The Starborn Saga (Books 1, 2, & 3) (79 page)

The radio sounded through my pocket. “
Mora, can you hear me
?
The Center is going to blow in forty-five seconds. I hope the others are on their way out. We’re already out of the building.
”

“Forty-five seconds?” Connor said as he released my neck and limped to the wall next to the window. He looked from me to the floor in front of him. “I guess we’re both dying.”

My gaze turned to the sky through one of the broken windows. The early morning sun looked beautiful and I could hear the helicopter on the roof, loud and ready to go. I closed my eyes for a moment to see Evelyn being pulled by a guard. Jeremiah was already seated in the helicopter and the guard threw Evelyn to the floor. Anthony had made it to the top of the roof,  carrying Aaron. 

“What are you doing with him here?” Jeremiah called out. “He can sabotage the helicopter!”

Anthony shook his head. “He’s out.” He tossed Aaron to the floor next to Evelyn. His eyes were closed like he was asleep. 

Jeremiah pointed at one of the guards and told him to make sure Aaron stayed unconscious. The guard nodded in affirmation. 

Anthony started to get on the helicopter, but Jeremiah grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. “No more room.”

Anthony looked at the empty seats with a questioning stare, but Jeremiah just continued to shake his head. 

“Pilot, gete releas us out of here.” 

Anthony stood with his mouth open as the helicopter pulled away. Jeremiah stared at the horizon with a smug look on his face, leaving his last hunter behind. 

They had made their escape. I had lost my chance. My part in this was done. I had come down here to try and help Connor and Aaron escape, but now Aaron was a prisoner and Connor and I were going down with the Center. I really had thought  there was enough time. 

I looked up at Connor. “He’s in that helicopter,” I said. “Aaron was taken with Jeremiah.” Connor and I watched the helicopter as it flew away from the Center, unable to comprehend that both our lives would be finished in less than twenty seconds. 

But maybe they didn’t have to be. Maybe I hadn’t come here in vain. I still had my gift alive within me. I may have felt weak, sick, and about to die, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t try one last effort to save Connor’s life.

“We can still make it,” I said. “You just have to trust me.”

Connor nodded and stood straighter. “What is it?” he asked. 

“We jump together.”

“What?” 

“No time!” I grabbed hold of his arm and stepped up to the edge of the broken glass.

The doubt on his face was apparent.

“This might not work,” I said, “but we’re going to die anyway, so we might as well try.”

He looked at me. We knew that if there was a chance to survive, we had to take it. As I looked down into the streets below, I could see guns firing. Greyskins feeding. It was mayhem. War. Now the Center was coming down. 

We felt the boom from down below long before we heard it and our knees buckled as the building began to shake. With one last look into Connor’s eyes, I pulled him over the edge with me. My stomach lurched at the sudden free fall. It was only ten stories high, but it would be enough to kill us on impact. And that was what I was hoping to avoid. 

The base of the Center erupted in fire and the entire structure came tumbling down at the same rate as us. As it crumbled in on itself, there were several other large explosions, some from the charges below, others from gas lines and explosive material already in the building. As we fell, I could feel the searing heat come over us, and the force of the blast shoved us away from the building itself. 

The ground rushed closer and closer. I knew I could move people and objects with my mind. I have made things float in mid air before. Why couldn’t it be the same now? I didn’t shut my eyes, but I could feel Connor tense up as he grabbed onto me tighter. I used everything I had in me to focus on Connor to keep him above the ground, to hold us both afloat. I could feel our bodies slowing down until we came to a complete stop altogether. All I could hear was the tumbling building behind us, but I couldn’t help but smile, seeing that focusing on Connor had actually worked. We were still alive. For a brief second, we looked from side-to-side, finally able to see that we hovered just feet from the ground. 

My thoughts of joy were quickly interrupted, however, when another series of explosions rocked the Center, this time sending the two of us flying in different directions. My body skidded and scraped against the rough asphalt of the streets. Fire and litter spread out everywhere. I kept tumbling. At one point I was sure that I heard a rib snap. I didn’t stop until I finally landed on my side and slid another ten feet, slowing to a rough and bloody stop. 

