The Last Hunter - Collected Edition (35 page)

21

I’m surprised at myself when I nearly lunge for Whipsnap. I’m not sure if the desire to claim the weapon is self-defense or merely because I’ve become so attached to it. I manage to control myself, but Tobias sees the intent hidden in my eyes. His muscles tense in preparation for a fight.

But I’m not Ull, and fighting this man is out of the question. He deserves the truth. I only hope he won’t kill me when he hears it.

I raise my hands and step back, trying to think of a way to explain things. But there is no way to dull this news. “It’s true,” I say. “I am bonded to the flesh of Nephil.”

Whipsnap’s blade moves closer.

“But,” I say quickly. “That was a long time ago. At least a year. I think. It’s hard to tell down there.”

“I should kill you,” he says. “You’re dangerous.”

“Not anymore,” I say. “There was a time when that small part of Nephil fought for control. Along with my own dark side. You must know what that’s like.”

“And I know it cannot be defeated,” he says. “The hunter is always there, urging me to kill.”

“Like now,” I note.

He glances down at Whipsnap, then back to me. “Do not try to trick me.”

I slowly lower my hands, palms open, and assume a relaxed, non-threatening posture. “If there was any hunter left in control of me, never mind Nephil, do you think I could stand here, with a weapon aimed at my stomach, and speak to you?”

“How?” He asks. “How is it possible? The hunter is part of you. It is closer to the surface with the broken, but it is a part of every human being on Earth. You cannot bury it.”

“You can,” I say.

“
How
?” His voice is urgent and I sense he is close to acting if I don’t give him a convincing answer.

“With help,” I say.

He steps closer. “Who?”

“Xin.”

His eyes go wide, but he does not strike. “Xin? Why would that monster help you?”

“It wasn’t his intention when he found me,” I say. “He meant to kill me.”

“And become a hunter in reward.”

I nod. “He nearly succeeded, but then… Nephil. He took control. Nearly killed Xin. But together, in my mind, we locked Nephil away, along with my hunter personality.”

“You left him to die, I hope,” he says.

“No,” I say. “That is what a hunter would do. Not me. I saved him. And when Behemoth came, he saved me, and hid me from the other hunters.”

Whipsnap slowly lowers to the floor. “You faced Behemoth, and survived?”

“Thanks to Xin, yes.”

“And you spared his life?”

“That’s what I said.”

He sits on the edge of a cot, slowly shaking his head. “This is unheard of, you realize. The hunters do not know mercy.”

I grin. “Well, at least three of them do now.”

“Three of them?”

“I have spared Ninnis. And Kainda as well.”

He laughs at this. “Do not expect the same kindness in return from those two. You may yet find that letting them live was a horrible mistake.”

His words ring true. I turn my gaze to the floor.

“But,” he says, “I find your story of mercy inspiring. It is a new kind of strength. Perhaps it will be enough to undo the evil already set in motion.”

He tosses Whipsnap to me and I catch it, feeling more confident with it in my grasp.

“Xin’s help alone wouldn’t be enough to chain the will of Nephil,” he says.

“It was just his body,” I say. “Not his spirit.”

“A spirit they believe you are strong enough to contain. Which means you are a person of uncommon strength. Xin might have aided, but I believe the true strength came from you. From the power instilled in you at birth.”

I remember that he witnessed the moment of my birth. He saw the light and the cracking of the ice.

“When we fought,” he says. “I haven’t missed my target in a very long time. Em is even more of a marksman than I. How were you doing it?”

He’s no longer threatening me, but still deserves answers. “Put out your hand.”

He furrows his brow in confusion, but complies. I focus on the small amount of moisture in the air, mostly from our breath, and bring it together. It’s still imperceptible until I use the cold to bind the water together as ice crystals, forming a perfect snowflake. He catches sight of the flake as it falls and is guided down by small gusts of wind. The snowflake drifts back and forth, and it gently settles down in the palm of his hand.

