Martyr (13 page)

They walked in silence for a while, until the night was deep and the city was barely a memory behind them. Moonlight filtered down from the clear sky, making everything glow silver and ink-black. They hadn't come across a single soul since they'd left the compound. The night seemed longer and emptier than it should have—just endless road and fields and abandoned cars. Minutes dragged to hours. There were a thousand questions Tenn wanted to ask—who were the Witches, how did the twins know about them, and where the hell were they going? But as usual, he kept quiet. The questions he truly wanted answers for were the ones he couldn't voice, the ones he was terrified to know. Tomás and Matthias were out there, still hunting him. And he still had no idea why.

Tenn and Jarrett took the lead, the twins a few steps behind. If Jarrett hadn't put a hand on his shoulder, Tenn wouldn't have noticed when the twins stopped. They turned.

“What's wrong?” Jarrett asked.

Devon and Dreya stood by the side of an old SUV. It didn't stand out from any of the other vehicles they'd passed, save for the fact that all its windows were intact.

The twins exchanged another look. Devon shrugged.

“Devon thinks…he thinks he can drive this,” Dreya said.

Fire and Water flickered in Devon's body as he peered intently through the windows, his hands tracing the glass like a kid ogling a candy-store window.

“Drive it?” Jarrett said. “Good luck getting it to start.”

Tenn remembered the cold mornings of his childhood and his mother's frantic attempts to get the car running so she could get him to school on time. The last time this SUV had been used was three years ago. Minimum.

“The tank is full,” Dreya said. “The battery is dead, but Devon can change that. He is good with cars. They were his fascination as a child.”

Jarrett raised an eyebrow. If Devon was paying them any attention, he didn't show it.

“Tenn?” Dreya said. “The locks, if you please.”

“Um, okay.” He opened to Earth and pushed his senses through the various mechanisms, finally finding the locks. He clicked them open, and Devon opened the door.

“Everyone in,” Dreya said. She walked around to the passenger side and got in without waiting for an answer.

“Beats walking,” Jarrett said with a shrug. He opened the door for Tenn and then slid in, throwing their gear in the back.

“Have you done this before?” Jarrett asked when they were inside. Tenn buckled up. Just as a precaution.

Devon nodded. “Once,” came his muffled reply.

Tenn didn't want to know what Devon was doing. Fire and Water and Air were glowing in his body, and that was enough to give Tenn a hint. Strange noises came from the engine. The truck shuddered.

“The oil is bad,” Dreya said. “He is purifying it. And charging the battery.”

“I didn't realize you could do that,” Jarrett said.

“At its base, Fire is energy.”

“So why don't we have electricity?” Jarrett asked.

“Ask Cassandra,” Dreya said. Tenn couldn't see her face, but he could tell from her voice that there was a smirk on her lips. “Other guilds have electricity. So far, yours is the only one we have visited without it. I think she prefers the appeal of living in the Dark Ages.”

“Not surprising,” Jarrett replied.

Tenn sank back in the seat, and Jarrett put his arm across Tenn's shoulders. Tenn snuggled in close, absorbing Jarrett's warmth. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend they were just in the back of a car on a cool winter's night, about to drive with friends to the movies or out to eat. If he ignored the pops and hisses coming from the engine, that is. He didn't ask if Devon
really
knew what he was doing. He didn't want to know.

Finally, with the crunch of gears and a rumble, the SUV shuddered to life. Devon looked back at the two of them. Although his mouth was covered by his scarf, his eyes grinned with a distinct
told-you-so
look.

Jarrett chuckled. “I'll be damned. If only we'd known about your skills sooner. You could have been the official Hunter bus driver.”

Devon chuckled and turned back to the front. With a shift of the gears, they were off.

To say it was strange was an understatement. Tenn hadn't been in a car since…well, since he'd fled from the Academy. He never expected to have the experience again. He stayed nestled against Jarrett and watched the world streak by outside the window. Devon turned the heat up.

“Damn,” Tenn whispered.

“What's wrong?” Jarrett asked. He ran a hand through Tenn's hair.

Tenn shook his head.

“Nothing. It's just…this is weird. I mean, it's just so…normal.”

Jarrett kissed the top of his head.

“I know,” was all Jarrett said. Then they both went back to staring out the windows, lost in their own thoughts.

A few miles in, Devon turned on the radio. No stations played, of course—just static. It's not like they were expecting some magical mystery signal from a Howl-free country or something. That shit only happened in bad zombie flicks. There was a CD in the player, and Devon switched over to it. Tenn jumped as heavy metal blared through the speakers. Devon turned it down.

The world had changed entirely. Tenn knew that. But here, in the car, snuggled against Jarrett, he could almost let himself believe otherwise. He could forget about the Howls and the necromancers and the monsters that seemed to stalk his bedside. He could forget the blood staining his hands and heart. If he tried, he could let himself believe that this was a life they could have again—driving around with friends, listening to music, going somewhere for enjoyment rather than necessity. He could believe there'd be a house at the end and a family to invite over for dinner.

He could pretend that everything would be okay.

He could pretend.

Because that lie…that lie was the only thing that made life worth fighting for.

He closed his eyes. Sleep found him immediately.

12

He
stood at the window in his room, looking out at the familiar geometry of the streetlamp and garage and backyard, the three-story house across the alley and the giant pine tree at its side. His hand trailed across the curtains. He couldn't sleep. It was well past midnight, and his parents had been in bed for hours. A part of him didn't want to be awake, didn't want to be waiting with this sickness in his stomach. The other part of him wanted to take it all in, every single last second he had here. Tomorrow he left for Silveron. Tomorrow he left everything he'd ever known behind. Not that there was much to say goodbye to. Most of his friends had stopped talking to him the moment he'd mentioned his acceptance—though whether from anger or jealousy, he wasn't certain. Even his dad had been against the decision.
Thirteen is too young to leave home
, Tenn had heard him telling Mom. She'd put up a fight. She always would.

