My whole body lights up. Even when I gave him
the assignment, I didn’t expect an answer. I was simply taking a shot in the
dark, hoping there would be an easier way. His expression gives nothing away,
but I’m hoping.
Just this once …

“What did you find out?” I ask eagerly.

“It can be done.”

The disappointment I was prepared for turns on
its head. “It can?
How?”

He stares at me with that all-too-familiar expression
that says I’ve just asked the stupidest question in the world. I hate that
look.

“You do it the same way you do an Inquest on one
person, just with more people.” His condescending tone makes me want to snatch
his ugly little glasses right off his nose and grind them into the carpet. It
doesn’t help that I’m still ticked off about his whole “I had a vision of you
and Braden but I’m not going to tell” thing.

I have to tap my Naturalism to force my body to
relax. “What do you mean?”

“You should know as well as any Inquisitor that
speaking during an Inquest is completely optional. You can unlock talents
without uttering a word. Speaking merely informs the person of what you’ve
found. It gives the impression that Inquests have to be done individually, but
apparently in past centuries when Inquisitors were in short supply, Inquests
were often done in groups. The information about their talents, class, and name
are imprinted on the person’s mind as surely as their diktats are on their
flesh.”

“Oh,” I say, feeling a little foolish, “well,
good
. That settles that, then.”

I glance around my gathered friends again. Casey
and Dean look the most nervous. Casey was living a fairly normal teenage life just
a few short months ago. She hides it pretty well, but I know being shunned by
the rest of the school has been difficult for her. She has us, but I know it’s
not the same. There are still days when I really miss being able to call up Jen
and unload on her after a horrible day, or even just to have a little girl
talk. Jen would have made the last year so much better because she always knew
exactly when I needed a night at the movies or a day to hide from the world.
One thing Jen excelled at was having fun.

Dean, on the other hand, is as serious and
aggressive about this endeavor as Milo and Lance. He gave up his family for
this. He’s trying to convince himself that he was right to leave them, but when
he thinks no one is looking he takes a family photo out of his wallet to stare
at. One by one he touches each face, his parents and the three younger siblings
I didn’t even know he had.

Casey and Dean aren’t the only ones that have
given up something to be here. We’ve all given up more than anyone should ever
have to. The rest of us have just had more time to get used to the idea that if
we don’t succeed in this we’ll be forced to give up even more.

“If there isn’t anything else …” I say, my
thoughts weighing down my words so they sound muted in the full room. No one
has anything else to offer. “I guess it’s my turn, then. Everything’s ready.
Now we just have to pull it off.”

Everyone in the room seems to take a deep
breath. Can we really do this? The prophecy said they couldn’t stop me.
Centuries-old words can be fickle, though.

“After talking to Braden, I think the best time
to do this is going to be early morning on a weekday,” I say. “If we do it in
the morning, our time, most of the other compounds around the world will be in
times ranging from morning to early evening. Since the most experienced
Spiritualists cover the night shifts when more people are in the spirit world,
we’ll have the best chance of success early in the day. I want to do it in the
middle of the week just because it won’t be what they’re anticipating. Everyone
will be expected to be at school.” 

Braden touches my wrist to interrupt me. The way
his fingers linger makes Mr. Walters’ mouth turn up by the tiniest degree. I
look over at Braden expectantly, pretending the touch doesn’t send a burst of
desire through me. He withdraws his hand and says, “Attempting this during
school hours does present a problem, though. Getting excused from school isn’t
an easy thing. I may be able to pull Libby out, but each of you is going to
have to arrange an excuse to get out of classes. No outright ditching, though.
The last thing we need is to have a squad of Concealment Officers barging in on
us mid-rescue. So, by Sunday I want everyone’s plan for getting out of school.”

“Why Sunday?”
Casey
asks.

“Because we’re getting the
Ciphers out this coming Wednesday.
The first week back at school after
summer break is going to be so busy the Spiritualists will never expect it,” I
say. The already anxious oppressiveness of the room deepens. “Today’s Friday,
so get it taken care of over the weekend. Let either Braden or me know if you
run into any problems. Casey and Lance, you’re probably the ones who are going
to have the most trouble since the rest of us either have our parents on board
or just plain don’t have any parents.”

“I’ll figure something out,” Lance says. “Don’t
worry about it.”

Casey seems less confident. “Do I really need to
come? I don’t know what I’m going to do since I can’t help unlock talents.”

“Casey, I was hoping you would be willing to keep
an eye out for any interference from the Spiritualists. Shield as much of what
we’re doing as you can. You’re the most familiar with them, so I think you’ll
have the best shot.”

She nods quietly, but there’s still the matter
of her getting out of school. I expected her concern, and I hoped to use it to
reveal the next part of my game plan, the one nobody is going to like. A slight
tremor suddenly develops in my hand. I ball my fingers into a fist so no one
will see. “Casey, if you can’t get an excuse that might not be a problem. I
think we all need to be separated when we do this, anyway.”

Braden, Lance, and Milo all say it at once.
“No!”

Putting my hands up to fend off their
complaints, I say, “Guys, we have to. If the Spiritualists figure out what we’re
doing and alert the Guardians we can’t all be sitting in the same room
together. We’d be making it too easy for them. If they find one of us, they’ll
find us all, and we’ll fail. The Ciphers will never get out. We’ve really only
got one chance at this.”

“Libby, it’s even less safe to divide everybody
up,” Milo argues. Most of the others nod their heads in agreement. All but Mr.
Walters and Casey, who is probably thankful for the option of simply going to
school.
She can always claim she’s sick and spend the
morning in the nurse’s office where she can slip into the spirit world without
anyone noticing.

Lance joins the argument. “Libby, if you’re in
the spirit world when a Guardian comes after you, you won’t be able to defend
yourself. You won’t even know they’re there until they grab you.”

“That’s why I think we should be paired up. And
Mr. Walters agrees with me. He helped me work out the idea. Only a few of us
are actually going into the spirit world anyway. Casey can stay at school. She
should be safe enough there. Dean and Milo, you’ll both stay here with Milo’s
parents. Neither of them are Guardians, but Mr. Hanover does have Speed and
Strength and did some combat training before medical school. Cole and the
Miniatures,” I say, smiling at the nickname they were given by Lance, “have
offered to stand guard as well, but I’ll let you two make the call on that one.
Knowing them, they’ll show up, anyway, regardless of what you tell them. Mr.
Walters, you’ll partner with Braden, and Lance can stay with me.”