The Sentinel (3 page)

I put my foot back down on the accelerator again and took off through the town. The cars followed, only inches from me. Soon the town was left behind and I was speeding through the quiet country lanes. A third car, a large red Audi, pulled out in front of me, slowing down, forcing me to do the same. The patrol car drew level with me, boxing me in and the sense of claustrophobia added to my fear. There was no escape.

The police car slammed into my car, causing me to wobble dangerously as I fought to gain control. The occupants of the red car were clearly not happy with this and swerved in front of the police car, taking out half of its bonnet as it did so. The police car didn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Taking advantage of this distraction I veered violently to the left, I swerved off the road and ploughed across a field. The car responded beautifully, it was built to be off road. Unfortunately so was the silver car that was still following me. The two other cars chased me too. I’d lost their immediate proximity but they were soon catching me up. I tore down the hill, flooring the accelerator. There was another road at the bottom and I aimed for it.

As the hill flattened out and I neared the road, the moonlight glinted off the surface and my heart crashed into my stomach as I realised it was actually a river that I was about to drive into. There was no time to stop, and as the car hit a small bank and took off, I had time to pray that my uncle had fitted the car with some kind of wings. The river was easily six or seven metres wide and I held my breath as I waited for the car to crash into the icy water. To my upmost surprise the car landed slickly on the other side and I swerved quickly to avoid the approaching trees. I sped along the river, my three car entourage keeping level with me on the opposite side; clearly none of them were stupid or brave enough to try jumping it like I had done.

Suddenly realising the river had given me the advantage, I slammed on the brakes. The other cars were travelling so fast that when they all did the same they stopped a few hundred yards up the field from where I had come to a stop. The policeman was already out the car and in an impossible move leapt high in the air and landed on my side of the river.

I made to get out the car but Eli was already by my side, appearing from the air. He slammed the door shut, his weight buckling the car door and breaking the glass. Other men leapt across the river as easily as if they had stepped across a small puddle. But instead of running for me, they ran for the policeman. My Guardians? But was Eli one of them? Not waiting to find out, I scrambled to the other side. I leapt out the car and burst into the woods, running as fast as I could through the darkness. I was a fast runner; this much I knew, and with the adrenaline coursing through me, I pushed myself faster than I had ever ran before.

I wove through the trees and jumped over bushes. The trees whipped against my face, the fingers of the branches grabbing my clothes and pulling me back, but I ran on. I leapt over a small stream and scrambled up the bank on the other side. I paused for a moment, listening to see if I had anyone following me and despite the speed I had torn through the woods I could distinctly hear at least two different people fast approaching my location. This was hopeless. There was never going to be any escape from them.

I could feel the anger, the shock, the fear boiling inside my chest, a burning ball of rage that seemed to suddenly consume me. My fingers twitched and for a second a flash of blue light seemed to flicker in my hand. But I was distracted from this as the next second two men broke the trees on the opposite bank of the stream, Eli was one of them.

‘NO!’ I screamed in fury, instinctively putting my hand up. A blue bolt of lightning shot from my hand and exploded in a sphere across the stream. The men were blown back from the force of the explosion and I staggered away from what I had done, not sure how I’d even done it. I ran on into the darkness, but running for a different reason now, running to get away from the shock of what had just happened.

With disbelief I heard the men still running after me. I looked back over my shoulder to see how close they were, when suddenly I slammed into a body so hard I would have fallen over if a pair of strong hands hadn’t held me. I screamed and struggled against my captor but the grip only tightened. A hand pressed over my mouth.

3. I think I’m losing my mind

‘Evie, Evie, it’s me.’

I stopped struggling immediately, recognising the voice of Seth, plus he was the only one that called me Evie. His hands released me. ‘Seth?’ I whispered.

‘Yes,’ Seth whispered back, theatrically. ‘Why are we whispering?’

I was very aware that the woods around us were silent. I couldn’t hear the footsteps behind me anymore. What did that mean? Had they given up? Unlikely. But maybe they didn’t want to show themselves in front of Seth. They would be watching, veiled in the darkness.

