The Sentinel (6 page)

I thought back to what he had told me before about him dying to save me. Just thinking of that now crippled me.

‘I’m not going to lose you either, I refuse to let it happen,’ I said determinedly, into his ear.

‘Seriously? I tell you that you’re going to save the world, that there are people out there that want to kill you, and you’re worried about me, that’s ridiculous. Evie you do make me laugh.’

I pulled away from him. ‘How can you be so reasonable about this, you’re going to die.’

‘We’re all going to die Evie, it’s just I’ve known how I’m going to die all my life. Dying to save anyone is pretty noble, but dying to save you, my best friend is absolutely the best way to go. Plus when I die, I know that you’ll be going on to save the world, so I’ll be saving two birds with one stone so to speak, my best friend and the saviour of the world, not bad for a day’s work. You have to save the world, and I have to die to save you. I’m so insignificant in the grand scheme of things, you on the other hand are the most important person in the entire world now, there’s no comparison.’

‘You’re the most important person in my world Seth.’

‘I think that about you too, my love, but only one of us is right. It just so happens that I have hundreds of Guardians, Donum, Zeki and the Oraculum that agree with me, I doubt anyone will agree with you.’

‘Well if I’m the most important person in the world, then it won’t take much to get the world to agree with me.’

If I had all this great power, I was damned well going to use it to save him too.

He just smiled and shook his head as if he was indulging me.

I knew I was right, whatever it took, I wasn’t going to lose him. And with this renewed outlook, I felt better about my future than I had all day.

*

The streets were deserted on the drive to my new home, it was early hours in the morning and the world was still sleeping in their beds, seemingly unaware of this new life that I had stumbled against. The life where I was now charged with their salvation. Christmas lights twinkled sporadically on a few houses. It was early December and I wondered what kind of Christmas I would have this year.

A blue car suddenly joined us, following very close behind Eli’s silver car. I felt Seth tense under my arms and I knew something was very wrong.

‘Not again, surely,’ I called to him over the noise of the engine.

He turned to look over his shoulder at the driver and I heard him swear.

‘Corben,’ he muttered. And though I’d not heard the name before, I knew this wasn’t good.

I turned to look too as the blue car attempted to get past the silver one.

The Guardian’s car suddenly swerved and drew level with me, as the blue car accelerated towards me. Seth floored the bike and the silver car surprisingly matched our speed. This did very little though to put any distance between us and Corben. As the Guardian’s car inched closer to me, the passenger door flew open and Lucas leaned out, unperturbed by the road passing beneath him at over a hundred miles an hour. His eyes held a steely determination as he reached out towards me. I looked back as Corben’s car bore down on us.

In a sudden slick move I was torn from the bike and pulled into the car by Lucas. Seth didn’t even wobble. Instead, as soon as I was free, he slammed the brakes on and skidded the bike around to face the blue car and drove full speed into it. I screamed in horror as the bike crumpled like paper underneath the car’s tyres. But Seth had leapt off and landed on the roof of the car. He punched through the roof like a knife through butter and grabbed at the driver’s head. That was the last I saw of him as our car deftly took a side road and the blue car and my best friend disappeared from view.

6. It’s about to get a whole lot weirder

I stared in shock at the spot where Seth had disappeared as Lucas calmly closed the door.

I finally found my voice. ‘We have to go back for him.’

Eli didn’t even look at me as he negotiated the twists and turns of the tiny road at some speed.

My heart hammered against my chest.

‘Eli, turn around, we can’t leave him.’

As the road straightened ahead of us, Eli floored the accelerator, taking us further and further away from Seth.

I needed Seth, more than anything I had to have him by my side.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang on the roof of the car and a large crater caved in around us. Eli swerved the car violently trying to shake off whatever it was that had landed on us, but nothing fell off. Eli didn’t slow down though and Caleb quickly threw open the back door and climbed out onto the roof. Then I heard him laugh. Eli suddenly slowed and stopped. They all scrambled out but as I tried to join them Lucas pushed me back in. Caleb hopped down from the roof and was followed immediately by Seth who threw me a scowl before he turned back to the Guardians.

I stared at him, my mouth hanging open in shock and relief. ‘Did you fly?’

