Sentinel [Covenant #5] (2 page)

can come up with is that those Guards and Sentinels on the highway had made some sort of contact with Ares, Lucian, or Seth, and they put two and two together.” “Or someone is working with him.” No one in the room looked like they wanted to believe it. “Ares said he has many friends.” Marcus’s eyes followed me warily. “That is something we’ve taken into consideration, but…” “But how would we know who it is?” He said nothing, because what could he say? Anyone could be a traitor, but believe it or not, we had bigger problems at the moment. I took a deep breath and kept my eyes trained on the minuscule space between Deacon and Luke on the couch. “There’s a good chance Seth knows where I am.” No one in the room made a sound. Not even the guys in the back of the common area. There were twenty or so Guards and Sentinels from the University. I recognized a few from the group that had been led by Dominic, the ones who had met us at the walls when we arrived here. I truly hoped there were more where they came from. “Besides the fact that Ares had to have told Seth where I was, I…I let the shields drop when I was fighting Ares.” Shameful heat flooded my cheeks as I now stared at a tiny tear in the rug. “We figured Seth would be aware of your location by now,” Marcus said quietly. “I’m not an expert when it comes to the whole Apollyon connection, but Seth was able to feel what you were experiencing before you Awakened. That’s how we were able to find you in Gatlinburg when you…when you…” When I’d left to find my mom when she’d become a daimon. I could feel several eyes on me, especially a pair of silver ones. “Yeah.” “Does that mean he felt exactly what you were feeling when you fought Ares?” Aiden asked, and his voice was deceptively even. That was also known as the calm before the apocalyptic storm. “Do you really want the answer to that?” “Yes.” Glancing at him, I wished I hadn’t. Aiden looked like he already knew the answer and was ready to murder someone, and that someone was Seth. I started pacing again. “Yes.” Aiden swore loudly. His brother jumped to his feet and went to his side, saying something too low and quick for me to make out. Aiden’s hands clenched at his sides, drawing my attention to his busted knuckles. I wanted to go to him, but I felt rooted to the floor, near where Olivia sat on a black chaise lounge. I willed my legs to move toward him, but nothing happened. Frustration and uncertainty poured into me, overriding the numbness, and my anger skyrocketed. My gaze locked with Aiden’s, and a godsawful sensation lit up my chest. I yearned to run to him, but a cold primal fear a need to run away from him, was equally powerful. “Alex,” Olivia whispered. I looked at her and saw her eyes widened with anxiety. Actually, everyone was staring at me with the same expression. What the…? My gaze dropped. Oh—my feet weren’t on the floor. My heart tumbled over. Closing my eyes, I forced myself back down. Relief crashed into me when my sneakers hit the carpet. “Sorry,” I said, putting some distance between me and those in the room. “I didn’t mean to do that. I’m honestly not even sure how that happened.” “It’s okay,” Laadan reassured with a small smile. With wide eyes, Deacon remained by Aiden’s side. “If your head starts spinning…” “Shut up, Deacon,” Aiden growled. He made a face but remained quiet, and I really felt like a freak.I remembered what it felt like when the shields came down between Seth and me. So much fury had burned through the connection. Seth had been epically pissed, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of what Ares had been doing or if it was something more than that. The connection had fed him everything: all the pain and the hopelessness I’d felt when Ares had gotten the upper hand. And when I’d wanted to die instead of facing another second of soul-shattering pain, Seth had gotten a taste of that bitter, rotten emotion. How could he have been okay with that? Did the means really justify the end for him? I’d experienced way too much at Ares’ hands to hope that Seth had changed. It seemed more believable that his anger was associated with me not submitting to Ares more than anything else. Another random thought formed. The prophesy of Grandma Piperi, oracle extraordinaire, came back like a cold sore. You will kill the ones you love. Part of me did love Seth—pre-jackass, of course. He was a part of me. We were yin and yin, and Seth had been there for me for a lot. I’d never forget that, but I was no longer so blinded by how he used to be that I couldn’t see what needed to be done. If I couldn’t get the power of the God Killer to transfer to me, I would kill him. Or go down trying. But that prophecy didn’t mean just my loved ones would die by my hand. Kain, a half-blood Guard who’d helped Aiden train me, had been turned by my mom in an attempt to reach me and died by Seth’s hand. Caleb had been murdered by a daimon because I’d been so emo over Aiden and we’d snuck out to get food and drinks, even knowing that there could be daimons on campus. And my mom had been turned into a daimon—her true death—because of me. Then I had killed her. Even though I couldn’t claim to love Lea, I’d respected her a great deal toward the end, and her death was also linked to me. And more people I loved would die. I crossed my arms, ignoring the way my bones cracked from the movement. “The University isn’t safe with me here.” Aiden whirled toward me, his eyes narrowing into thin slits, but before he could speak, Marcus stepped in. “There is no other place safer, Alexandria. At least here, we have Sentinels and—” “Sentinels and Guards are nothing if Ares finds a way in. And let’s say he doesn’t—we still have Seth to worry about.” “We can’t leave here.” Luke leaned forward, dropping his arms onto his knees. “Not until we’ve rallied the troops and you’ve fully