The Gathering (48 page)

60

Ian was staring so intently at Hannah and Chris from across the quad that he hadn't heard Tanner and Chelsea come up behind him.
 
Tanner gently laid his hand on Ian's shoulder and Ian jumped.

"Very funny!"

Tanner and Chelsea laughed.

"Yeah, it was really."

Ian scowled at them and turned back to see Chris kiss Hannah.
 
Ian went to get up, but again Tanner put a hand on his shoulder.

"Relax, Man, he's just kissing her."

"She's just a kid, Tanner.”
 
Ian looked at Chelsea.
 
“Aren't you just a kid?"

Chelsea smiled.

"I'm sixteen…is that a kid?"

Ian took a deep breath and shook his head.
 
Tanner smiled.

"She's not a kid, Ian."

Kaley had walked up to hear most of the conversation.
 
She put her arms around Ian and placed her head against his chest.
 
He glanced over at Hannah and then back down at Kaley, putting his arms around her.

"What's up, Babe?"

Tanner shook his head as Kaley sighed.

"Long day."

Ian kissed her head.
 
Tanner looked at Chelsea who was starting to look uncomfortable.

"Ok, well, I just came to say congratulations, Man.
 
Welcome to the family."

Tanner put out his hand and Ian took it and smiled.

"Good news travels fast, I guess.
 
My mom screamed this morning when I told her.
 
I think someone spilled coffee on themselves because of it."

They laughed and then said their good-byes as Tanner and Chelsea walked over to Chris and Hannah.
 
Chris was watching them come over.

"Hey, so how’s the happy couple?"

Chelsea sat down next to Hannah, as Tanner remained standing.

"Ok.
 
He's a little preoccupied with the two of you though."

Hannah rolled her eyes.

"Great."

They all smiled.
 
Chelsea took a piece of Hannah's hair and started to braid it.

"He's just worried about you…that's what big brothers do, right?"

The twins looked at each other and smiled and then shrugged.
 
Hannah rolled her eyes again.

"You two are hopeless."

Chris leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"I think you like hopeless."

Hannah let a grin escape and blushed.
 
Chelsea smiled as Tanner leaned in.

"I gotta go take care of some stuff.
 
See you for dinner?"

She smiled and he kissed her.
 
She felt like she would float away.
 
The twins walked away as Corey and Rachel walked up to the girls.
 
Corey stood in front of Chelsea, looked at Tanner and then at his sister.
 
He lifted his arm and pointed after Tanner.

"What the hell was that?"

Chelsea smiled and shook her head, then looked at Hannah.

"See, older brothers just try to protect you, that's all."

Corey stood there indignant as Rachel shook her head and he looked at her and pointed to Chelsea.
 
She nodded.

"Yeah, I know, I saw. Relax.
 
Go find something to do."

Rachel was about to sit down, when she realized that Corey was just staring at her, so she stood up and grabbed his face and kissed him long and slow.
 
When she finally let go, he stood there, blushing, unable to speak.

"Go."

Corey looked around and walked off after Tanner and Chris, muttering to himself.
 
Rachel shrugged and sat down with her friends and the girls laughed.
 
The bustling crowds of the marketplace moved slowly through the stalls as a cold afternoon breeze gently moved through the streets.
 
Although everyone smiled, there was an air of sadness.
 
Rona watched the girls from a distance and smiled as she formulated a new plan.
 
A plan the Master would like very much.

61

Vivian Shorely sat alone on a bench, not far from the southern stables.
 
Her normally pinched face was soft and sad as quiet tears rolled down her cheeks.
 
She breathed deeply and sighed, allowing herself to release some of her normally pent-up emotion.

Sean stepped out of the stables into the afternoon sun and looked around, pushing his hair back out of his face and rubbing the back of his neck.
 
He glanced around and noticed Vivian sitting on the bench.
 
He breathed deeply and watched her.
 
He frowned and put his hands in his pockets as he walked over to her.

When he was a few feet from her, he noticed that she had heard him and began to wipe her face and sit upright.
 
He stopped for a moment as if he would turn around, but thought better of it and continued forward the last few feet.

