Shadow's Dangers (40 page)

I started suddenly, feeling something vibrate in my pocket. I quickly realized that it was my cell phone. I opened the pocket of my jacket and took it out. I barely had time to see the name of Leighton on the screen when my phone was snatched from my hands.

“What are you doing? It's Leighton!” I cried, trying to get it back.

“It's a trap, you idiot! They want you to believe that it's her to get you to talk so they can know where you are!”

Before I could react, my phone was shattered by Garreth’s fist. Wide-eyed, I looked at the dust and pieces falling slowly on the carpet of the car.

“You didn't need to...”

My words choked in my throat. My anger at his gesture was replaced by a nameless horror when I took notice of the look he sent me. I began to tremble uncontrollably. At the pace my heart was beating, I would soon have a heart attack.
It would surely be better...
My survival instinct manifested, my hands immediately grabbing the handle of the door to try to open it. To no avail. I was trapped like prey in the claws and fangs of a predator.

“I guess I don't need to play the act anymore. I admit I am relieved, it started to be exhausting. Especially when you started to ask question after question! You're really unable to shut your mouth for a second!”

He had the appearance of Garreth, but with the voice of Travis. It was worse than all, having a face that I knew by heart and yet, at this moment, that inspired only terror in me. Lord, he deceived me again and I could blame only myself for getting trapped a second time! I should have understood something was wrong when I saw his scornful expression. I should have known Garreth would never have acted so coldly when my life was literally falling apart. I should have known he would never leave Leighton behind. I should have known...but now it was too late for regrets. Tears of fear and rage toward my stupidity burned my eyes, but I forced myself to swallow them. Suddenly, something even more important struck me.

“Where are Garreth and Leighton? What did you do to them, you bas--”

“No need to be vulgar,” he interrupted me, both mocking and annoyed by my attitude. “You already have my nerves strained by your mere presence, you don't want me to get angry, do you?”

I said nothing and he continued.

“Just know that if you count on them to save you, you're fooling yourself. They are held somewhere far from here.”

I was quite unable to contain my nervousness at his answer. Anyway, my fate was already sealed so what could he still do if I kept pushing him?

“I didn't ask that! I want to know if they are safe or if they are injured!”

The mask of superiority Travis wore, which still held Garreth's appearance, fell for a few moments. Clearly taken aback by my reaction, he looked at me before turning his attention back to the road.

“They're fine.”

I breathed in relief. At least I had the assurance that they wouldn't risk their lives trying to save me. Of course, I wasn't in a hurry to die, I didn't want that for a single second, but maybe it was ultimately better this way. Hayden, Annabelle and all other human beings that frequented my life were no longer in danger because of me. Garreth and Leighton wouldn't have to watch over me constantly. Leighton could finally return to her dear Darnell. Garreth would obviously suffer from my death but he would have a long lifetime to recover from it. And losing a family member was a common thing in his world. He would survive my death.

A sad smile played on my lips. Everything would be fine for everyone. Everyone except me... Travis’s voice brought me out of my procrastination. He had uttered something in the language of
Enimae
while looking at me curiously. What was his problem?

“What?”

“Nothing,” he replied in a harder tone than my own, his face returning to his angry expression he only reserved for me.

As if chasing an unwanted thought, Travis shook his head before stopping the car. I took in our surroundings. There were other cars passing on a nearby road and a few people near us. I wondered if he would kill me right here. At first glance, no place would allow him to execute me quietly.

“What are you...”

I couldn't finish my sentence because my head hit against the glass so powerfully that it cracked. I barely had time to register that something was running down my scalp and the engine noise was roaring again before darkness enveloped me completely.

18

The Insurgents

I tried to keep my eyelids open but they were constantly flitting, opening and then closing and I couldn't stop them. My head was pounding. I felt like a wreck and the constant and sudden movements of my body didn't help my condition.

“No need to pretend to be still out cold, I know you've regained consciousness,” a male voice pronounced, not far from me.

I succeeded in making an unintelligible sound in response. I tried to understand what was happening.
Out cold? Regained consciousness?
Why did he say that? I racked my memory in search of an explanation as I was unable to open my mouth to ask him.

Eventually it came back to me with brutality. The disappearance of Garreth. Leighton gone looking for him. Travis acting as Garreth before revealing his identity and I, who had been deceived again. The blow to the head. My inability to do the simplest things now made sense. Travis didn't hold anything back when he punched. Especially when he banged my head against the passenger window.

Oh my God! Travis!
It was he talking to me. I realized with horror that during the indefinite time of my unconsciousness, I had gotten even closer to the moment of my death. Perhaps now I was only a few minutes from it. Panic crept into me and my breathing became chaotic. Surprisingly, fear helped to clear my head and made me more alert. My eyes finally opened and the thick fog in my mind began to clear. The first thing I saw was that Travis had abandoned the appearance of Garreth and looked like himself again. The other thing I noticed was that he was walking a few meters away. Realizing this, my heart leapt with hope and without missing a beat, I knew I had to try to escape to save my skin. But when I tried to move my legs to run, I realized I didn't touch the ground. I uttered an exclamation of astonishment, seeing that I was on the back of a beast. And not just any beast! That with the body of a feline, the resistant skin and horns made of something like metal I had seen in my nightmare a few hours ago! But instead of running, the animal walked at a steady pace and, instead of holding its horns, they were holding me, wrapped around my hands like shackles of steel, making it impossible to flee. Desperate, I tried to pull on them but no matter how hard I tried, it was impossible to get rid of them.

“No need to try to save yourself. It's impossible, unless I decide otherwise. Which is not gonna happen.”

I let out an involuntary sound, a noise halfway between a sob and cry of frustration.

“The faster you accept your fate, the better it will be,” he said without emotion, not even bothering to look at me.

