Chosen (The Chosen Few Trilogy #1) (6 page)

I scratched my nose. “I guess someone found out something they weren’t supposed to?”

Myleene nodded. “Isn’t that always the way?
You’ve
heard of the Library of Alexandria?”

“Yeeeesss,” I said
.
“Old place, destroyed.”

“A place where all the wisdom of
the world was once collected.
Well, a
t the time of Alexandria, our library- the Library of Aegis-
rivaled
if not
exce
eded
that one. Only a handful of people around the world even know of its existence
, and even less
its location. Now if you imagine how much was lost at Alexandria- add another seven hundr
ed years of learning
to that, and
then
add the
countless volumes added by our Uberhuman friends, you might guess at what we have.”

I was genuinely shocked. “Sounds…cool.”

Belinda laughed. “That’s what
I
said.”

“It is the seat of learning and knowledge and absolute power. It is the very axis of the world.”

I took the rebuke with a humble nod. “Go on.”

“So we knew our enemy was planning a raid,” Giles prompted.

“Right,” Myleene nodded. “
Firstly,
our enemy
should not know the Library’s location.
Secondly,
w
hy a small raid?” Myleene said around a sip of water. “Why not an all
-
out assault? Why now? And more importantly-
what were they bloody-well after?”

Eyes twinkling, Belinda said, “In a nutshell. I watched the Library. I followed the thieves. I caught them red-handed. I slapped their arses.”

I grinned
.

Myleene gave a short laugh. “Yes, well, luckily our enemy miscalculated and sent humans to carry out the raid. Belinda directed the
questioning
of the thieves and we learned they had come to find and simply
destroy
a
particular
document. The T
ext of Arcadia.”

An air of silence and wonder had fallen over the room that set my heart racing. Lucy, I
noticed, was enthralled
, not even rubbing the bandages that covered her wounds.

“The T
ext of A
rcadia,” Myleene continued. “Has been
translated and reviewed
by some of the mos
t learned people on the planet.
”

“So what does it sa
y?” Lucy asked
.

Myleene took a breath.

“And such a time shall come to p
ass when dark shadows
drive through the very crust of the Earth where it has grown weak,
” Myleene spoke in a voice force without inflection or emotion and purely from memory. “
Earth and Air, Fire and Water- it will all warp. Disaster shall be visited upon the innocents, and they shall no longer remain innocent. Gorgoroth will send Trickster, Spirit, Malevolence, Eradicator, Warrior, Conjuror and Sorcerer, the six Destroyers- precursor
s to the coming of his armies,
and these six Lieutenants shal
l wreak havoc upon the world as they
seek out and destroy the Eight chosen souls. The Eight are powerful alone, but forged together and standing side-by-side at the site o
f the Last Battle their
powers will save the world. Protect the Eight, for if they do not stand together against the coming of Gorgoroth at the end, at New Babylon, our fair earth will be lost.”

8

MAUI, HAWAII, U.S.A.

About three minutes before Devon Summers died the man called Loki stoppe
d hurting her and stepped
back to admire his handiwork. For seven hours his pleasure and her hell had mounted in unison. Now it was all about to come to a frenzied end.

Devon stared up at him through her pain. Her body felt like it had been run over by a steam roller from the neck down. How had things come to this senseless end?

Who was he? This killer? A jilted lover. An unhappy cu
stomer? An irate pedestrian?
I
t didn’t take much these days to commit a
n act of violenc
e. The killer stood over her, eyes locked to hers,
reveling
in her final moments.

“It was good to kill you, Devon Summers,” she heard him whisper. “You are the first to die. Your power will never be
realized
, not by
Aegis and not by you,” his
hateful eyes travelled the length of her body. “You could have saved the world.”

He turned away and passed beyond her sight. A
fter a minute she heard the
door click softly. Her killer was gone.
At least he left me to die in peace,
she thought.

Midnight chimed out on the mantelpiece clock. She could not move. His blows had long since broken all her major bones. To blink and roll her eyes and use her brain was the sum total of her collapsing world. It was ironic in a way, for she had never spent a si
ngle day in hospital. Never
suffered a single bout of flu. Germs couldn’t touch her, but stark, shitty life could. It could take away everything she had ever experienced.

Devon forced her eyes open, not wanting her last will to slip away. She had wonderful memories. She had dreams and aspirations.

All about to be scattered like autumn leaves in a winter storm.

Oh, God
!

Devon ached to live. Tears slid from the corners of her eyes, running down her face to pool on the carpet. She willed herself not to die, willed it with every
fiber
of her being.

And then she sensed something inside, something rising. Like a wave it flowed from her very core, gathering momentum
, rushing
from
her
toes to
her
scalp. Her eyes flashed bright green, the glow discernible even to her. She groaned. Heat blossomed within her.