‘Seth what the hell are you doing here?’ I hissed.

He laughed. ‘I could ask you the same thing.’

His laugh sounded so good. I wanted to wrap myself in his arms and cry, but it was far from over yet. I could see the gleam of something metallic behind him. ‘Is that your bike?’ I asked.

‘Yeah.’

‘Get me out of here and I’ll explain everything.’

‘Your chauffeur awaits m’lady.’ He motioned toward the bike like a game show host showing off a fabulous prize. He hopped on and I threw myself on behind him, holding tight to his waist as he kick started it and took off through the woods. He skilfully manoeuvred through the trees at some speed. I knew the men would be following us, but maybe Seth could lose them on his bike.

‘Seth faster!’ I yelled over the noise of the engine and I smiled as the bike sped up.

We hit the road a while later and I kept an eye on the woods behind me, waiting for the men to break the trees. But as we rounded the bend and the trees disappeared from view, the road behind us stayed empty.

‘Where to?’ Seth called. ‘We can go to my house, my Dad’s away.’

‘That sounds good to me,’ I yelled back. He nodded and now the open road was in front of us, he gunned the bike even faster. I yelled with relief as the wind tore through my hair.

As I held him tightly, pressing my face against his jacket, his warmth and familiar woody smell calmed me. Seth Hamilton. I thought about my life with him, how he had always been there for me, even now when I needed him most. I had known him ever since I had started school at the age of four. The first day I couldn’t find my lunchbox, he had split his lunch with me. A few days later I had fallen off the climbing frame and he had caught my leg before I had hit the ground. This had kind of set a precedent over the next few weeks. I’d fall over on the playground and he’d be there to pick me up. When one of the other children was mean to me, he punched them in the face. But he had seemed to do all this with a weary acceptance. One day I had accidentally spilt my milk over him. Seth, dripping from head to toe, had laughed loudly, mostly at my expression of horror. We had been best friends ever since.

He slowed down as he took some small side roads to get back to his house.

‘What’s going on Evie?’

I felt my body tremble as the adrenaline finally started to leave it, though partly it was from the cold; I was in my pyjamas on the back of a motorbike in the middle of a winter’s night.

‘I don’t know. Do you know anything about Guardians?’

He shook his head and I sighed. That was going to be a long explanation.

‘I think someone’s trying to kill me, either that or I’m losing my mind.’

We drove alongside a bank of trees that separated us from Seth’s house. I could see the houses in his road, sleeping peacefully in the darkness, but to my surprise his house was lit up like a beacon. There were cars parked outside and lots of people standing on the grass and in the open door.

‘Is Trey having some kind of party?’ I asked. I’d only met his brother a few times; he was a lot older than Seth and had more important things to do than hang out with us when we were kids.

Seth didn’t answer, I could see him slowing down and looking as well.

Suddenly I saw the silver Land Rover through the trees, the red car with its back smashed, its door open as the occupants leaned on the outside. Eli was there as was Quinn.

‘God Seth, they’re here, they’re looking for us. Quick, get out of here.’

He hesitated. ‘Eve…’

Eli turned to look at us through the trees and as one all the people standing around him stopped talking and turned to look at us too.

‘Seth, go, for god’s sake go!’

He turned the bike around and accelerated down the road.

I watched the people through the trees. Eli and a few others leapt back into the silver car and the car took off up the road after us.

‘We have to get off the road,’ I yelled. ‘They’re coming after us.’

Seth took me at my word and almost immediately took a tiny dirt track through some houses and soon we were cutting across a field, heading up a hill and back into the trees. The field stayed empty behind us. The Land Rover was too big to go down the dirt track.

Seth seemed to know exactly where he was heading as he picked his way through the trees and suddenly a huge white house appeared before us.

‘It’s a friend’s,’ he yelled over the engine. ‘He’s not here, but I have the keys.’ He stopped the bike outside, killing the engine and silence descended on us. ‘We’ll be safe here, the others won’t find us.’

