The Breaker's Promise (YA Urban Fantasy) (Fixed Points Book 2) (9 page)

Before she could respond, his thumb dug into her forehead. Her eyes got big, first with terror, and then with only emptiness.  “I’m sorry,” he whispered, and pressed harder. Blue light exploded in ribbons from Merrin’s forehead . Some of the ribbons fell to the floor and disintegrated into nothingness, but most of them seemed to funnel through Owen’s hand and into his body.

“Oh my God!” I squealed.  “Owen, what did you do?”

“What I had to,” he said through gritted teeth. He was still crouched down. His expression was pained and sweat was starting to form on his forehead.

“Owen, there has to be another way. What if you kill her?” I asked, my fingers curling up into nervous balls.

“Baby, I appreciate your concern. It’s sweet and all. But I really need to concentrate right now,” he grunted. “Just watch the door, okay?”

“We’ll do better than that,” Flora said. “We’ll shield it; put up anchors so that no one will be able to see or hear anything that goes on in here.”

“Good-good idea,” I stammered. My heart was racing. My palms were sweating. As much as I wanted to keep my secret, the idea that something would go wrong and that Merrin’s blood would be on my hands, on Owen’s hands, was unbearable.  I was already responsible for my father’s death and, in a way; I was to blame for my mom and Wendy’s death too.  The body count was starting to pile up, and even one more threatened to break my resolve.  “Be careful,” I whispered to Owen. He nodded as blue energy flowed into him.

Flora and I set out in shielding the room. It was pretty simple; a standard anchor and something that I learned pretty quickly once the whole Allister Leeman thing subsided and I could focus on school. The anchors we chose were just inverted W’s that covered most of Weathersby; so they looked a lot like M’s. But, where the W’s kept baselines from seeing what was going on inside of Weathersby, the M’s had the adverse effect- keeping the people inside of Weathersby from seeing or hearing inside our room.

It felt like forever passed as I watched Owen work on Merrin. Sweat poured off him and buckets, as he winced and even groaned under the pressure of what he was doing. I couldn’t tell how it was going because Merrin, for her part, sat motionless in the chair. It was like she was a mannequin; a shell of a person as the blue energy poured out of her and into Owen.

With God’s help, she’d be okay. When Owen was done, she would wake up in that chair with no recollection of the last hour. She’d deliver her faulty info to the Council of Masons, and Owen and I would have successfully dodged another bullet. But what if she didn’t? What if she died? What if this turned her into a brain dead vessel? Owen would be a murderer, and me-I’d be everything I was trying really hard not to be.

I had no idea how much time had passed when I heard the noise. It was soft at first, but familiar somehow; a melodic ring, like keys on a piano. It was the same noise I had heard on the other end of Owen’s phone, the same noise I heard when Allister Leeman activated the stars to guide me to his trap. But what was it doing here, in my room?

My head jerked toward Owen, but he was so consumed by what he was doing that he hadn’t heard anything. The noise sounded again; a melody of tones. Usually, something like this wouldn’t have bothered me. Anybody could have any kind of ringtone, after all. But I knew what these tones meant, and Breakers weren’t allowed to have cell phones unless they were out in the field. As I turned to Flora though, leaning against the wall of our shared bedroom, I saw the phone in her hand.

The melody rang out again, keys that I knew were meant to either convey some message or unlock something in Flora’s head. But that didn’t make any sense. For Flora to have a phone like that, for her to be receiving messages like the kind Allister Leeman and his people sent, then that meant that Flora-

“No…” I muttered. “No. It can’t be. Flora, what is that?”

She looked up at me slowly, a weird foreign smile spread across her face. “I’m really sorry, Cresta. But it’s what has to be done.”

And with that, she disappeared.

“Owen!”  I knew he was busy. I knew that, with one wrong move, Merrin could be killed or rendered brain dead. But I had also just found out that one of my best friends, one of the only people in the world who knew the truth about who I was, was working for my worst enemy.