I saw the scowl slip a bit, a smile fighting on his lips. But he didn’t answer.

‘Did you finish it?’ asked Eli.

‘I didn’t get a chance before she pulled me to her?’ said Seth.

They all looked at me in confusion.

I got out and reluctantly Lucas let me.

‘I did what?’

‘You pulled me to you, which really annoyed me as I was just about to break his neck. Though given your complete lack of knowledge regarding your powers I’m guessing it wasn’t something you did deliberately.’

‘She pulled you, are you sure?’ Caleb looked at me like I was some kind of freak.

‘Well it sure as hell wasn’t something I did.’

I was stunned. ‘I pulled you to me? How did I…’ Suddenly it didn’t matter how I had done it, as relief washed through me. Seth was safe. That was the only thing that mattered. I stepped forward and hugged him tightly and after a few seconds he hugged me back.

The sound of a car engine fast approaching made me tense, though as Seth was still stroking me soothingly, I gathered this car, at least, was no cause for alarm.

I pulled away to see a black Porsche 911 skid to a halt in front of us. The driver, clearly another Guardian by the sheer size of him, got out and tossed Eli the keys, who immediately tossed them to Alexandria.

‘Car swap,’ Eli explained. ‘They’re looking for a silver car, or at the least a car big enough for a team of Guardians. This will hopefully go unnoticed, especially if Alexandria is driving.’

The front bonnet popped open. Eli opened it and then indicated that I should get in.

‘What?’ I was confused for a second before I remembered that the engine was in the back of the car and the boot was in the front.

I walked closer and could see the boot had been extended to encompass most of the passenger side as well. It actually looked quite roomy.

‘Get in.’

I stared at him. ‘Are you kidding?’

*

It turned out Eli wasn’t kidding. Eli didn’t do kidding, I realised, as I lay in the boot listening to the roar of the engine as the Porsche took me further away from any possible attack. The silver car, filled with my Guardians had driven off in the opposite direction to act as a decoy, though Eli was quick to reassure me that if there was an attack on me, they would be able to pull themselves to me in less than a second.

Any room that I thought I might have to stretch out in the boot had quickly disappeared when Lucas had climbed into the boot with me. He was huge, something I only really appreciated now as I was pressed into the walls of the car. It was pitch black but every part of my body was pressed tightly against his.

How was this appropriate? I had met the man less than an hour before and now he was lying almost on top of me in what seemed like a very familiar way. I was glad it was dark, because my cheeks were burning with embarrassment. But I had to be kept safe and any embarrassment or discomfort I was feeling right now had been pushed firmly aside for the sake of my protection.

The Putarians did seem hell bent on my destruction and it only seemed like a matter of time before they tried again.

I felt Lucas attempt to stretch out his legs, pressing me further into the floor of the boot.

‘Comfy?’ I hissed.

‘Not exactly. You?’

I rolled my eyes, safe in the knowledge that he couldn’t see me.

‘I’ll take that as a no,’ he said.

The engine suddenly slowed and then echoed indicating that we had driven into a small room, a garage perhaps. The engine was turned off and light filtered through the tiny cracks in the boot. I heard muffled voices and footsteps and then nothing.

‘I am not spending the rest of the night curled up in here with you.’

And in the limited gloom, I saw him smile.

The boot was suddenly opened and Seth peered in, scowling for some reason at mine and Lucas’s proximity. ‘Looks cosy.’ He pulled me out quickly, still glaring at Lucas.

The other Guardians were there too, the silver car parked next to the Porsche inside a double garage. I followed them into what appeared to be quite a large house.

Quinn was standing in the hall, waiting nervously. ‘We need to talk.’

I looked at him. I had cuddled up to this man when I had nightmares. I had played ball with him over the park. I had put bows on his ears and he had sat patiently throughout. Where the Guardians lacked emotion or love, Quinn’s eyes were filled with it. I nodded. ‘Not tonight though Quinn. It’s been a very long night.’

He frowned slightly but nodded.

‘I’ll show you to your room,’ said Lucas and I followed him up the stairs. He pushed open the door on a plain white room with a large double bed, already made up with comfy duvets and pillows that made me long for sleep. ‘I’ll be right outside if you need me.’

