AMANI: Reveal (25 page)

              “Yep, this is our dear Guardian of Chupa,” Wyatt went on. “Reeshon looked for him everywhere for years, while he also kept on creating new Rascals. Two years ago, he transformed me, and I quickly became his greatest asset.
              “As you may not know, my father was an Australian ambassador, so we moved around a lot. I had made more contacts around the world than Reeshon himself, who’d stopped traveling decades ago for fear he would draw too much attention to himself—though these days, it is not abnormal anymore for a person to visit many countries in a short lapse of time.
              “So we put our heads together and scouted the newspapers and the media for anything that would reveal where the Guardian was hiding.
              “At the time, I was going to Princeton, so we waited for the weekends and holidays to travel to different cities and countries, where I questioned acquaintances.
              “As we were coming back from Egypt the summer before last year, I thought about something,” Wyatt continued, staring directly into my eyes. “How were we going to make the Guardian reveal the location of the door if he had neither tongue nor hand? Even Meo would not be able to feed on his memories because, according to the tale, the man’s skin was infected with gold.
              “Now, there had been rumors of certain families who’d been given special abilities in order to balance the yin and yang in Amani, and luckily, during my third year at college, I met one of them. You.”

Amya Priam

Wyatt fell silent for a moment, assessing my reaction.
                If I understood thoroughly, I had never been anything more than a tool for him. A tool he would have used anytime he wanted. That was all.
              I had come to the conclusion a month ago that Wyatt had never really loved me, but I hadn’t fully understood why he’d started talking to me in the first place. Until now.
              And the truth affected me more than I would have liked to admit.
              “What I hadn’t expected though,” he finally went on, “was to fall in love with—”
              “Oh, cut the crap,” I snapped, glaring at him. “No need to lie, Wyatt. You’re a disgusting jerk and nothing you say will change that.”
              Taken aback, he shook his head swiftly, cleared his throat, and kept talking. “So, um, Reeshon asked me to become your friend and to make you trust me. And I did. For a while, I felt like we actually had something. I told Reeshon you would probably help us willingly and I asked whether I could reveal to you what I was. He agreed, but on his own terms. If you refused to help us voluntarily, I would have to induce you into a coma until we found the Guardian, in case you’d want to repeat what you knew to your friends.”
              Lawrence came back with a tray full of muffins. They looked delicious—apple crumble, if my nose was right—but I did not dare take one.
              “And so that’s what happened, Amya,” Wyatt continued. “You became distant shortly after I told you I was a Rascal. Meo tried to remove your memories, but you kept remembering things on your own, as though you could fight Meo’s power. In fear that Reeshon would hurt you if I told him the truth, I left Princeton for a few months, saying I might have a lead somewhere in Russia, while Meo made sure to feed on you every once in a while. In case you told Samera anything remotely related to what I’d disclosed, I decided to create a diversion.
              “I used Protectors in Europe to Travel to the Yellow and Blue Dimensions and I killed their citizens. I thought that since the Protectors worked closely with the government, and the situation would get out of control shortly, the Cohens would become too busy with the prevention of a third world war to stick their noses into our business.
              “But Reeshon found out I’d lied to him, and while he liked my idea of a diversion, he couldn’t let you walk freely, knowing your memories couldn’t be erased completely. Meo’s effect on you worked for some memories, but were a complete failure for others. Reeshon thought of getting rid of you, but we couldn’t waste time finding another Seraph as powerful as you, so I had to come back and take care of you myself.
              “On April the twentieth, Reeshon and I waited for you on campus. I believe you heard us talking next to the Jewish Center. I knew you enough to anticipate where you were running to, and I caught up with you in your dorm. Under Reeshon’s order, I fed on your strength, just enough to keep you alive, but you fought my influence on you just like you’d fought Meo’s, forcing me to visit your hospital bed every other day.
              “At the end of August, however, I had to leave the country for more than a week, and you woke up on your own in September. Reeshon wasn’t too happy about that. Especially when you escaped two weeks later.
