The Sentinel (25 page)

Lucas was still stroking my head. Suddenly it didn’t matter that the Zekis didn’t care for me. My Guardians did. They cared a great deal.

‘Lucas,’ I mumbled. ‘I love you too.’

*

When I woke the next morning there was no sign of Lucas. Delicious breakfast smells drifted up from downstairs and my stomach rumbled appreciatively. I was still tired but sleep had cured me of any dizziness or sickness. I sat up and stretched. On the pillow next to me was a note. I smiled thinking it would be from Quinn, Persia or even better something from Seth. I picked it up and felt the blood drain out of my face. In the same curly handwriting I had seen twice before was my third and final warning.

‘
You will die tonight.’

I felt my stomach retch. Whilst I had slept, someone had been in my room.

I grabbed the note and ran out. Lucas was still outside but he had already sensed my panic, his hand was already on the handle to come in when I came tearing out. Eli suddenly was at my side too.

I thrust the note at them and Eli took it.

‘This was on my pillow.’

Eli’s eyes flashed angrily as Guardians, half way through their breakfast, darted through the house to search it. Quinn appeared from one of the other bedrooms and moved quickly to my side. He wrapped his arm round my shoulders and pulled me against him, curious about the sudden angst that had descended on the house. Then he saw the note and let out a low growl.

‘It was on her pillow,’ Eli said, honestly.

My brother grew visibly in size as anger radiated through him, though as he realised that I was still pressed up against him he seemingly forced himself to calm down. But when he spoke it was through clenched teeth. ‘How did it get on her pillow?’

‘That’s something I’d like to know,’ said Eli, looking at Lucas.

‘No one has entered her room all night. No one,’ Lucas said to Eli meaningfully, leaving something unsaid. Eli gave the tiniest of nods to show he understood though I didn’t know what was going on.

Though Quinn obviously missed the intent too. ‘You should never have let Persia stay here last night. It’s too much of a distraction. I came out my room twice last night because I heard noises and Lucas wasn’t outside her room where he was supposed to be.’

‘That’s because I was in the room with her. She was sick last night so I stayed with her to make sure she was ok. Then when I was just about to come back out again she started having nightmares so I held her until they passed.’

I stared at him, a huge lump in my throat. ‘You held me?’

He shrugged, clearly not embarrassed by this. ‘Seth’s clearly better at the holding thing than I am. Your nightmares always go away when he holds you. I thought I would give it a shot.’

I had no words.

Even Quinn stared at Lucas with a sudden new respect. ‘I’m sorry. I have no reason to doubt you. These notes are scaring me. How the hell are they getting so close to her?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Eli, ‘but we’re not staying here to find out. Eve, grab some clothes, we’re leaving in ten minutes.’

Part of me wanted to stand my ground, to stay and fight against them. Part of me wanted to prove to these Putarians that they wouldn’t win, that they couldn’t chase me from my own home. But the more sensible part of my brain kicked in. They had got into my room when Lucas had been standing outside, when the house was filled with Guardians and other Guardians patrolled the perimeter. If they could do that, then there was nothing anyone could do to stop them killing me. Running seemed like the only option now.

*

I sat in the back of the car and stared out at the trees whizzing past us. We had left the towns far behind and I had only seen green and the odd house for the last hour or two. We had swapped cars three times. Only my Personal Guard, Quinn and Persia had been allowed to come with me. Something which Abe and the Outer Guard were less than happy with. But Eli wanted the least amount of people possible to know where we were. If there was a problem then the Outer Guard would be called upon straight away. Eli kept telling me there wouldn’t be a problem, that the Putarians would never find me, but he also thought that they would never get into the house and he had been proved wrong about that. I couldn’t help feeling their confidence in being able to keep me safe was dwindling. The tension in the car was almost unbearable.

For want of a distraction I turned to Persia who was sitting next to me.

‘
So you and Lucas,’
I said in her head. ‘
How long has that been going on?’

She smiled. ‘
Six months.’

I smiled. Despite everything, I couldn’t help myself.

‘
And Izri, is she with Quinn?’
I had seen the looks he had given her after Edward had been killed and they went beyond the looks of compassion and sympathy. Though he hadn’t grabbed her and kissed her like Lucas had kissed Persia.

