03 Saints (37 page)

“Well, that was exciting,” Alex said.

“You controlled it,” Daniel said encouragingly.

“Define ‘progress’ – the act of not making a building fall down,” I said dryly.

“How did he get back here so quick?” Daniel asked, staring after Quinn. “If he is the one taking shots at us…how was he here?”

“Sara or Shawn would have had to have taken him,” Alex said. “Both were out.”

“If they are on his side…” Daniel said.

“Imagine if they decided to leave someone in that dark void they walk through…” I said with a shudder.

“Did you guys feel that earthquake?”

Spider and the kids had come to find us. Their eyes were wide with excitement and fear. Spider had found another jacket, one that looked way too big for him. It looked like Reaper’s.

“Yeah, we felt it,” Daniel said.

“I’ve never felt a real earthquake before!” Cora said.

“Do you think they’ll be another one?” Sprint asked. “What are they called?”

“Aftershocks,” Ethan said.

“No seriously,” Sprint said. “What are those things called when the first earthquake ends?”

“Aftershocks,” Ethan repeated.

“I don’t think so,” Sprint said.

“I’m hungry,” Cora said as Ethan’s lips formed a rebuttal.

“It’s Spider’s turn to fix something,” Ethan said.

“I was just almost killed,” Spider pointed out. “I deserve a freebie.”

“No way, dude…The only way you get a freebie is if you actually die,” Ethan said.

“Oh, well, thanks,” Spider said.

“Fair is fair,” Ethan said primly.

They walked off, leaving Daniel, Alex, and me in the hall again. I was staring at Daniel, Daniel was staring at the ground, and Alex was biting her lip and staring out the window.

“I need to talk with Reaper,” Alex said.

“What good do you think that will do?” I asked.

“Maybe nothing, but I need to understand. The more we know, the better we can deal,” she said.

“Okay,” I said.

She walked away, still lost in wherever her thoughts had gone. I sensed not all of her thoughts were about the attack; something else was bothering her. Daniel crossed his arms and continued with the biggest worry on his mind.

“We need to find out if he had help. Sara and Shawn can be dangerous allies to have. If Quinn owns them…”

“You’re the charmer,” I said. “You could get them to confess.”

He smiled briefly. “I’ll see what I can do. Just be aware of the possibility, and don’t take anything for granted.”

“I’m aware that the Saints aren’t as trustworthy as I had hoped,” I said. “On several counts.”

“Mmmhhh,” he agreed. He stepped past me and headed for our room. “I’m going to shower and change…then we have training,” he said.

“Can’t I call a near-death experience as an excuse not to train today?” I asked.

I wanted to spend time with him that didn’t include testing the outer limits of what I could do. The attack had made me doubly aware of how tenuous time could be.

“No, because that just makes me realize how necessary training is,” he said.

I sighed, and accepted the fact that there was no escape from training. The look on his face told me I would lose should I argue. He felt too passionately about what he was trying to accomplish by training me. There was no defense against such passion.

I met him at the beach, after his shower. The wound on his shoulder was completely healed, and it was almost as if the attack had never happened. Almost. His actions gave away the fact that he was thinking about it. He was quiet and tense, lost in plans and questions as he joined me. I broke the silence first.

“Have you gotten word from Margaret or Jackson yet?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “They’re not going to risk what they’re doing by calling me, before they have information.”

“I hope they’re okay,” I said.

“There are three people in this world who I know will always be okay, Margaret and Jackson are two of them,” he said. “They’re survivors.”

“I’m sure you weren’t thinking that when our hotel in New Orleans burned down,” I pointed out.

He shrugged and didn’t reply.

“Who is the third person you know will always be okay?” I asked curiously.

“Your mom,” he said.

I was surprised. I laughed in disbelief. “Ellen?”

He nodded. “She’s got a sense for when to leave, when to stay and always manages to survive. She’s the reason you managed to say hidden for so long, remember?”

I agreed. “True.”

He pulled me away from the water and forced me to face him, to begin our training. The seriousness of our conversation, the worry from the attack, was obvious on his face as he looked at me. I knew he was about to train me as hard as he could – I was about to feel the wrath of his worry. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for an exhausting morning.

By the time noon rolled around, I was tired, mentally and physically, my arms ached from sparring and exercising, and I was fighting the images he had forced in to my head as part of his mind control exercises. Despite my exhaustion, I was grateful for Daniel pushing me so hard. I knew it was for a good reason; a reason I agreed with.

Alex didn’t join us for the training. I figured she had thrown herself in to her data sorting, the attack making her feel like she had to be doing something to help. She couldn’t stand being helpless…almost as much as I couldn’t stand sitting idly by when someone was in danger.

When the sun was fully overhead, Daniel stopped my lesson and directed us back to the school. As we were walking the stairs to our room, talking quietly, I heard my name called. It was a strong call, forceful, demanding I pay attention.

CLARE!

I turned at the sound, expecting someone to be directly behind me. The staircase was deserted. There wasn’t even the normal traffic coming from the common area to the stairs. People were still mulling over the attack, fear making them hunker down and seek out the company of friends they trusted. But the feeling of being watched was pervasive. I frowned at the stairs, wondering if someone was messing with me. I was certain it had been my name and that it had been close.

“What?” Daniel asked, also looking down the dark stairs.

“Did you hear that?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “What did you hear?”

“My name,” I said.

“Maybe someone in the school is talking about you,” he suggested.