“Easy for you to say! It's not you who's being led to your execution!” I exclaimed, finally regaining the ability to speak.

Since I couldn't get away, I could at least give free rein to my resentment for Travis. My fate couldn't be worse, anyway.

“Even if you believe it's easy for me, it's not.”

He almost looked sincere while speaking his nonsense. A nervous laugh escaped me and in spite of myself, my nerves strained.

“Oh, really? As if you didn't have a choice in the matter! Don't act like a victim, you're not!”

He turned around. His face was only fury and his honey-colored eyes seemed to burn with the fire of hatred. The creature made a sudden halt.

“You know nothing about me!” he replied with aggressiveness. “So don't judge me!”

I stared at him with all the loathing I was capable of. I wanted him to remember this moment. I wanted him to be haunted by it and feel pathetic for what he had done to the people he betrayed. Especially Garreth.

“I know plenty of things about you,” I asserted. “I know Garreth saved you once when all your community wanted you dead. So in order to save you, he convinced them you wouldn't do anything and look at what you did to thank him! He gave you a chance and you...you stabbed him in the back!”

He crossed the few meters separating us at breakneck speed before making a stop in front of the beast that was carrying me. He made it sit with a simple nod, our eyes now at the same level. His expression showed me nothing, but the glimmer in his eyes betrayed something else: guilt. However, what I saw in his pupils disappeared as quickly as it had come.

“Garreth...so noble, good, merciful...so perfect Garreth,” he spoke with bitterness mingled with disgust. “I have never asked him to defend me. I didn't want anyone to help me. I wanted them to kill me. But no! He had to play the hero and proved again how much better he was than the rest of us by making them cancel my execution!”

I slightly widened my eyes at his tirade. Not because he had admitted wanting to die--I didn't care about that--but because of the words and the tone he used.

“You hate him?” I inquired, surprised. “He saved you and you hate him? What kind of monster would hate the...”

I fell silent when his hand stopped just inches from my cheek before his fingers close in a tight fist. He had wanted to slap me. I didn't understand why he had chosen to stop at the last moment. After all, what was a little more or less, considering what he had already inflicted and was still planning.

“Don't talk about things you don't know,” he told me through clenched teeth, rage oozing from his every word.

He stepped back, without letting go of my eyes. At that moment, it was debatable who could hate the other the most.

“I don't hate Garreth. He's...my brother. It...”

“You're not brothers,” I couldn't help but retort.

“It's not a matter of blood!” he objected then issued a snort as if I were too stupid to understand, before looking a thousand miles away for a few moments. “The blood...it means nothing. He's my brother. Just like Leighton is my sister. I'd do anything for them, even if they hate me.”

I saw a card to play here. Perhaps by touching a chord, if Travis had one, I would be able to push him to let me live. I had nothing to lose after all.

“They don’t ha--”

“They hate me now! I know it!”

He took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose to calm down, a tic of his own, I had noticed. After a moment, he continued.

“But it doesn't matter. I will do whatever is necessary to protect my family.”

I began to panic at the flawless resolution I perceived in his voice.

“It makes no sense! I'm supposed to help you put an end to this war! If I die, it will go on and they will die at a future battle! What you’re doing here, it goes against everything you want!”

Travis gave me a smile that could seem amused if there wasn't some bitterness to it.

“You really think you, insignificant as you are, can change the fate of my people?
Please!
They all lure themselves with false hope, wanting to believe you can put an end to a war that lasted for over a century! That is ridiculous! But you're right about one thing: what I do goes against what I want.”

Taken aback by his speech, I was immediately convinced that using what he last said could be the unique opportunity I had left to save my life.

“Why are you doing this, then?” I asked him with uncertainty.

It was better for me to play on vulnerability and look fragile and helpless. Perhaps he would take pity on me and let me go. I was desperate to survive. Accepting my fate, as it was the case in the car, was definitely not an option now that the end was so near.

“Because I have to.”

“Why?” I insisted.

He looked up to heaven while the irritation that deserted his face for a few moments returned stronger than ever after my question.

“Are you deaf or what? I've already answered!”

I reconsidered his previous words.

“For them,” I whispered as I realized the answer.

“Oh! You have understood! Well, anything can happen, even the unthinkable. You’re not as stupid as you look,” he said, the condescension in his intonation and attitude very clear.

Since the only thing that seemed to matter to him was to save Garreth and Leighton from the insurgents, I had to talk about them to make him feel guilty and change his mind about wanting to send me to my death. I threw him the first thing that came into my mind.

“They care about me as much as I care about them. You can't do this...”

“Let me say that between their death and yours, my choice is already made. And know that in our world, we are constantly losing people we cherish. So, believe me, they will survive your loss.”

My attempt had just failed miserably. Panic began to overtake me as I racked my brain to find another way out. This wasn't good. Not good at all...

“I...” I couldn't continue, not knowing what to say.

“You, what?”

When he saw that nothing happened, he smiled. It was a smile without warmth, as if for once, he took no pleasure in torturing me.

“Try as much as you want, but you won't change my mind. I know it's the only way to keep them safe.”

Suddenly, an idea came to mind.

“You sure? Because I doubt they will be safe when they hunt down the insurgents who have killed me. In fact, they'll certainly die in the process.”

The prospect of death was horrible, but I had to use it. I had no choice. I watched Travis look at me with no expression. He didn't seem shaken, though his superior air was gone. Maybe it had worked. I had to continue down this path.

“And you, what do you think they will do to you? They'll track you down, too! They'll track you down until they find you and kill you! And if they don’t, it will be other members of your community, desperate to take revenge for having lost their only hope of survival, as absurd as it  sounds. Is that how you want it to end?”

I didn't see his answer coming.