“Viv?”

Without looking at him, she lifted her chin and he could see her purse her mouth.

“As much as I enjoy our banter, Captain Lantry, I’m not much in the mood right now.”

He heard her voice crack and felt a knot in his stomach.
 
He moved to face her.

Vivian’s eyes were bright red and swollen as she tried to move away from his gaze.
 
He could feel her sorrow.
 
He sat down next to her and looked at the ground with his hands folded in front of him as he leaned on his knees.
 
She looked at the ground, but peeked over at him once or twice and sniffled.
 
He continued to look at the ground.

“You had someone at the KMC, didn’t you?”

Vivian tried desperately to stop the tears, but they flowed freely and she breathed deeply.

“My…my…my…sister, Helen.”

“I didn’t know you had a sister.”

Then her sobbing began and Sean just stayed where he was, listening.

“She was a devout Catholic.
 
We only saw each other every so often, she didn’t approve of my choice of religion, let alone leaving the church.
 
But in the last few months, she said she wanted us to be close again and she was going to come with the Mormons when they arrived.
 
They said there were no survivors.
 
I never…never got to say…goodbye.”

She put her face in her hands and continued to sob.
 
Sean’s eyes were welling up as he thought about his own sister, Grace.
 

Grace Lantry had been a lawyer in San Francisco.
 
Two years before the war started Grace had just started working at a prestigious firm and the young man she had been seeing had just proposed.
 
One Friday evening as she left work to go home for the Thanksgiving holiday, she was kidnapped.
 
The police told them what they thought had happened.
 
Her abductor forced her to drive them to San Rafael.
 
They drove down one of the small roads off the main freeway, where they pulled off into the trees.
 
The police said that she had tried to run, but the kidnapper caught her, then he raped and murdered her.

She had fought.
 
They found DNA under her nails where she had scratched and pulled, but her killer was never found.
 
Sean remembered when he had to identify her body.
 

He could see her face, pale and empty.
 
He thought to himself that she didn’t even look like the woman he knew.
 
It was like he was looking at a strange mannequin that had his sister’s features.
 
He didn’t cry as he looked down at her.
 
He found that he was staring at her hair.
 
There was a large chunk of it that had been cut off and he thought to himself,
Boy, she must be pissed that they did that.
 
He was numb to what they had done to her.

The coroner’s voice was barely a whisper as he asked if this was Grace Lantry and Sean felt his head move up and down.
 
His parents were in the next room and Sean could hear his mother screaming through the window.

Sean turned and looked at Vivian.
 
He could see the real Vivian now.
 
The high-strung, pinched Chancellor in her sixties who focused all her attention and energy into her work wasn’t there, just the lonely woman who had lost her only sister to a murderer.
 

Sean stood up.

“Wait here, Viv.
 
I’ll be right back.”

Vivian looked up at him and watched him walk away.
 
She hoped desperately that he wasn’t going to get Alia.
 
Vivian had always prided herself on keeping control of her emotions and the last thing she wanted was to lose control in front of her queen.

A short while later, Sean returned with a bag and his saddled horse.
 
Vivian stood up and wiped her face again.

“What’s all this, Captain?”

Sean threw the tie of the bag over the horn on the saddle and then offered Vivian his hand.

“We’re going to do something we need to do.”

Vivian pulled her hands back to her chest and shook her head.

“I…I don’t know how to ride a horse.”

Sean smiled and nodded.

“I know.
 
You sit, I’ll steer.”

Vivian looked at the huge animal and shook her head.

“C’mon, Viv.”

He again motioned with his hand that she should come with him and even in her uncertainty, she took him up on his offer.
 
He helped her up and into the saddle.
 
She grasped the horn as he pulled himself up and behind her, his arms around either side, holding the reins.
 
He nudged the steed forward and as they approached the gates he nodded to the soldiers, who opened the gate without question.

They rode slowly towards Spirit Hill, as Vivian clung desperately to the saddle horn.
 
Once they had arrived, Sean dismounted and then held up his arms to help Vivian off the horse.
 
She looked at him apprehensively, but let him help her down.