“Maybe…”

A shiver went down my spine as the feeling of being watched grew stronger. I was certain we weren’t as alone in the hall as I thought. I knew turning invisible was possible, but if there was someone invisible hanging around, why would they have called my name? It didn’t make any sense. I shook my head at the feeling, deciding to blame my exhaustion and the long night of worry on the moment. It was better than admitting I was going crazy.

“If he’s building a following, letting him gain the momentum seems stupid,” I heard Alex say from somewhere on the stairs, distracting me from the oddness of the moment. “You should do something now, before the situation escalates and more of your people die.”

“Should I kill him in his sleep?” Reaper asked back. “Would you prefer that?”

“Well, no…”

“So what are your ideas?” he asked. His voice was forceful – a challenge.

“I dunno; exile him from the kingdom or something. Who cares what the others think? If they want to do good, they’ll stick around. You don’t want the other sort around you anyways, do you?”

“How exceedingly naïve,” Reaper said.

“Guilty as charged,” Alex said.

“Now you sound like Clare,” he chastised her.

Daniel and I turned the corner and saw them sitting on the steps. They were angled toward each other, though they were both full of combative tension. The feeling of being watched faded as I saw them. It was a good distraction, particularly since Daniel was staring at me as if he had never seen me before.

“Why, that almost sounds like you were insulting her by calling her me,” I said playfully to Reaper.

Reaper blinked a couple of times in surprise, as if we had snuck up on him. He obviously wasn’t used to people surprising him. He moved his legs, so that he was no longer angled toward Alex.

“I…” he started to explain.

“He was,” Alex agreed, interrupting him.

“Do you feel insulted?” I asked her.

“Only mildly,” she said.

“That’s a comfort,” I said.

“We should talk,” Reaper said hastily changing the subject. He was looking at Daniel.

“Alright,” Daniel agreed.

Reaper stood, still nervous about insulting me, and the pair walked down the stairs. Daniel gave me a look that spoke volumes as he walked away. I didn’t need the look to know he was wondering if he had trained me too hard and I was starting to hear voices because of it. It was a look that told me he had questions. I didn’t have answers.

“How’s the shoulder?” I heard Reaper ask Daniel as they walked away.

“It aches, but I think it’s going to be fine,” Daniel said.

“Three inches over and you’d be a corpse,” Reaper said.

“Don’t remind me,” Daniel replied.

“Let’s go to the common area,” Alex said, pulling me away from their conversation.

“Why?”

“Because watching people helps me not think,” she said.

“Why are you not thinking?” I asked.

“Because it hurts my brain,” she said.

“Reaper problems?” I teased.

She didn’t reply, but her face said ‘yes.’

The common area was full of Watchers who were still talking over the attack of the previous night. Some stopped talking about it when they saw me but most didn’t. They were oblivious to the fact that I had been there. To them, what mattered was the attempt on Reaper’s life and how it impacted their sanctuary.

In the corner of the room, Ghost, Grace, King, Spider, Shawn and a couple of other Watchers were playing a game of poker. They were joking happily and throwing insults around with casual familiarity. Thiers was the only group that wasn’t talking about the attack, though I sensed it weighed heavily on their minds. Spider in particular looked nervous, though I only noticed it, because I knew him. I could tell he was only sitting in on the game to collect information…to see if someone else had been in on the attack.

Alex sat on an unoccupied sofa in the far corner, where she could watch the whole room. I sat next to her and shut my eyes in exhaustion. My training with Daniel had worn me out, but I sensed Alex needed the company, even if we didn’t talk. I rested, while Alex stared around at the masses. I heard people occasionally call out to Alex, people who had obviously learned of her ability to listen. I heard her call back happily enough, though I felt her shifting uncomfortably on the sofa with restlessness unlike her. Her tension and her thoughts were obvious, but so was her unwillingness to talk about whatever was on her mind. I left her to both – she would talk when she was ready.

I heard a frustrated sigh, and I opened my eyes again. “This isn’t working,” she admitted.

“And?” I asked.

“Let’s go back to your room. I wanna take another crack at your grandfather’s book.”

“Kay,” I agreed easily.

I followed her out of the common area and up the stairs. The sounds of the school followed me as I walked. I heard the conversations, the flirting, the moving around, but it was one conversation in particular that caught my attention. It stood out, because it was hushed and full of angry tension.

“I talked to Shawn, Quinn. He said he set you down in Compton last night. That was more than close enough to get to Reaper, take a shot, and get back in time for Shawn to pick you up again.” I recognized the voice as Elizabeth’s.

“Are you accusing me of something?” Quinn asked dangerously.

“No, I’m asking you. Did you have something to do with it? And did you kill K.J.?” she asked.

I put a hand on Alex’s arm to make her walk slower; I wanted to pinpoint the location of the voices. The conversation pulled me toward the third floor. A strange feeling permeated my body – it was the feeling of looming confrontation.

“I don’t have to take this harassment,” Quinn said.

“Tell me the truth!” Elizabeth demanded. “K.J. was my responsibility! She died on my watch. Mine! Just tell me if you had something to do with it…Tell me if you are really after the human boy…the one they call Spider.”

There was a long pause of silence. I held my breath as I waited for him to respond. Would he really admit to it?

I should have known better.

The silence shifted, and I heard the dark sound of flesh hitting bone. The sounds changed intensity, and I realized they were fighting; they were fighting as only Watchers could – with terrifying, deadly force. I wasn’t sure what was happening exactly, but I had seen enough of Quinn’s fighting to know he was skilled. I didn’t doubt Elizabeth’s abilities, but I knew Quinn had a killer instinct. He would show no mercy.