The Havoc Chronicles (Book II): Unbound (14 page)

By the time the choreography gave me the opportunity to look back out at the audience, Eric was gone. When the song ended, and I had the opportunity for a better look, he was nowhere to be seen.  

The rest of the play went off without a hitch – it was our best overall performance. All our hard work and practice had paid off. When the final scene ended, we got a standing ovation.

I hadn’t seen Eric again, and by the time we took our final bows I began to wonder if I had simply imagined him.

Before we went out to greet the audience, Rhys pulled me aside.

“What happened?” he asked. “What triggered your pre-zerk?”

“It was nothing. I just thought I saw Eric and it startled me.”

Rhys smiled and shook his head.

“I should have known this would happen,” he said. “I bet Scottie called the other Berserkers and told them you were in danger. They’ve come back to protect you.”

“I don’t need protection,” I said, my old irritation at being under constant surveillance resurfacing.

Rhys raised an eyebrow.

His look made me deflate a bit. “Okay, at least not constant protection. Between you and me, I think I’m pretty safe.”

When we went out to meet the audience, I fully expected to see Eric, his impish grin in full force. But to my surprise, he wasn’t there. Maybe Rhys was wrong about my dad calling the other Berserkers, and I had just seen someone who looked like Eric.

An awful lot like him.

When Rhys dropped me off that night, we snuck in a few kisses before we went inside. We both still agreed that we weren’t ready to let my dad know about us yet, so any physical affection had to be taken in small bits when we found a quiet moment alone.

After far-too-few kisses for my liking, Rhys left and I walked into the house. Dad was watching TV in the living room, so I checked with him to see if he had heard anything about the Berserkers coming back.

“No,” he said. “Last I heard they were following up some heat anomalies in Indiana.”

“Who did you talk to?”

“Eric.”

“Did he say anything about coming back or passing through?”

Dad shook his head. “No, nothing like that. Why?”

Well, so much for that theory. I must have just seen someone who looked like him.

“Nothing. I just thought they might be coming back soon.”

Dad gave me a sympathetic look. “Were you hoping he’d come back in time to see your performance? I’m sure he would have come if he could have.”

“No, it’s fine. I wasn’t expecting him to come. I just thought I saw him earlier. No big deal.”

“Really?” Dad sat up a little straighter. “Where?”

“At the play. But it was dark, and I only caught a glimpse of him in the audience. When I got a chance to look again, he was gone. I must have just seen someone who looked like him, no big deal.”

I gave Dad a kiss and headed upstairs. I walked up the stairs feeling strangely disappointed. It was ridiculous, really. While it would have been great for Eric to see the play, he had more important things to be doing. Saving-the-world kinds of things. Watching my play really isn’t that important when compared to that.

But the truth was I did miss Eric. Well, I did and I didn’t. I did miss his sense of humor and the way he managed to make tense situations light. There was never a dull moment when Eric was around. But I also was pretty sure things wouldn’t be the way they were between Rhys and me if Eric had stayed around. And I really liked the direction our relationship was going – a lot.

When I got to my room, I opened the door and flipped on the lights. I dumped my bags on the floor and stretched. Now that the post-play high had worn off, I felt exhausted. What I really needed was a good night of sleep.

It was the note that caught my eyes first. The white of the paper stood out on my dark pillowcase. In two strides I was across the room. There on my pillow was a piece of paper and two dozen roses scattered across my bed. On the note was a written a single sentence: “You have a gift.”

I quickly glanced around the room, searching for other objects that looked out of place. Nothing else appeared to be disturbed. I walked to the window and saw that it was unlocked.

Had I left it unlocked, or was this the route my anonymous note-leaver had used to exit my room? I didn’t generally leave my windows unlocked, but I also couldn’t specifically remember locking it in the last few days.

I examined the handwriting on the note. While I was by no means an expert at handwriting, the note did look like it was written by a guy. The writing was very clear and legible – not typical guy handwriting characteristics, but it was also not filled with any frilly touches either.    

I read it again. Given everything that had happened tonight, there was only one person this note could be from. I didn’t have any definitive proof, but I was certain Eric had come to see the play.

I didn’t tell anyone about the note or the roses – not even Rhys. First off, I technically didn’t have proof that Eric was responsible. Yes, I thought I had seen him. Yes, it certainly seemed like something he would do. And yes, I was almost certain it was him. But I didn’t actually
know
.

Second, if it was Eric, I was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to be here. He had been assigned to look for Osadyn with the other Berserkers. The last thing I wanted was to get him in trouble for sneaking away to see my play.

And third, I had the feeling that Eric didn’t want me to tell anyone. Not just because the other Berserkers and Binders would be upset he wasn’t taking his assignment seriously. Something about the way he did this felt private, intimate almost. If he had wanted an audience he would have picked a more public place, or done something visible to everyone – like renting the Goodyear Blimp and flying it over the school.

My fourth, and last, reason was probably my most compelling one – I honestly wasn’t sure how Rhys would react. Things had progressed so well between us with Eric gone, I didn’t want anything to mess that up.

Sunday morning was quiet and leisurely. The play was over, and Monday would be the beginning of Spring Break. I would have the week to relax, sleep in, and just be a typical teenager. Well, except for my training lessons, but those were with Rhys, so no problem there.