Oh yeah, and she had just gone invisible.

“Owen!” I yelled again.

“Cresta, I’m busy!” He grunted. His lips were ground together tightly. I felt a sharp tug at my side. Before I knew what was happening, I flew across the room and smacked hard against the wall.

“Cresta?” Owen was looking at me know, still crouched in front of Merrin.  “What’s going on?”

I tried to speak, but I couldn’t catch my breath.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going on.” Flora’s voice sounded from somewhere on the other side of the room.  Something hit Owen hard in the gut. He groaned and crumpled to the floor. Another hit, and he went sliding across the room. The blue energy that had been flowing from Merrin to Owen began to snap and burst into bright ribbons. Merrin screamed and started to shake all over. Her face was a mask of pain. Whatever was happening inside of her was not good.

“Flora, stop this,” I panted. “You’re going to kill her.”

“Flora?” Owen asked, confused. A force swung across his face, splitting his lip and splashing blood through the air.

“Flora stop it!” I said. I tried to stand, but she was on me like a flash, pounding me with invisible fists and feet until I was back on my ass.

“I’m sorry, Cresta,” I heard her voice say from above me. “I don’t want to do this, but I have to. You messed it up. You messed it all up.”

“Who are you working for, Flora?” I asked, feeling warm blood flood metallic in my mouth.  “Allister Leeman is locked away. He’s in the Hourglass. He can’t help you now.”

“He’s where fate needs him to be, Cresta. We all are.” She was close now. Right on top of me. In the corner of my eye, I saw Merrin, shaking and twisting violently, still bound to her chair. She was going to die. This was going to kill her, and we’d all be responsible. I heard a crunch and a moan. Owen was up now, standing behind me, panting. He had kicked Flora, or punched her or something. I hadn’t seen. All I knew is that he had actually made contact with her, and that was impressive on its own.

“This doesn’t mean I’m not your friend, Owen.” Flora’s voice sounded further away now.  “You’re just on the wrong side of things, that’s all.”

“Shut up,” Owen muttered through gritted teeth.  “I’m not the one who aligned myself with a lunatic.”

“He’s not a lunatic, Owen,” Flora answered. “He’s smart. He sees things no one else does, and he knows things about the future that the stupid Council only dreams of knowing. “

“I’ve heard it before,” Owen said. He swung, but came up empty. He swung again; again nothing. Flora was luckier though, as she hit Owen in the back. He stumbled forward, and she hit him again. He spun, swinging behind him, but she was already gone. Another blow hit Owen, this time in the throat. He grabbed his neck, gasping for breath.

“Flora no!” I screamed.

“I have to, Cresta,” she said. There was a sniffle in her voice, like she was actually crying or something. “You’re the Bloodmoon. He’s the Dragon. He has to die so you can live. You have to live, Cresta!” She hit him again. He went careening to the floor. He was on his back, gasping for air. She must have been over him now. One more hit, a boot to the throat, and he would be dead.

“Flora, don’t you dare!” I screamed. She didn’t answer. She could be moving right now. She could have been about to murder him in front of me. I had to do something. Suddenly, the world shifted. I could see all of it again, all the shade in the room, all the shade in the world, including the shade that was hiding Flora.

She was over him, about to crush his windpipe with her boot.  “No!” I screamed, and threw my hands forward. The shade covering her twisted in the air and turned inward. It pushed against her and threw her against the wall. She hit hard and slid down to the floor, now visible to everyone.

She jumped back up, but I wasn’t having any of it. I used the shade in the room to push her back down, to pin her against the floor. She wasn’t getting anywhere.

“You must be out of your mind,” I murmured, blood trickling out of my mouth. “How could you do this?”

“You don’t know, Cresta,” she said, her eyes pleading with me. “They let him die, my little brother. They said it was his destiny, his fate. They said to try and stop it would be blasphemy. They made him believe it was okay! They killed him, Cresta and they made him like it! They have to be stopped. You have to stop them. You have to come with me.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I spit. Crawling over to Owen, I scooped his head up in my arms. “Are you okay?”