‘
She was. He broke it off with her about a month ago. I think he still loves her but…’
She trailed off.

My smile fell. ‘
He made me a priority.’

‘Yes. Izri understood completely, he’s the only family you have now. With all the death threats, and the changes in your life, he wanted to be the one thing that was constant. But I think she’s just started seeing Caleb.’

Then it came back to me, what Eli had said; that my emotions ran so deep the others were affected by it. They had found love because of me. There was some light in the darkness.

‘And what about you and Seth?’

‘I kissed him.’

She grinned. ‘
And how was that?’

I smiled. ‘
I glowed.’

She looked at me with confusion.

‘
Does it happen when you kiss Lucas, is it a Donum thing?’

‘Are we talking an actual glow?’

I nodded. ‘
My powers, they just… glowed. Seth saw it too.’

She smiled. ‘
No love, that’s not a Donum thing, definitely just an Eve thing.’

I flushed and looked away out the window, smiling to myself.

*

We pulled into a small driveway that led down to an old stone cottage. I got out; we were surrounded as far as the eye could see in any direction by miles and miles of hills. I was ushered into the house pretty quickly and a large bolt was slid across the door.

‘Why don’t I just slide to Mexico or New York, then the Putarians will never be able to find me?’ I took my coat off and looked around. There was a sofa, a big oak table and that was it. Mexico would be much more welcoming.

‘They have Putarians in Mexico as well you know,’ said Eli. ‘I’m not keen for you to go over there when all your Guardians are here. Technically they should be able to pull themselves to you wherever in the world you are but we’ve never tried it before. If we’d had more time we could have practised this before now. Now it’s too late. I do not want to find out that they can’t pull themselves to you when we get in trouble over there.’

‘Let’s try it now.’ I shivered as the cold of the house wrapped itself around me.

‘No. I need you as strong as possible for tonight. You’re still tired from what you did last night and if you start messing around with your powers now you’ll wear yourself out.’

Lucas and Quinn were arguing good naturedly about the best way to start a fire. Now that I was here, locked away, the mood had lifted slightly. Well at least with the rest of the Personal Guard it had, the feelings radiating from Eli were not good.

‘I will fight tonight, if they come, I have powers to fight against them.’

‘You will not.’ Eli’s voice was low and threatening.

‘I’m not going to let you die for me. Persia’s prophecies…’

‘We won’t die. Not tonight. Persia’s prophecies have changed. You’ve changed them. You saved Alexandria two days ago. Seth is locked away in his home. Mason is supposedly going to drown when we aren’t near any water and Caleb isn’t going to die for another few months. The prophecies aren’t clear cut.’

‘But…’

‘There are no buts Eve.’ Eli stepped closer, imposing, menacing. ‘We had a deal. Seth would be kept safe and you would do exactly what you were told. If they come tonight, you will stay in your room unless one of us tells you otherwise. If… if we fail, if they get close to you, you will not fight, you will slide to Seth immediately. Is that understood?’

I hesitated.

‘Or I will call Seth to you right now.’

Had it come down to this? That I had to choose between standing to save my Guardians or keeping Seth under lock and key. How could I choose between the life of the man I loved and the lives of my Personal Guard and my brother?

‘Do we have a deal Eve?’

I crossed my fingers and nodded. I just had to trust that if the Putarians came tonight, I would be able to make the right decision then.

*

I had been forced to go to bed. We had sat all afternoon and most of the evening waiting and waiting and nothing disturbed the prevailing silence of the moors outside. In the end Eli had insisted I get some sleep. Though I had lay there, forcing myself to stay alert, I had obviously fallen asleep because suddenly I was jolted awake. Loud shouts came from below. I sat up in bed and swung my legs over the edge. It was pitch black but immediately I knew I wasn’t alone. A hand rested on my shoulder,

‘Eve.’

‘Caleb? What’s going on?’ I whispered, straining my ears to hear the sounds of fighting coming from down below.

‘Eve, you have to slide to the church quick, we’ll be along shortly.’

‘Let me stay, I can fight.’ I stood up.

‘No, it’s not safe, there’s so many of them, quick as you can, go to the church.’

