The Waking (The Upturned Hourglass) (37 page)

Valie paced in the chilled room to keep warm. The wooden walls of the cabin offered little insulation and her soaked attire seemed to amplify the cold. If she ever got out of her mess of a circumstance, she was going to invest in a rain jacket.

“Come. Sit by the fire,” Isaac ordered. “It will warm you.” The mood of the company continued to be strangely degenerate, but Isaac tried to make Valie feel comfortable.

“I’m fine.” Valie dismissed his extended offer. She didn’t think she could sit still. She was beginning to worry that the others wouldn’t find her trail and all would be lost.

Valie had hated to break her mother’s bracelet, but she was unable to think of any other traces to place that would survive the onslaught of rain. She could only hope that Jack, Shane and Noah had improved sense enough to discover her attempt at direction.

“Don’t worry, my dear,” Isaac tried to reassure his daughter from his chair by the fireplace. He glanced at her from over his book. “The meeting will go well. Soon, you will be regarded as the most powerful Lycanthrope in history.” He smiled as if his words were a comfort.

Valie shook her head, finally frustrated. “Why is it that you think that I won’t turn into the same kind of monster recorded
in your history? The kind that inspired the law banning half-blood children in the first place?” Valie’s words came out as a demand so forcible, Eliza and Terrence looked up from their game of cards. Their dark eyes appraised her with new regard.

Isaac set down his book and took off his reading glasses. Valie fought not to shrink as she met his stern gaze. In some ways she could see him as a father, reproving his child with a glance. Except his dark amber eyes, as they glowed in the firelight, held an amount of daring that made Valie’s stomach tighten in apprehension as if she were on a dangerous brink, about to fall at any moment.

“You are different,” Isaac intoned, his authority projecting despite his seated position. “The ones that have come before you hadn’t your sense or your breeding. They were barely able to live with the gift born to them, much less the added power of the Change. It was absurd for Leian or any of his successors to think that inducing the Change would cure innate difficulties in their children. An unblemished child had to be born, a child whose mind could survive the transformation process.”

“And you think that’s me?”

“I
know
that’s you. Look at yourself, Valentine. You’re as healthy as any human, if not healthier! You’ve subsisted this long without any ill effects from the bloodline. You will survive. You were born to.”

“And you what? Just lucked out? This was obviously a plan of yours. How did you know that I’d live?
That I would be different?”

Isaac looked away for the first time. No response seemed forthcoming.

Understanding finally reached the girl.

“I wasn’t the first. You’ve tried this before,” she accused solemnly.

Isaac’s tone was clinical. “You’re right. You were not the first, but you are the most successful.”

Valie’s countenance slowly fell in horror at the implications of Isaac’s words.

Isaac went on, “Some died during birth. Some were burdened with too many physical ailments to live long. Others were too weak to be of any use.”

“And what happened to those?” Valie asked quietly, appalled, knowing what the answer would be.

Isaac shrugged away any indignity and met Valie’s horrified stare, his gaze cold. “I couldn’t very well have indiscriminate half-bloods roaming around.”

“So you killed them?” Valie
hissed, her face pale, her eyes alight with anger and hurt.

“Their existence would have destroyed all hope of utilizing the power inherent in your kind. Only the unblemished could be presented to the Council.”

She assumed that was a ‘yes.’

She looked to the two werewolves playing cards. Neither looked troubled by Valie’s revelation. Apparently they knew of Isaac’s experiments. She supposed they would have to, to have stayed with him for so long a time. It certainly explained their attitude toward Valie.

Since they had arrived at the cabin, Eliza, though easily provoked, seemed to maintain an inexplicable respect for Valie’s personal space, leaving her to herself. Terrence had almost welcomed her presence with smiles and cordial speech—as cordial as grunts and growls could be. The terrifyingly built and styled man had even tried to make small talk on the walk up to the cabin. They respected what she was as if she was some sort of messianic fruition to all of their leader’s plans.

“You should get some rest,” Isaac suggested, breaking Valie’s train of thought. “You can stay in the spare room. Night will fall within the hour. We will make our way to the Council meeting, then.”

All Valie could do was nod. Her mind was frozen, hooked on her new knowledge. Her father
was
a killer, though she was not his target. She was essentially an eighteen-year-old experiment of human-Lycanthrope genetics.

The spare room was the closest room to the living area—the easiest room to monitor.

Valie took up her pacing once again, after closing the door. She couldn’t find the light switch, but she had no wish to reenter the other room where her captors sat. Besides, if it was dark, she could pretend the room was limitless. It had taken her years of practice to trick her claustrophobia this way, to alter unknown, oppressive shadows from a constraining nature to a vast one.

Valie began to shiver once again with renewed nervousness and cold.

Suddenly the window opened. Valie startled at the intrusion, but bit down on her hand to keep from crying out. She tasted blood.

“Shhh,” the dark figure quieted. His words were nearly as silent as breathing. “Valie it’s me.”

Valie suddenly recognized the shadow as Jack. His eyes glowed slightly in the dark, a brighter blue than Valie was used to.

“Ja—?” she began to whisper.

All of the sudden, Valie found the figure silent in front her as he quickly placed a warm hand over her mouth.