“Merrin,” he grunted. “Help Merrin.”  I looked up to find Merrin twitching and shaking; and now I could see why. The amount of shade running in and out of her was astounding. It poured out like a tidal wave and rushed back in like an avalanche. But it wasn’t right. Something was missing, broken. We had broken her. I crawled toward Merrin, hoping that my weird shade shaping power might be able to fix whatever was wrong. Her face was distorted. She was in so much pain. A pang of the worst guilt I had ever felt in my life cut through me. I touched her, hoping that, if nothing else, I could put a stop to the pain. Screw forgetting that I was the Bloodmoon. Screw keeping my secret from the Council. If I could just make her stop hurting, it would be okay.

As soon as my hand touched hers, I knew that, whatever I was doing, it wasn’t helping. The shade crackled and popped. It surged and ran between us, burning through my body like electric lava. I pulled away, but it was too late. The shade had taken ahold of me. It coursed through my veins, lighting my everything on fire. It felt like my soul was going to burn up. I yelped and screamed and, when I was sure I was going to die, I saw Owen op top of me, screaming something I couldn’t hear through his tears. I wanted to speak to him, to reach out and touch him, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t think about anything but the pain.

I heard a sniffle, and then the word ‘love’. And then I passed out.

When I woke, my head was pounding. My mouth was dry and my muscles felt swollen and aching. I was in bed, but not my own, covered up to my chin. As my blurry eyes started to make sense of what was around me, I noticed a machine sitting beside me, and registered its constant and steady beeping. Rubbing my eyes, I realized that wires ran from stickums on my chest up to the beeping machine. I was in the infirmary. They were keeping an eye on me.

A person, a woman, sat slumped over in a chair beside. A book lay spread open across her chest. It was Dahlia, and she was sleeping. Wait,
Dahlia
was watching over me?

“What happened?” I asked croakily. The noise, however quiet, jarred Dahlia from her sleep. She grabbed the book, and looked at her watch, while straightening up in her chair.

“There was an incident,” she cleared her throat. “You’ve been unconscious for almost eighteen hours. You gave all of us quite a scare.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you were worried,” I muttered.

She gave me a hard look. “I understand that things were tense the last time we spoke. I said things that I shouldn’t have, but that doesn’t mean I want to see bad things happen to you. It’s been a difficult few months for all of us and, after the events of yesterday, I’ve come to believe that the only way any of us is going to make it is if we try our best to pull together.”

The events of yesterday? What did she know about what happened yesterday? What
did
happen yesterday? The last thing I remembered was passing out trying (and most definitely failing) to help Merrin. But what happened after that? Did they know about Flora? Did they know about what Owen and I did to Merrin? Oh God, did they know what Merrin and Flora knew; that I was the Bloodmoon?

Now the idea of Dahlia watching over me made more sense. She wasn’t concerned about me. She was guarding me. I was a prisoner, and they were waiting for me to wake up just so they could cart me off to the Council.

“Yesterday?” I asked, hoping that I was wrong.

“You don’t remember?” Dahlia asked, standing. “I suppose that makes sense. You suffered a sizable amount of trauma. I’m going to go tell the others that you’re awake. Get dressed and meet us in Echo’s office. We’ll explain everything.”

Before I could respond, she was out the door. I found my jeans and brown tank; the same clothes I had been wearing when I passed out, folded on a chair beside my bed. My body ached as I slipped them on. They had been washed and smelled like sunshine and detergent. I slid into my shoes and out the door. I walked out of the infirmary and through the uncharacteristically empty common area toward Echo’s office. I had no idea what I was going to find when I got there. Owen and I had been hiding so much, and everyone in that room knew everything. So the idea that we’d have messed things up so much and might still somehow get away with it seemed ludicrous. I mean, even if Flora or Merrin (if she had even survived) didn’t tell Echo and Dahlia what went on, certainly the walls would when Dahlia walked in.