“You did this?” he asks, watching the flake melt into a small bead of water.

“I don’t understand it fully,” I say. “But at the moment of my birth, I was bound to the continent, and the continent to me. We are one and the same. I can control the air, earth and water, though the effort leaves me severely weakened.”

“Then my arrows—”

“Deflected by the wind. Which is how I killed Ull. Fueled by the recent bonding with Nephil, I turned Ull’s own arrow against him. The same effort now would leave me exhausted.”

As this last bit of truth exits my mouth, I suddenly remember that I have just as many questions for Tobias, as he does for me, and I am entitled to some answers. “Luca,” I say, snapping his attention back up to me. “He’s…me?”

A slow nod.

“How is that possible?”

“For thousands of years, the Nephilim have perfected the dark art of manipulating life. The thinkers conjure ideas for new creations. The gatherers collect the raw materials. And the breeders are used to give life to new monsters by altering the feeders before they are born.”

I remember the copy of my mother and a sudden fear clutches my throat. “Raw materials?”

“Samples of living things. Flesh. Blood. Hair.”

“Do they…kill the…”

“You have encountered a creation you recognized?” he asks.

“Ninnis trapped me in a feeder pit. I escaped it not long before you found me. But the first feeder that hatched. It was—” Tears brew in my eyes. “—my mother.”

Tobias approaches and kneels before me. He’s looking at my eyes, but not into them. His attention is drawn to my tears. “You were telling the truth,” he says. “Hunters cannot shed tears. The creature you met was not your mother.”

“I know,” I say. “But to create it they had to—”

“Ahh,” he says, understanding my concern. “The Nephilim are paranoid about being discovered. They prefer to strike like the tiger—with overwhelming force and only when the target is unaware. They leave as little evidence of their presence as possible. If a person is taken, they are returned with little memory of the event. It’s only on rare occasion that someone is killed or taken, and that only happens when there is a logical explanation for how it could have happened.”

“Like me wandering off into a storm at night.”

“Exactly,” he says.

“Do they visit the outside world often?”

Tobias frowns. “Gatherers do all the time. They are sometimes seen as flashes of light, or remembered as owls, but in general, their passing goes unseen, or at most misunderstood. But the gathered materials are brought here to be used in Nephilim experiments.”

“Like Luca?”

“When news of your strange birth reached the warriors, I was ordered to take you. But by that time, the station had been abandoned and you had been taken away.” He opens a desk drawer and takes out a small wooden box. “I searched the station, discovered your room and found this.” He opens the box and reveals a comb. A few strands of short white hair are caught between the teeth.

My hair.

My baby hair.

“I took several strands back to them. Years later, they presented Luca to me. I was to raise him as my son in preparation for bonding with Nephil. It was an honor beyond comparison, one for which Ninnis believed himself deserving. But as Luca grew older, their tests revealed that whatever made your birth special had not been duplicated in Luca. They ordered him destroyed. By my hand. I took him to Behemoth, intending him to be a sacrifice to the guardian of Tartarus.”

He pauses. I cannot take the silence. “And?”

“And I intended to kill him. I was a loyal servant.” He meets my gaze. “Em stopped me.”

“How?”

“I had not noticed she and Luca spending time together. Hunters don’t pay attention to such things. She wasn’t just playing the part of a sister. In her mind, she
was
his sister. And since hunters are only allowed one child, the way it changed her could not be predicted, nor could her passionate defense of his life. She nearly killed me.”

“Why didn’t she?”

“Luca. The boy was not corrupted, like us. And to him, even with all my flaws, I was still his father. Like you, Luca understands mercy. It was the first of many chinks in the armor of this hunter.”

He sees me watching him and stiffens his posture, embarrassed by his openness. “We fled, hiding in the underworld at first, and then headed toward the surface. Only I knew of this place, so we came here. Have been here since. The day you returned and dug through the ice, Luca was here, right beneath you.”