I nodded, still numb and closed the door. I lay down on top of the bed and stared at the ceiling. My family were dead. I was charged with saving the world. My Guardians were willing to die to save me. There were people that wanted me dead and Seth was going to die.

It was this that brought on the tears, the loss of losing my best friend. Though soon I was crying for my parents and all the deceit too.

A few minutes later, the door opened and Quinn, my dog leapt on the bed. I stared at him in shock for a second, feeling the sudden ache of love I had for him, that I’d always had for him. He nuzzled against my ear with his wet, whiskery nose. And although I knew the truth about him I couldn’t find it in me to be scared, to push him away. I loved my dog and knew he loved me and in a world that had changed drastically in the last few hours, I knew that hadn’t changed. Quinn lay down next to me and his heat, and familiar salty smell, soothed me. I put an arm around him and cried myself to sleep.

*

‘How you doing? You were upset last night?’ said Quinn, twisting a blade of grass between his fingers.

He had insisted we head out for a walk, without the oppressive gaze of the Guardians. And although Abe and Matthew, the Guardians tasked with babysitting our walk, were trying to keep a respectful distance, I knew they were close by. Eli was trying to keep things as normal as possible for me at the moment, but after the multiple attempts on my life the night before, I guessed that walks like this would soon be a thing of the past.

I sat down heavily on the grass and Quinn sat next to me. There had been a frost the night before and the ice seemed to cling to the branches like a white furry skin, glistening where the weak sun filtered through the thick green leaves of the fir trees.

‘My parents are dead Quinn. I know they weren’t really my parents, and they were never good at the loving side of things, but they were still my parents.’

My eyes were sore from all the crying, but I had a new resolve this morning. If they had died to protect me, then their deaths wouldn’t be in vain. I had to embrace this new future. I had to understand everything about this new world that I had been thrust into. I had to master my powers and learn how I was to save the world. My Dad had always taught me that emotions were for the weak. Ironic really that the first time I had properly cried since I could walk was over his death.

‘So this is all a bit weird for you?’ Quinn said.

‘A bit weird? There was a period that I thought I was going insane. Actually I’m not sure that period is over. I’ll probably come down off the medication soon and find myself in a padded cell, laughing manically about how I’m going to save the world. I think finding out my dog is actually a man was the final cherry on the cake.’

‘I’m sorry Eve, I never meant to deceive you, but I was following orders.’ The way he said that, so scathingly, made it very clear what he thought about those orders.

‘You don’t like this stupid secrecy either?’

‘I’m loyal to you Eve, not to the Oraculum and their stupid prophecies. The only reason I went along with it for as long as I did was because they were adamant that this was the best thing for you. I can’t say I agreed but I went along with it anyway.’

‘Don’t you believe in the prophecies then?’

‘I don’t hold a lot of stock in them, no. I believe the future can change depending on the paths we choose to take. I don’t believe that our every move, our every thought has already been mapped out for us. If our future is already laid out for us, if there is nothing we can do to change it, then the Oraculum would have to know every single one of the decisions every single person ever makes. One tiny decision could change everything. No I believe we have free will, I believe that the future is what we make it, not what the Oraculum decide for us.’

‘So why are you loyal to me if you don’t believe in the prophecies?’

Quinn hesitated. ‘I believe you are very special Eve, that great things are going to happen because of you. I believe you will have great power and I also believe that there are those that seek to harm you, to kill you. I agree with the Oraculum there, that you need to be protected. The Guardians are doing a good job with it, I can’t deny that. I wanted to help as well. They weren’t very happy about my involvement though. The Oraculum doesn’t trust shape shifters.’

‘Why?’

‘Because they can’t get in our heads. With the Guardians they communicate with them telepathically, over great distances, they can sense their feelings, their allegiance. But with us they can’t get a read. Pretty cool hey, for the all-seeing, all-knowing Oraculum it’s very frustrating for them, bless ’em. But traditionally, shape shifters are not very trustworthy. We’re a disreputable bunch. Shape shifters are thieves, they con people out of money, they’re double crossers. We’re never caught because we can shift into the tiniest spider or a sea creature of the deepest darkest oceans. We’re not liked very much.’