A cool sheen of sweat peppered my forehead. Nervousness crept over me, but it was a calm nervousness; the sort that you get when things are completely out of your hands. The truth was, if my secret was out, there wasn’t a damn thing the world I could do about it. It was over, and I’d have to accept it; whatever that meant.

The door to Echo’s office appeared in front of me too quickly. I didn’t want to go in there; not with so much hanging over my head. I remembered my first night in Weathersby, the first time I even walked into this office. I was just as scared, just as confused. The big difference: I had Casper beside me then. And, even though I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that him being here wouldn’t have made the tiniest bit of difference, I still ached for Casper to be beside me. At the very least, he’d crack some stupid joke that made me feel better.

I pushed through the door of Echo’s office to find him, Dahlia, and Owen  sitting in a semi-circle around his desk. I couldn’t read their expressions, but Owen wasn’t in chains, and that was a good sign.

“Cresta, are you okay?” he stood when he saw me.

“Yeah. I think so,” I nodded. He rushed me and scooped me up into his arms.

“I was so scared. I didn’t know if you were gonna wake up.” He pulled away from me quickly, and that made me feel better. This was a quick hug, a concerned friend hug; without even a hint of the lingering lovers’ touch. He was still trying to keep us being us a secret; which meant that maybe he was still keeping our other secrets. But how could that be?

“It’s good to see you up and around,” Echo said. Time was that he would have hugged me too, but there a distance between us now; a distance that I worked hard to build, a distance that I regretted at this particular moment.  “I’m sorry for everything that happened.”

“It’s not your fault,” I assured him.

“Ha! Tell that to the Council,” Dahlia scoffed.

“T-the Council?” I stammered.

“Yes, they blame us for most of it, you see; not that I blame them. A traitor weaseled her way into our ranks. She lured the Council’s proxy into her chambers and tried to extract sensitive information from her head. And, when the two of you caught her, she almost killed the both of you. If that doesn’t scream incompetence on the part of the people running this institution, I’m not sure what would.”

Dahlia’s laundry list of what happened played like a slide reel of ‘almost truth’, with a few key points edited out.

“You couldn’t have known,” I said shakily, still trying to decipher just what they did and did not know.

Owen
, I tried communicating with him in my head. There was no answer.
Owen, tell me what’s going on.
He didn’t move; didn’t react at all.

“Whether we could or couldn’t have is beside the point. What matters is that we didn’t,” Echo said. “And, while your heart was in the right place when you tried to save Merrin, your actions were foolish and selfish. Do you have any idea how close you came to killing yourself?” There was a hint of fatherly concern in Echo’s voice, but just a hint.

“I’m sorry,” I answered. “Where is she; Merrin, I mean?”

“She’s in a coma. Something went wrong when Flora attacked her, and she’s stuck inside her own mind; as is all the information she collected over the last twenty four hours,” Owen answered. Okay, so Merrin couldn’t tell Echo and Dahlia the truth about me; which also meant that she probably couldn’t tell the Council about me either. But what was the cost for that? The poor girl was comatose, and who knew for how long? As far as I knew, she could be stuck like that forever. I felt slimy and disgusting; like the worst person in the world. And not just because of the part I played in what happened to Merrin, but because, in some deep awful part of me, what happened to her also made me feel a little relieved.

“Oh my God,” I muttered. “And Flora?”

“I’m afraid she snuck away after you lost consciousness, while Owen was tending to you,” Dahlia said. “Which is another gold star I’m sure the Council is itching to award us.”

Flora was gone. For all intents and purposes, Merrin was gone, and for whatever reason, Dahlia hadn’t seemed to gleam anything about what had really happened. It seemed like, against all odds, we had actually gotten through this thing with our secrets intact. Of course, I was down a friend, Owen was down a perfect, and Echo and Dahlia seemed to be in more than a little hot water. So it wasn’t all roses.