I was finished. There was nothing left for me to do. Jeremiah was no longer my problem. The others were still a a live. They would know what to do. 

I opened my eyes, but I couldn’t see anything for a moment. The virus was taking over me more rapidly. It was coming close to the same hour when I had been scratched yesterday. My body was ready to give in to the virus.

I was about to die. Then, I would become a greyskin.   

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

I wish I could find my pistol so I could put a bullet in my brain. Rubble and debris are scattered all around me from the remains of the Center in Screven. Fire threatens to burn me, but I don’t care. In the distance I can see several people running toward me. Are they allies? Enemies? At this point, it doesn’t matter.

My pistol must have been flung from my belt in the explosions. I need it. Death will take me any second now and I can’t wake up as a greyskin. I can’t imagine myself as a greyskin. What kind of monster would I be?

My stomach wrenches and I dry-heave, trying to throw up onto the road in front of me. I haven’t seen a mirror since yesterday, but I imagine my eyes have darkened. I remember they had been bloodshot. Mucus drips down the front of my face and I know what comes next is death and a desire to eat flesh.

The people running toward me look like they are a mile away, though it’s probably only a hundred yards or so. I roll onto my back and stare up into the sky. When I look up, the sky is so hazy I can’t tell if it’s day or night, even though I know it is just after dawn. There is so much smoke. I can’t hear much. My ears are ringing from the explosions, but I’m sure my hearing will return if I don’t die first. 

The past twenty-four hours have been nothing but a blur. As I lay on my back, echoes of my last day whiz by. It’s like when a person sees her life flash before her eyes before she has a close call or is in a terrible accident. That’s kind of what this feels like; my brain is trying to reflect on how I came to be lying in the middle of the street in Screven with destruction all around me. My brain takes me to the moment I saw the blinking red light. The sinking feeling of defeat was like none I had ever felt. 

I think about leaving Springhill. Meeting the Screven Resistance. My last dreams that Evelyn had given me. I see it all in vivid detail, but it only takes a few seconds.

I close my eyes again and drift off to sleep. This is the first time in what seems like forever that I don’t dream something vivid meant to send me a message or show me why I needed to be in this fight. It is my final sleep, I’m sure. 

I don’t open my eyes. I
can’t
open my eyes. I feel hands grab both of my arms, and another set of hands grab my legs. I’m being carried away. To where, I have no idea. It almost feels like I’m on a swing. Peaceful. But the peace fades as I feel the burning heat from the fires all around. I’m set back onto the ground, but I’m leaning against some wall. I can feel the cool stone against my back. I can barely keep my head up so I just let it fall to my shoulder. 

I can hear voices, but I can’t discern what they are saying. Eventually, I’m able to open my eyes. Jeffrey stands over me. His hands grip my shoulders and his lips are moving, but all I can do is stare at him. Christopher walks up and kneels beside him, staring at me. He looks as rough as I feel. I hope he doesn’t try to heal my symptoms again. It’s over and done. 

rin

Where is Connor? Did he make it?
I want my thoughts to become words, but it doesn’t happen. I close my eyes, but not to sleep. This time I try to think of Connor. Three people - Allison, Danny, and Heather help him up to his feet. His face is messy with dirt and blood, and he is bleeding in several places on his body, but he seems to be moving well. When I think of Aaron, I see him tied to a chair in a dark room with no electricity. The only light comes from a window in the far corner. Evelyn sits a few feet away from him. She’s tied up too. The helicopter must have landed. Where, I have no idea. 

Evelyn tries to say something to Jeremiah, but the gauze in her mouth prevents it. He reaches out and pulls it away. 

“You want something?” he says. 

“Your regime is done,” she answers. “You might have escaped the Center’s explosion, but you won’t escape Mora.”

Jeremiah looks over at Aaron and smiles. “Do you agree with your leader?” 

Aaron just sits and stares at the floor. He seems defeated.  

Jeremiah reaches out and grabs Evelyn by the throat.

“Leave her alone!” Aaron shouts. “Why don’t you actually stand and fight, you coward!”

Jeremiah ignores him and closes his eyes for a moment and begins to laugh. He holds her like this for at least twenty seconds. Finally, he lets go and walks to the other side of the room. 