“Shhh,” he exhaled. Valie nodded beneath his hand. She blushed and all cold left her as she realized the boy beside her was without clothes.

Jack must have felt her stiffen. He released her and backed away.

Valie resumed her previous pacing to try and lessen any suspicions her captors might have from the other room.

Without a word, Jack moved like a ghost to what must have been the closet—Valie couldn’t tell; the black was too thick for her eyes to navigate. She listened, embarrassed, to the sounds of fabric brushing against skin. Apparently, Jack had found clothes.

The dark presence returned to her with less warmth radiating from his body, layers of fabric between them. A cold wind blew in from the half-open window.

Without warning, Jack took Valie in his arms, a silent embrace.

Surprised at first, the girl braced against Jack’s solid form, but his warmth and inviting touch softened her posture. She gave herself wholly into the moment, returning the embrace, burying her face in his chest breathing in his scent. It was only the knowledge of who sat behind the door that kept Valie from dropping all defense.

Jack pulled away first, only keeping Valie’s hand entwined in his. He started to lead her to the window, but after one step, he stopped her. They paused. Valie listened, wondering if he had heard someone’s approach.

All at once, Valie’s feet flew out from under her as Jack took her into his arms.

“Too loud,” he breathed in her ear, his voice softer than moth’s wings. Apparently Eliza had been correct—Valie truly did walk like an elephant compared to the Lycans. And here she’d always believed she had a light step.

Silently and effortlessly, Jack brought Valie to the window. The time it took for Jack to exit and for Valie to mutely extricate herself from the sill and into Jack’s awaiting arms, had Valie’s heart racing. Surely the lack of sound coming from the room would tip off Isaac or the others? She anticipated the door of the spare room bursting open at any moment, the space flooding with light and the snarls of werewolves.

But no such response to her absence came.

The threat of discovery seemed to loom over Jack as well. He remained tensed as he jogged almost noiselessly through the forest, cradling Valie in his arms. At one point he stopped and unexpectedly shifted her to his back where she clung, feeling helpless.

“They should be here,” Jack whispered.

“Who?”
Valie breathed into his shoulder, trying to mute her words.

“Shane and Noah.
They were supposed to watch  the exits for any signs of pursuit and then meet here once they’d seen us safely away.”

A cracking branch made Jack whirl. Valie couldn’t see in the light-less forest. She wondered what the frozen boy saw.

A deep voice sounded from shadows. “There is no escape. You are surrounded. Put down the half-blood. You are hereby ordered to acquiesce to peaceable arrest by order of the Interlunar Council and will surrender the half-blood to us to attend the Council’s meeting.”

Valie heard more shifting in the dark, suggesting they truly were surrounded. She gulped, banishing her heart from her
throat to her chest.

Out of the fire. . .

MOONLESS NIGHT

“And if I don’t?” Jack demanded of the sentry in defiance. Valie could hear the doubt in his voice. He wouldn’t have a choice.

The guard was obviously annoyed at the delay. “Then we will take you both by force and drag you to the Elders. There are no orders as to the condition we are to present you in. Only that you are to be presented.”

Jack took a deep breath. He looked around at the seven soldiers surrounding them. They were all Lycanthropes. They would easily stop any attempt at escape.

Jack tilted his head toward the girl on his back, indicating she should alight. Valie obeyed, sliding off his back. She clung to his arm timidly. Jack had forgotten she couldn’t see the threat that loomed in the shadows.

“Fine,” Jack agreed. “We’ll follow, but the girl stays with me.” He took Valie’s hand, giving it a squeeze. The girl pressed against his back.

The long-haired spokesman of the soldiers contemplated Jack’s stipulation.

“Very well.
The half-blood may continue with you until we reach the Council’s location, but the others will remain restrained. Try anything and you will not be the only one punished.”

Jack paused.
“Others?”

“Yes.
Isaac Quinn and the rest of his pack.” More guards walked up with three individuals in hand. The captives had bags over their heads.

“You’ve captured
all. . .three?” Jack asked warily.

Valie looked at Jack in question, unable to see the number of face-less prisoners.

“Who. . .?” she began to ask, but a strong squeeze of the hand silenced her. Jack didn’t know who else was in custody. But even with just the possibility of Noah or Shane being free, he didn’t want to jeopardize any chance they had at remaining that way.

The sentry grunted in impatient exasperation. “Yes. Yes, all three and now you, too.
Enough talking. Walk.”

There was a jumble of shoving and tripping before the blind captives fell into an effective step with their guards. Jack acted as Valie’s eyes, holding her upright when she stumbled and catching her before she fell.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered after nearly falling for the third time. She sounded frustrated.

“It’s alright, sweets. You’re just giving the guards incentive not to separate us,” he reassured her. 

“What do you mean?”

“Well,
they
won’t want to pick you up constantly, so they’ll leave the burden to me.”

Jack knew the amber-eyed girl would be glaring at him; her silence told him as much. He almost thought he heard her jaw snap shut as it clenched.

The boy chuckled quietly. At least he’d distracted her for one moment. “Oh, come on, sweets. You are not a burden and I’m happy to be the one to catch you when you fall,” he whispered close to her ear. “I hope to always be such a one.”

He heard Valie release pent up steam in the form of a breath.