The door flew open as we approached and as soon as we crossed over the threshold, it slammed behind us and the lights came on.

I stood with my mouth open and he shrugged with embarrassment.

‘Sensors. Cain always was a bit of a show off. Look at the state of you, come on let’s get you sorted.’ He took my hand and led me through to the kitchen.

He lifted me easily onto the kitchen worktop and then turned to fill a bowl with water. I watched him as he moved round the kitchen. He had shot up and out over the last few years. He towered over the other children in our class, easily well over six foot, and he was so broad and muscular. His skin had the exotic look of an all year round Mediterranean tan, he had dark eyes to match his hair and the longest eyelashes of anyone I knew.

He turned back to face me, dipping a cloth in a bowl of warm water and wiped it gently over my face.

‘Seth what were you doing in the woods at three in the morning?’

‘Riding my bike. I love riding it in the dark; it just adds a sense of thrill to it. It allows me to forget everything with the wind in my face.’

Absently, I took his free hand, feeling the strength that was in his fingers, in his palm. ‘I envy you, I wish I could forget everything right now, wish I could wipe my brain clean.’

‘What were you doing in the woods Evie? You shouldn’t be out alone in the middle of the night, there are a lot of unsavoury characters in this world.’

‘If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.’

‘Eve, you’re my best friend, of course I’ll believe you.’ He dipped the cloth back in the bowl again. The water swirled with the blood and dirt he had wiped off my face. Like my brain, a swirl of chaos and confusion.

I looked at my friend and shook my head sadly. ‘I think I’m losing my mind.’

He lifted my hand and started wiping the blood off my palm. I suddenly pulled my hand back, remembering the lightning that had shot out of it. Surely there should be some scars from the heat of the lightning, but there was nothing. None of this made any sense.

‘Eve?’

I sighed and then made up my mind. I could trust him, I knew I could. I took a deep breath and told him everything, about the fire, about Quinn and Eli. I told him about the coach crash, about me holding the coach, the constant vigilance of the Guardians and the lightning that had shot from my hands. And Seth listened without interrupting and when I finished I felt so much lighter. Then I waited for his reaction.

‘Eve…this is surreal, are you seriously telling me there are really shape shifters out there, and beings with super strength that are only here to protect you? I’m not being funny or anything love, you know I love you, but what’s so special about you?’

‘I know, it doesn’t make any sense, but I’m not making this up, I swear. You saw them too, outside your house.’

‘I’m guessing they were the police, they must have traced my reg plates. Look Evie, these incidents, the fire and the coach crash were both very traumatic. It’s perfectly reasonable that you had stress induced hallucinations. But now you’re taking this too far, you’re running from the police, you’re running through the woods in the middle of the night in your pyjamas, and now you’re imagining that you have, what, magical powers? Eve, maybe you need some help.’

I let my head fall into my hands, trying to make sense of it all. I was not surprised that he had this reaction. It was all completely unbelievable. I barely believed it myself.

But then I noticed something, which made my heart leap. Seth’s pyjama bottoms were sticking out the bottom of his jeans. Why had he not got changed before he went riding his bike at three in the morning? Why had he been in woods that were miles from his house, when he had perfectly good woods surrounding his own home? How had he been in the woods, by sheer coincidence, at the exact place and time that I was? All through my life, the Guardians had never let me out of their sight for as much as a minute. That must have been them in the woods and if it was, why would they suddenly let me go when Seth turned up? Unless they knew I was safe, unless… I was with a Guardian?

‘Oh Seth, no,’ I looked at him in despair, a huge sense of disappointment and loss flooding through me. ‘Not you too.’

‘What?’

‘You’re one of them aren’t you?’

‘Eve, have you lost your mind. I’m a Guardian? Is that what you’re saying? I’m a being with super strength? I can barely open a jar of jam. This is insane. You’re really worrying me.’ He looked at me incredulously.

Fear and anger erupted through me. How far did this deceit stretch? When was I finally going to get some answers?