“You know what is beautiful about having Trace’s gift?” he asks. “It’s coming across people like you. It’s that I can take your gift as my own and use it. I can see into your mind just as you saw into mine all those years ago. Mora is dying. You think she might already be dead.”

“What?” Aaron says. His eyes narrow at Jeremiah. 

“Oh, you didn’t know?” Jeremiah says with a smile. “Your little Mora was scratched by a greyskin yesterday morning. Apparently she will be dead soon. The healer, Christopher, has been helping her maintain her strength for the past day. I now see that her plan was to go down in the Center with me inside. Well, we all saw how that turned out.”

Evelyn glares at him. “Just because you can use the my ability doesn’t mean I don’t keep it for myself. You touched me to see into my life, but I also got to see into yours. You are scared, Jeremiah. You don’t know what to do. You feared taking Trace’s power for yourself, but worse than that, you feared what would happen if you didn’t. You fear death because you know the temperature of hell has been turned up for you. You are terrified.”

“I have nothing to fear any longer,” he says. “Your only true weapon, Mora, will be dead soon if she isn’t already. It is a pity. I was looking forward to killing her. More so, now that I see you were hoping to pass your torch on to her.”

“You have access to a microphone, I’m sure” Evelyn says, “Call her here. She would oblige.”

“Announcing ultimatums for the entire public to hear,” Jeremiah says. “I’m sure that would bode well for me.”

“You don’t care,” Evelyn says. “You’re past that. You know you scare the people into submission if things get out of hand. You’ve done it your entire life.”

Jeremiah stares at her for a long moment, probably contemplating her words. 

“You can end the Resistance today,” she says.

“Yet, you wouldn’t be saying these things to me if you thought they were true,” he answers. “Your prodding sparks my caution.”

“I’m just trying to get all this over with. I’m sick of trying to kill you. I’m ready to retire.”

“Oh that’s Àutioncoming,” Jeremiah says. He looks from Evelyn to Aaron and back to Evelyn. “I’ll be back in a few moments. I think you might be on to something, Evelyn.”

He leaves the room with the two of them alone. Aaron jerks his head toward her. “How come no one ever told me that she was dying?”

Evelyn lowered her chin to her chest and shook her head. “She didn’t want anyone to know. I thought it would distract us from our mission.”

“I feel like I’ve earned the right to know that kind of thing,” he says. “I can’t believe she kept that from me.” He shakes his head. His anger overcomes his sadness and it hurts me to see it. “How much longer
does
she have?”

“I don’t know. Not long. She might not have even escaped the explosion.”

“I can’t believe this,” he says. Tears begin to form at the corner of his eyes. “I loved her.”

“I know you did, boy. I know you did.”

My eyes open at the sound of the speaker system booming throughout the entire city. My hearing seems to have returned and the courtyard where we are resting seems fairly quiet but for the flames all around. Looking to my left, I finally see that all that remains of the Center is fire and rubble. There are bodies scattered all over the courtyard. Greyskins, people. Soldiers from both sides.

“
Attention, citizens of Screven. This is your leader, Jeremiah.
”

I wish I had the strength to roll my eyes. That man loves his speaker announcements. Jeffrey and Christopher stand as they listen to him. Connor, Heather, Danny, and Allison all gather around us. 

“
The terrorists, the Starborns, have tried to destroy our city. They have attempted to assassinate me by bombing the Center. They have released greyskins on you, the citizens of this great city. Now, I know what they want from me. And I’m willing to strike a deal with them. The leader of them, Mora, is still among you. With her is a man named Christopher who is equally as dangerous.
”

Christopher shakes his head and looks at Jeffrey who shrugs. 

“
I have with me two of their accomplices. Aaron and Evelyn. I am willing to let them go as long as Mora and Christopher will give themselves up to me within the next ten minutes. If they do not comply, Sadie will suffer.
”

“Sadie,” I hear Christopher whisper. He closes his eyes and lowers his head at the mention of her name. 

“
If anyone other than Mora and Christopher come to my location, Aaron and Evelyn will be dead before you can get inside.
” Jeremiah paused for a second. “
I am located at the prison. You have ten minutes.
”