The glut of information is overwhelming me, but there is one more question I need answered. “Are there others? Like Luca? Like me?”

“They tried several times,” he says with a sad nod. “They used many different mothers, both human and breeder. They combined you with animals. And Nephilim. Abominable creations.”

“Are any of them—”

He winces, knowing the question I’m about to ask, and in that action, I know the answer before he speaks it.

“—still alive?”

“Some,” he says. “Those with promise were spared.”

I’m about to ask who and what they are, but Tobias cuts me off. “Thinking of such things is of no use to you or anyone else.”

“But—”

“Such dark thoughts will only set you back. If the future is to be brighter, you must not focus on the darkness.”

“Okay, Yoda,” I say

His confused look makes me smile. “It’s from a movie.”

“A movie?”

I remember how old he is, not to mention where he’s been most of his life. “Forget it. I understand what you’re saying, but it’s going to be hard to ignore while living with Luca.”

He stands. “That’s why we’re going to give you something else to think about.”

I raise an eyebrow and think about making a Spock joke, but keep it to myself.

“This power you have—your connection to this continent. With it, you could stand against an army.”

“I’m not sure I can do that.”

He places a hand on my shoulder like my father used to. “You will not stand alone.” He opens the door. “Get some rest today. Tomorrow, we start your training.”

22

Three weeks later, I wake to the sound of laughter. It is a noise that has become familiar again—so much so that I can identify the source and cause. The high pitched laugh belongs to Luca. But it’s mixed with the occasional playful growl from Em.

A tickle fight.

Em will eventually allow Luca to get the upper hand. Being scrawny and highly ticklish, the boy doesn’t stand a chance. I should know. But Em is a good sister. The kind I always wanted. I suppose, the kind I have now.

Though she’s not really an older sister. Neither of us really knows our exact age anymore. The underworld can do that. Physically, I’d place both of us around fifteen. Maybe sixteen. But because she lived underground for so much of her youth, she’s probably closer to twenty surface years old. Time is a screwy thing.

A high pitched squeal reveals the battle has grown more intense. Realizing a return to sleep will be impossible, I sit up on my bed with a groan. My body aches. Every inch of it. Tobias has been training me, physically, mentally and emotionally every day since my arrival. At first it reminded me of soccer practice. Mindless exercises. Running. Lots of running. But then he combined the physical activity with mental. While I ran I had to will a snow flake to follow me. That simple task made the running nearly impossible. After a week I could complete the run while moving a trail of snowflakes behind me.

At first, I thought he was insane, but as the days passed I understood that he was conditioning my body and mind so that I could use my abilities without getting physically exhausted. Creating a chain of snowflakes doesn’t sound like much, but the effort over time takes a brutal toll. When I had mastered the snowflake-chain run, Tobias ran with me. He would talk about my family, my past. He brought up a number of sensitive topics that tore emotional wounds like rusty nails—dirty and jagged.

Here was my weakness. My emotions. I cling to the past, to my parents and my childhood. Instead of facing what is in front of me, I’m always looking back. Always unprepared. Always hurt. Wounded. Sensitive.

I argued that these were the things that separated me from the hunters, but Tobias explained that it was my mercy and love that made me different. The rest just made me afraid. “It’s possible to be brave, even fierce, and still be good,” he told me. After deciding he was right, I embraced the exercise and fought to purge the demons that filled me with a fear strong enough to control me and give my enemies an advantage. So we pushed harder, exploring the current limits of my abilities.

And it was through this week-long push that we made a discovery. There are many things I can do on a grand scale that do not severely drain me. I can conjure a snow storm, the katabatic winds or roll in a fog from the ocean. These are all natural phenomena and can be accomplished with little effort. But moving a trail of snowflakes behind me, for miles, is
not
natural. Nor is opening a path through the earth, creating a snow storm underground or using the wind to jump higher, to stick a landing or deflect weapons. The unnatural uses of my abilities are created by my will alone and are not aided by the landscape; they are in defiance of it. As a result, the unnatural uses of my connection with the continent are where Tobias is now focusing his attention.