              “We already had a spy at the Protectors Headquarters who kept an eye on them, so we decided to use him to bring you back to us. We were fools to trust him. I should have killed Gareth when I had a chance.
              “Anyhoo. After you escaped last month in Bath, we decided that we wouldn’t bother with you before we’d found the Guardian. You had already revealed everything to the Protectors, so there was no need to keep you in a coma anymore…”
              A loud
thud
resonated from behind me. Seconds later, a tall teenager with dark brown hair walked through the tunnel and into the room, startling Delilah.
              “Daniel?”
              “Amya!” Daniel exclaimed, smiling widely. “I see you’ve made yourselves comfortable in your new home. Shall I prepare herbal tea to go with your muffins?”
              “You…”
              “Yes, it is me.” He turned to Wyatt, then to the Guardian of Chupa, who hadn’t moved since he’d fallen, and to Wyatt again. “I assume you’ve told her everything by now,” he said, grinning. Before Wyatt could reply, he added, “Good! We shall get to work sooner then. Tea, anyone? Hot chocolate maybe? All right then. Let’s see what you’re capable of.”
              Was he talking to me? Surely he was staring straight at me, but what was I supposed to do?
              “I wasn’t finished,” Wyatt finally said.
              “What information is she missing?”
              “She doesn’t know we took her sister.”
              “Oh! But isn’t that easy to figure out? We borrowed your sister at the Protectors Headquarters both because it was fun to terrorize them and because, well, if you don’t cooperate, we’ll be forced to hurt her.”
              Delilah gasped.
              “You won’t,” I said firmly.
              “Oh, but we will. Now, get to work. Go on,” Daniel encouraged me happily, gesturing toward the Guardian.
              “Who are you?”
              Had Wyatt transformed a Bishop’s student into a Rascal just so he could get to me? That was sick…
              Daniel sighed. “I go by multiple names now: Daniel, Gerald, Henry… but my first ever was Reeshon. Didn’t you tell her about me, Wyatt?”
              A pang echoed in my ears as realization hit me. Throughout Wyatt’s tale, I had focused on the reason why I was involved in the Rascals’ scheme. Why I had met Wyatt in the first place, what they wanted from me, and why they had kidnapped my sister. But not once had I lingered on the fact that Wyatt had been talking about the same Reeshon all along, from three thousand years ago up to now.
              This teenager smiling at me now couldn’t be him… It simply couldn’t be…
              “How…?”
              Daniel—Reeshon—whoever he was—turned to Wyatt, as though waiting for him to explain.
              “Reeshon was the first Rascal, Amya,” Wyatt said calmly. “He survived all this time because he was careful not to get killed, but mostly because he feeds on people’s youth.”
              “Very useful if one wants to live forever,” Reeshon interjected happily. “I merely have to feed on a few months at a time to remain the same age, which is why no one’s ever suspected anything. Though there were instances in which I had no choice but to drain someone of their youth… Amelia Pearson, Annie Barnes, and Jessika Robitaille were quite helpful when I had to return myself to a teenager in order to make friends at Bishop’s. Killed them by mistake, but, oh well.”
              The two women found dead in Oxford and the one killed in front of Madame M.’s house…
              My insides clenched. This was sick. Inhuman. Totally barbaric.
              And I was supposed to help such a monster? The only reason why I was willing to help, aside from the fact that they were threatening my sister, was because once those Rascals left our Dimension to go back to Hell, we would be rid of them.
              “What am I supposed to do?”
              Daniel sighed yet again. “Ask him where the door is,” he replied patiently, still smiling. “Then Sojourn your little soul into his head and tell us what you see. Wyatt told you enough about him and our goal to make the task quite easy, now didn’t he?”
              I nodded, feeling like every limb attached to my body was shaking. I only had to give them the location of the door. That was all. Then my sister and I would be free to go and the Rascals wouldn’t bother us ever again.