That idyllic feeling lasted all of about two hours. The phone rang and Dad answered it. It was Mallika, telling him my lessons were canceled for the week.

“Why?” I asked once he had hung up.

“Something is going on down in Mexico, where Thuanar is bound. Rhys just got a report of some suspicious activity down there. He and Kara are going down to check it out.”

Rhys was going to go down to Mexico? Without me? There was no way I was going to let
that
happen without a fight.

“I want to go,” I said.

I had just started developing my argument on why I should go, when Dad completely shocked me.

“I think you should go,” he said.

I hadn’t been expecting that. I was all prepared for another classic father-daughter battle – butting heads and making overly-dramatic threats.

“Really?”

Dad took in a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah. I think you should go.”

I didn’t trust this at all. This was some sort of trap. My dad would never willingly let me put myself in danger. “What, no arguments about how dangerous it is and how I should stay here where it’s safe?”

With a sad half-smile Dad reached out and squeezed my hand. “Not anymore,” he said. “You’ve proven your capabilities time after time. You’re as much a Berserker as I ever was and fully understand the risks. I can’t keep holding you back.”

I was struck by how much my life had changed in less than a year. My dad was finally coming to trust me and see me as an equal – a true Berserker and not just a sixteen-year-old girl who needed protecting. This trip was a huge milestone in our relationship, one that I would remember as a turning point in my life.

I gave him a hug. “Thanks Dad, that means a lot to me.”

He squeezed me back. “Well, I better start booking our tickets if we are going to fly out tomorrow.”

“We? Wait, you’re coming too?”

“Of course, you didn’t think I was going to let you go down to Mexico without me?”

Or maybe things hadn’t changed that much.

***

Once Rhys’ found out my dad was in favor of me going to Mexico, he didn’t argue with me or even try to convince me to stay. That was almost as surprising as my dad agreeing in the first place. Just when I think I have things figured out people change, and I have to start all over again.

The flight to Mexico was pretty uneventful. Rhys filled me in on all the details on the way down. When a Havoc is bound it is tied to a specific location. In order for someone to free the Havoc, the life blood of a Berserker must be spilled on the seal marking the binding location. That means they have to sacrifice a
living
Berserker on the spot to free the Havoc. To prevent that from happening, the Binder Council keeps watch on all the bound Havocs. Ideally they have Binders there to send out Azarks that would kill a Berserker before his blood could be used to break the seal. The blood of a dead Berserker has no effect.

But the reality is that watching the binding locations is a boring and tedious job. Unless there is some warning of a Berserker missing or in danger, they hire trusted people to keep watch and be on the lookout for anyone who appears to be too interested in the seals. 

A few days ago, the person watching Thuinar’s seal down in Puebla, Mexico had reported a couple of suspicious people who appeared to be examining Thuinar’s binding location. Since they were not a Binder or a Berserker, they wouldn’t be able to see the seal or the Havoc, but they were measuring and making marks that appeared to be too close to the seal for it to be a coincidence.

“It’s probably nothing,” said Rhys, from his seat next to me. “We’ve had false alarms before. After a few months of watching, the people monitoring the seals start seeing sinister intentions in innocent people and activities. I would have ignored this one, but the Binder Council specifically asked us to go check it out.”

“What makes them think this is an actual threat?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” said Rhys. “They told me we would get more information when we got there.”

***

We arrived mid-evening and took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. The air was humid and warm, full of unfamiliar smells – some good, some not so much.

Our taxi driver tore through the streets like Dale Earnhardt on meth. He weaved in and out of traffic, forcing his way into tiny openings, clearly convinced that other drivers would let him in rather than risk a wreck. Every turn was like a game of chicken. The concept of lanes appeared to have been abandoned all together, with cars squeezing in wherever they could find room. Once, he even pulled partway onto the sidewalk to get around another car.

When I had driven onto the sidewalk, the examiner failed me on my driver’s test. Here it seemed to be the norm. The pedestrians appeared to be completely used to it and simply walked around the car. Clearly the driving rules were a little looser down here.

With the protection I had from my Berserker powers I probably shouldn’t have been nervous, but that didn’t stop me from letting out a huge thank-goodness-I’m-still-alive-don’t-ever-make-me-do-that-again sigh when we pulled up to the hotel.

We checked in and put our bags in the rooms. Kara and I shared a room, and Rhys and my Dad shared another. We could have easily afforded our own rooms, but both Dad and Rhys insisted sharing rooms was safer.

I wasn’t sure exactly what they were afraid of – we were by far the most dangerous beings around – but I didn’t put up a fight.  

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was delicious, with only a few items being overwhelming to my enhanced taste. We didn’t have any way to meet up with our contact down here until tomorrow morning, so after some wheedling from Kara and myself, we convinced Rhys and Dad to explore the city a bit.   

Our hotel was in a busy area with plenty to explore within walking distance. We wandered the streets taking in the sights and sounds of the city. My Spanish was very limited, so I could only guess at the meaning of the words on signs. Rhys, however, was perfectly at ease and as far as I could tell, completely fluent in Spanish.