‘This isn’t going to be like the other night with the Zekis when you all stayed to fight long after I’d gone is it? I know you all like a good fight but I need you guys alive more.’

‘No, as soon as you’re there we will come to you.’

I hovered as the screams and shouts got louder. Eli was right I had changed the prophecies. No one was going to die tonight. I could slide to the church and if they didn’t come I could pull them to me. We would all be safe.

‘Bring Quinn and Persia, make sure they don’t get left behind.’

‘You have my word.’

It still felt cowardly, but this felt the best thing to keep us all safe. I quickly visualized the church. The hard ground beneath my toes indicated my arrival. I opened my eyes. It was pitch black here too, but the light of the moon faintly picked out the walls of the church. I shivered as I stood in my pyjamas in the darkness. Suddenly I knew I wasn’t alone. I guessed one of the Guardians had slid, as I saw a shadow advancing on me. I wasn’t even scared, I trusted the Guardians completely. Strong arms were around me, which surprised me a bit but I didn’t struggle.

Something was pressed hard to my mouth and nose, something that smelt strong, chemically. Panic burst through me and I struggled against the arms of the person that was holding me. If I had been thinking logically I could have fought them off with my powers, but that thought didn’t even occur to me, as terror flooded my veins. Years of Karate and Tae Kwon Do rolled through my head instead. I tried to use moves to defend myself, but there was more than one pair of arms around me, there was at least three, holding my arms and legs, pinning me to the ground. I thought about my powers, thought about calling the Guardians but it was a second too late as suddenly a cloud seemed to settle over my brain. The constant hum of the Guardians that had been present ever since I had opened my mind to them went silent. I thought for a moment that I had gone deaf, but I could still hear the rustling of the trees in the wind, the scuffle of the people holding me. It was just the Guardians that I couldn’t hear. And then my whole body went limp, I couldn’t even hold my head up as I flopped uselessly onto the floor. I realised with horror that I was completely paralysed. The arms released me and my attackers laughed.

‘That was so easy.’ One of the men said.

‘Yeah too easy,’ said another. ‘Is this definitely her?

A torch was flicked on and shone in my face. The first man laughed again. ‘Yeah it’s her. This is brilliant!’ He knelt closer to me and I could see his face as the torch light picked it out in the darkness. His eyes were excited and manic. ‘I’ve killed so many people in my life, but I’m going to enjoy your death the most. It’s pathetic really, as if you were ever going to save the world. You’re just another feeble Donum. I’m going to make your death, slow and painful.’

My heart pounded against my chest.

‘Let’s do it here, Corben,’ said a shadow behind him. ‘Let’s do it now, before they catch up with her.’ I saw the glint of a knife in the darkness.

‘No, they can’t feel her now, she can’t pull them to her either, she can’t do anything, it’s pitiful really. Besides I want to take my time killing this one.’

Corben scooped me up and walked out the church, the shadows followed him. A black car was waiting at the end of the path. There was a second car there and more shadows lurked in the darkness. There was cheering when they saw Corben carrying me. So many people wanted me dead.

As Corben walked over to the car there was suddenly a noise, like a train coming closer and closer. Corben stopped, hesitant, alarmed and they all turned to face the noise. The noise got louder, closer, deafening.

And suddenly a herd of deer burst from the trees. The young stags were at the front, and lowered their antlers to charge at the men. The men tried to fight them off, but the deer were too quick and strong and two men went down and were trampled under the hooves of the herd.

Corben quickly lowered my body to protect himself from the onslaught with his limp human shield, but the animals were clever and charged at his feet, his legs his shoulders, hitting everywhere that wasn’t me. He cried out in pain and I was dropped to the floor. If I hadn’t been paralysed I could have got up and ran away, but I just lay helpless on the floor, my head next to a gravestone. My heart leapt as I saw the faded inscription on the headstone. ‘Mary Jones, Beloved Daughter, Mother, Wife. Two things I’d never be now. As hard as the animals were trying to save me, I was going to die. I knew that. And even by some sheer stroke of luck, if I managed to escape their clutches tonight, they’d be other times, other attempts. The Putarians would never stop. And even if I somehow managed to make it to the end of the world, somehow managed to save the world, I would never live to see the world I had saved. Death literally waited for me at every turn.