She curled her fingers into fists. She moved her right leg.

She gasped,
and then
held herself immobile. Something was happening here. Something miraculous.
The part
s
of her body
she could see were no longer broken, just
bruised.
And,
God were the bruises paling away even as she watched?

Then the front door clicked open again and she stifled a shriek of fear.
T
he killer
was
back to finish the job.
Her panic hit a pinnacle when she saw a stranger walking towards her.

But the concern she saw in his face made her want to weep with joy.

“Devon Summers?” the man was so upset she could see tears glistening in his eyes. “Oh no. Are you Devon Summers?”

She
managed a nod, dumbfounded
she could even manage that.

“We’re too late,” the man collapsed to his knees at her side, shoulders shaking in misery. “Oh, God, we’re too late.” The man reached for his cell phone.

Then he noticed her rapidly vanishing bruises and the protruding bones that were painlessly knitting themselves back together. He noticed her amazing emerald eyes ablaze with power.

“You are the
healer,
” he whispered in awe. “They thought they’d killed you, and left you for dead, not
realizing
you are the healer!”

Devon
reveled
in the newly awakened power within her.

The man jabbed at
his cell phone
. Af
ter a few seconds he said, “This is Michael. Devon Summers is alive, by a miracle. Get a team here. We have to get her to safety
now.
”

9

YORK, ENGLAND

  I didn’t understand the Text of Arcadia yet but I leapt upon one point
.
“And you guys think
I
am one of these…these eight Chosen?”

Myleene shook her head. “Logan, we
know
you are.”
O
thers nodded. Even Belinda gave me an encouraging smile.

“But
how?
”

“The
planets
most powerful coven of witches
used the text as a focal point
to
concoct
a
location
spell.
A few days ago it found
the Eight, scattered around the world. Aegis has
dispatched
people to
bring them in safely. But-”

I swallowed. “But?”

“The Six Destroyers, though stretched, are already out there, Logan.
The
spell sought them
also,
and they are very, very close. We even have their
real names. Of course, the Destroyers
know more about
this crisis than
we do. We don’t even know how many of the Eight remain alive.”

“Wait,"
Lucy spoke in a tiny voice. “
It’s…it’s just you keep saying
six
Destroyers, yet you spoke
seven
names.”

“Nice,” Belinda grinned in appreciation.

“Yes, you are right. Well done.” Myleene nodded in respect. “
Trickster-
the seventh Destroyer is a shape-changer, always concealed, almost impossible to find. We think it’s the Text’s way of helping to point that out to us.”

“Listen
,” I pinched the bridge of my nose and breathed slowly.
“It’s all very well rabbiting on about
unknown
powers and apocalypse, but in
my
reality
I have to concentrate on stopping my house from being repossessed. Do you think my power might achieve that?”

Giles gave me a tight lipped smile. “
Who knows?
We believe each power is unique
.
Individually it
will be fantastic,
possibly devastating. But first
, it needs c
oax
ing
out.”

“Through
hard
training
,” Belinda added
with a smile
.

“Have you found
any
of the Eight?” Lucy asked
. “Apart from dad
?”

Myleene nodded towards the oriental guy who sat with his legs dangling over his chair arm. “Say hello to Kisami. Belinda flew him in from Hong Kong yesterday. He was the first we found.”

Kisami said, “I speak small English. No?”

I widened my eyes.

“Look, I think we
’re done here,” Giles
said
. “Go to your contacts. Get this meeting
organized
for tomorrow night. There has never been a more important meeting in our two thousand year history. We are at kill or be killed.” With this last word he unknotted his damn tie and threw it on the table.

I sat there, scared
. “Does this mean…” I swallowed
. “Does this mean my daughter and I are in
immediate
danger?”

Belinda slid out of her chair and came over to me. “I’m with you now, Logan. You’ll be safe,” she winked. “And warm.”

I heard Lucy choke back a laugh. I thought about my house, my business,
and my
friends.

“Seriou
sly,” Myleene drew my attention
. “We do know that one of the Six is here, in York.”

“
In
York?”

“Uh huh.
A woman by the
name of Ashka."

F
ear twisted
my gut. Nice bombshell.

I indicated Lucy. “My daughter needs to be safe. Plus she needs to be in school in a few days,” I knew school weren’t expecting her for a while following the
hospitalization
. “And I have a business
, and bills.
”

“We’ll work it out, Logan. Your daughter is safer with Belinda than with anyone else in the world right now. And you are safer in York, under our protection, than in any other city. Take some solace in that.”

“So,” Belinda held out a hand. “You gonna sit there all n
ight, Logan? Or do ya wanna meet Bill Compton
?”