              “What about the Guardian?” I asked. “What will happen to him after this is over? Can you promise me you won’t kill him?”
              Daniel shrugged. “I don’t care what happens to him then. As long as he gives me what I want…”
              All right. I couldn’t bargain more than that. If everything went well, my sister, the golden man, and I would be free by the end of the night.
              I closed my eyes, thinking of what Wyatt had told me about the Guardian. He had been wealthy once and he sounded like the bravest man I’d ever met. Cutting his own tongue and hands could not have been an easy decision.
              He was lying on the ground, four feet away from me, his face in the dirt. He hadn’t moved the whole time Wyatt and Daniel had spoken to me. Was he cold? Had the Rascals hurt him in any way? Was he lonely or scared? Did he even have any emotion, having lived so long on his own?
              I waited for the purple spot to appear, but in vain. Maybe it was because I didn’t know him well enough. But no… I hadn’t known Gareth much before I’d Sojourned into his head last month. So why wasn’t it working now?
              Resolute, I kept trying. I focused on the shortness of his breath, the position of his stumps over the golden patterns on his neck, the fact that he was probably breathing in more dust than oxygen…
              When I opened my eyes again, frustrated and weary, I was leaning forward, my hands on my knees, and all eyes were fixed on me. I straightened my back and shook my head. What would happen if I told Daniel I wasn’t able to Sojourn?
              “So?” he said excitedly.
              I glanced over at Delilah, then at Wyatt. Both were frowning as though they could tell something was wrong.
              “I…er… I—I can’t.”
              Daniel stared, still smiling with his mouth, though his eyes had turned a darker shade of brown.
              “You can’t understand him, you mean? I hadn’t considered that he might not think in English…”
              “No. I—I can’t Sojourn,” I explained, before I quickly added, “I don’t know why. It’s blocked or something. It’s never happened before.”
              I didn’t say so, but it had happened to me on our way up the hill, when I had tried to figure out where Wyatt was taking us. My soul hadn’t left my body either…
              Still looking straight into my eyes, Daniel remained silent for several moments before he burst out laughing. His voice seemed so forced, it sounded like a machine. “Wyatt!” he exclaimed. “You never mentioned Amya’s sense of humor! You should’ve told me—ha!—I would have warned her,” he continued, his voice dropping a few tones and his face dead serious now. “I would have warned her not to mess with me, or her sister might not live long.”
              “I’m telling you the truth!” I cried as Delilah buried her face into my arm. “I might be tired or—I don’t know! It’s not because I don’t want to. I just
can’t
.”
              “Very well, then. If I cannot make you understand the seriousness of the situation, then maybe this will: Julian! Lawrence!” Ponytail and the older, blue-eyed Rascal came to Daniel’s side. “Take them downstairs. Amya needs some sleep and a reminder of who she’s dealing with.”
              “No!” I cried at the top of my lungs, getting up and pulling Deli with me. Julian and Lawrence were already advancing on us, smirking. “You won’t touch her! Get away from us,” I repeated when Lawrence took hold of my sister. “No! Deli!”
              I punched him in the face and struggled against Julian’s hold, but the two men were too strong. My sister and I were soon broken off and taken toward the stairs, while I kept kicking Julian in the shin. A last glance behind my back showed Daniel and Wyatt, both sitting on the couch, looking at the scene quietly. Only Daniel wore a slightly amused expression.
              There was a long corridor at the bottom of the creaking stairs, and two doors facing each other. Julian started walking toward the left one, while Lawrence took Delilah to the right.
              “Where are—you taking her?” I shouted, trying to hit Julian with the back of my head. “Deli! Let
go
of me!” Both men remained silent and kept separating us. “Deli! Please don’t do anything to her! Take me! Take me instead! Please!”
              I heard Julian snort as he opened the left door. I had just enough time to give my sister one last glance before she disappeared into the darkness of the other room, her face glowing with tears and her lips whispering my name.