Behind him, the room was cluttered with packed boxes and suitcases. He'd tried to pack light, but his mom wouldn't have it. She'd thrown in extra blankets and sweaters and socks, and even filled a box with emergency supplies—cookies, granola bars, instant noodles—just in case the cafeteria food was gross. Tenn's stomach turned. It was the little gestures like that that made leaving so hard—the idea that someone loved him so much, the idea that he was willingly leaving that behind. Most kids his age wouldn't have thought twice about it. Then again, most kids probably didn't think they needed to leave home to find themselves.

He took a deep breath and went back to his bed, sat down on the covers, and stared at the open suitcase in the corner, filled with all his new uniform clothes. Good thing he liked light blue…

He glanced up into the mirror above his dresser and yelped.

The man in the mirror was barely recognizable—older, taller, and wearing all black. With a crash like a wave, the truth came back. He wasn't thirteen, and he definitely wasn't meant to be here. He pushed himself from the bed.

“Going somewhere?”

Tenn turned around and faced the man standing in the shadows. It took a few dangerous seconds for reality to sink in.

“Get out,” he whispered. Matthias just laughed. That's when he noticed that Matthias was holding something in his hand. A book.

No, not a book. His journal. Matthias caught his glance and smiled, stepping out of the shadows and into the moonlight.

“You're making this too easy,” he said. “Going out into the field again? It's almost like you want me to find you.”

“Stay away from us,” Tenn said. The glint in Matthias's eyes made him realize his mistake a second too late.

“Us? They're forcing bodyguards on you now? How embarrassing.” He tossed the journal into the air and caught it. “Stupid, too, when one considers the rather mortal implications of being close to you.” He opened to a page. “It would seem that those close to you meet rather untimely demises.”

“Shut up,” Tenn said. He didn't move to attack; he knew there was no point. Not in a dream. Not without any weapon, magical or material.

“
I'm worried about leaving,”
Matthias read in a mocking, childlike voice. “
What if something happens to Mom and Dad when I'm away? I know I can't protect them anyway, but I don't know what I'd do if something bad happened. What if they get into a wreck driving back? How do I know I'm not saying goodbye forever? I don't want to go. I know I can't stay here, not if I want to really live my life. But I don't want to leave them behind. Why does life have to hurt this much?”

Matthias looked up at him. Every word made Tenn sink deeper.

“How does it feel, Tenn?” he asked. “How does it feel to know that every one of your deepest fears came true? And that you were the cause of them?”

“I…”

“You will come to me,” Matthias said. “You are weak. You think you're strong, that your training has made you hard, but deep inside, you're still a lost little boy crying for his mother.”

“Shut up,” Tenn said.

“When will you understand this? How many people must die because of you? You're dangerous, Tenn. That is why Leanna wants you. You need her guidance.”

“I'll die before I serve her,” Tenn whispered. He tried to build the fire inside him, tried to steel his voice. But being here, being back in this room, hearing those words…he felt all his resolve crumble.

“No,” Matthias said. He knelt at Tenn's side and put his hand on Tenn's shoulder. Tenn hadn't even noticed him move closer. “I know you, Tenn. I've seen into your heart. You won't die. Not yet. You're too cowardly for that, and Leanna wishes for you to be brought back alive. You are safe, so long as you do not defy me. But your friends? Your lover? They are not so important to my mistress. They will die first. Then, when you have no one left to harm with your
protection
, you will come begging to her.”

Tenn looked at Matthias.

“If you hurt them, any of them, I'll kill you.”

Matthias just laughed and dropped the journal in Tenn's lap.

“Perhaps,” he said. “But the threat of death means nothing to one like me.” He leaned in close and whispered into Tenn's ear. “Either come to me or do not. I'll find you no matter what. And when I do, I will kill them. One by one. And you will watch them scream.”

His fingers dug into Tenn's shoulder. Pain coursed through him, and the dark room bled black.

Tenn woke with a start.

Cold sweat coated his skin, and for a moment, he had no clue where he was. Then he blinked and realized the rumbling was from the car and the warm pillow behind his head was Jarrett's lap. He looked up into Jarrett's face, sound asleep and peaceful—pretty much the only time Jarrett ever looked peaceful, actually.

“Bad dreams, Tenn?” Dreya asked, peering around. She was still in the passenger seat, Devon behind the wheel.

“I guess you could say that,” he replied. He slowly forced himself up to sitting, every joint in his tired body reminding him that he was not built to be sleeping in the backseat of a car.

“You mumbled,” Devon said. Which, in Tenn's opinion, was a rather ironic thing to say.

“Sorry,” he replied instead.

“It's getting worse, isn't it?” Dreya asked. It was barely above a whisper, like it was a secret they must keep from Jarrett's sleeping mind. “Water. You feel it growing stronger.”

Tenn nodded, wondering how much he'd said in his sleep.

“We thought the end had come with the Resurrection. Now I am not so sure.” She looked back to the road. “The world feels once more like it did before the Howls came. An ending is coming. Even the Spheres are calling out to it.”

There was a darkness in her voice that seemed to pass over her like a cloud, dimming her usual radiance. In spite of the heat pumping through the vents, he shivered.

“Does this have to do with the Witches? With our mission?”