The strain is worse than ever.

And today will be the worst day yet.

The door bursts open. I reach for Whipsnap, but my aching body is slow and the intruder is upon me in a flash.

“Solomon!” Luca shouts. “Save me!”

The boy is all smiles. His blond hair—my blond hair—floats around his head, held aloft by static electricity. No doubt from hiding beneath a blanket. But that did him little good and now he’s seeking an ally. He normally runs for Tobias, who turns the tickling on Em. But today, he has come to me.

He’s gripping the back of my shirt. I can feel his quick breaths on the back of my neck. His breath smells like fish, which is our staple breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tobias once brought home a seal and I refused to eat it out of respect for Gloop and his pod. After I explained this, Tobias hasn’t brought home another seal.

Em steps into the doorway, her fingers clenched and ready to tickle. She’s wearing a long yellow T-shirt with a Nike swoop that belonged to Aimee once upon a time. It hangs down to her knees. She looks pretty in it, but I feel no attraction to her. Not like I do when I think of Mira…or Kainda. Maybe it’s because of her relationship with Luca, the little me, but the bond between us is more like family than anything else.

Though it is a bond that is still being formed, hence her pausing at the threshold to my room.

Luca giggles behind me, shifting his weight back and forth in anticipation of the impending attack. But I’m not sure it will come. Em and I look at each other. We’re both hunters, or were, and this kind of face off usually ends in battle, perhaps with one or the other being killed. Our eyes meet and for a moment, we’re sizing each other up.

But then she smiles.

And attacks.

And I’m sandwiched between a brother and sister who are laughing and trying to tickle each other. For a moment, I’m lost. I’ve never been in this situation. I was an only child. I had no friends that played like this. Then someone’s fingers find my armpit and I burst out laughing. The attack comes from both sides as the former enemies unite against me. I fall back on my bed, doing my best to fend off the tickling attack, but failing miserably. If hunters used this technique in battle I would be defenseless.

I’m saved by a knock at the door. Tobias clears his throat and Em, Luca and I separate and sit up, doing our best to look serious and attentive (something that Tobias often requires), but he’s hiding a smile too.

“Get dressed and eat your breakfast. Both of you,” he says to Em and me. “We’re going to step things up today.”

“Can I go today?” Luca asks.

“Not today,” Tobias replies.

“But—”

Tobias tilts his head with a frown. “It’s too dangerous. You know that.”

“Then train me,” the little boy says, showing his fists. “I want to fight the monsters, too. Like Solomon!”

Tobias sighs. “When you’re older. For now, you must stay here. No more arguing.” He leaves the room before the little boy can complain.

Luca crosses his arms with a huff.

“I’ll train you,” I say.

His eyes brighten. “You will?”

A quick glance at Em reveals she thinks this is a bad idea. I smile at her and turn back to Luca. “I will. Lesson number one, tickle defense.”

I grab the boy and start tickling. His laughter breaks the tension. When I let up for a moment, he leaps out of the bed and runs from the room. I hear his feet padding down the hallway. “You can’t catch me!”

I look at Em and she’s smiling at me. “What?” I ask.

“You’re a good brother,” she says.

I shrug. “It’s easy to be a brother to yourself.”

“I wasn’t talking about Luca,” she says, and then punches my shoulder. “I was talking about me.”

“Thanks,” I say, and then punch her back.

Before she can hit me again, I leap from the bed and head for the door.

“I’ll get you later,” she says. “Father had me collecting rocks and I think he means for me to throw them at you today.”

I pause in the hallway and lean my head back into the room. “For real?”

She nods with a fiendish grin.

“Be merciful,” I say.

“Nah,” she says, her smile widening. “That’s your thing. Besides, I haven’t practiced on a moving target in a while.” Her laughter chases me down the hallway, but an hour later I learn that she wasn’t joking.