recovered—” “I’m fine!” My voice cracked on the last word, a humiliating lie detector. Luke raised a brow. “Whatever,” I said. “I need to leave.” “You. Are. Not. Leaving.” Everyone in the room turned to Aiden, including me. His words hung in the air, and challenge seeped out every pore. “I have to,” I said. “No.” Stalking forward, his powerful muscles rippled under the black shirt he wore. The black shirt of a Sentinel, and gods, he was a Sentinel through and through at that moment. “We already had this discussion. All of us know the risks, Alex.” Challenge accepted. “But that was before Ares went all god badass on us.” His eyes turned a furious shade of silver as he stared down at me. “Nothing has changed.” “Everything has changed!” “The technicalities have, maybe, but nothing else.” I stared at him, dumbfounded. “It was one thing when we thought it was Hephaestus or Hermes, but it’s Ares. In case you don’t remember, he’s the mother-fu—” “I know who he is,” Aiden gritted out.“Children,” Marcus admonished. We shot him mutual death glares. Marcus ignored it. “Aiden is right, Alex.” Of course he took Aiden’s side. “We all know what we’re getting into.” He gestured at his battered face. “Trust me, we all know, and like we said before, we are in this together.” “What about them?” I totally remembered when everyone had stood up and announced that they had my back. And one of them was dead now. I gestured at the back of the room. “What about every person at the University—the students, and all the people who came here for the safety it once offered? Are they willing to take that risk?” A Sentinel next to the young one who’d been with Dominic they day we’d arrived here stepped forward and said, “If I may speak?” Aiden sent him a look that a wiser person would’ve run from. Apparently this Sentinel wasn’t used to running. Then again, none of them were. “What is your name?” Diana asked. “Valerian,” he answered, and I pegged him to be in his late twenties. A half-blood, of course. “Like the root?” Deacon asked. Luke rolled his eyes. The man nodded. “Most people call me Val.” “What do you have to say, Val?” Diana spoke again. “Everyone here has been affected by what is happening. I can’t name one person who hasn’t lost a friend or a loved one. Not to mention we lost our Dean and our friends when Ares attacked. I can’t speak for everyone, but you will find that the vast majority of those who reside here are willing to do just about anything to see an end to this.” Then they all were idiots. I shook my head as I turned around. None of the Sentinels or Guards here could stand against Seth, let alone gods knew what else Ares could throw our way. Aiden caught hold of my arm in a firm but gentle grasp, as if, even in his anger, he was aware that my body was still healing. “Stop being so stubborn, Alex.” “You’re the one who’s being pigheaded,” I shot back, and I tried to pull free, but Aiden held on, a warning flaring in his eyes. “I’m trying to protect them.” “I know.” His voice lost a fraction of its edge. “And that’s the only reason I’m not throwing you over my shoulder and locking you in a room somewhere.” My eyes narrowed. “I’d like to see you try.” “Is that a challenge?” he asked. Someone in the back of the common area cleared his throat. “So I’m assuming these two have some sort of past?” Deacon choked on his laugh as he plopped down on the sofa. “That would be an affirmative.” Aiden’s gaze slid to his brother, and he took a long, nice, deep breath. “Wow.” Deacon elbowed Luke. “This would be awkward if it weren’t so entertaining. It’s like watching our parents—” “Shut up, Deacon,” both Aiden and I snapped at the same time. “See!” Deacon grinned. “They’re like peas and carrots.” Luke turned to him slowly. “Did you just quote Forrest Gump?” He shrugged. “Maybe I did.” And just like that, some of the tension seeped out of Aiden…and me, too. He let go of my arm but was like Velcro on my hip. “Sometimes I worry for you, Deacon,” he said, his lips curving up on one side.“I ain’t who you should be worrying about.” Deacon jerked his chin at me. “Little Miss ‘I Gotta Be A Martyr’ over there is the one you should be concerned with.” I made a face, but everyone in the room, even the bulk of Sentinels in the back, stared back at me with determined expressions. There would be no convincing them otherwise. I knew I wouldn’t be leaving here alone, and I really didn’t want to. Honestly, the thought of facing Ares or even Seth alone scared the bejebus out of me. And I would need an army—a really big one. Hopefully, the Sentinel who’d spoken up was right that the vast majority of people here wanted to make a stand, because we were going to need them. Letting out a long breath, I looked up at Aiden. “Okay.” “Okay, what?” he prompted. He was so going to make me say it. “I will stay here.” “And?” Dear gods… “And I accept everyone’s help and whatever.” “Good.” He bent down, swiftly kissing me on the cheek. “You finally see the light.” I flushed and then really turned beet red when half of the room—half bloods so unaccustomed to seeing a pure and a half together—stared at us open-mouthed. Even though they’d suspected there was something between us, seeing the proof had to be shocking. In the lull of conversation, I caught a bit of what was on the news. A full-scale war had broken out in the Middle East. Entire towns had been leveled. One of the sides had access to nuclear weapons and was threatening to use them. The U.N. was calling for global intervention, and the U.S. and U.K. were sending thousands of troops overseas. I had a real bad feeling about this. “It’s Ares,” Solos said, speaking for the first time since this whole meeting of the minds began. I turned toward him and was reminded that my scars were nothing compared to the jagged mark covering his handsome face. “Do we know for sure?” Marcus nodded. “His presence in the mortal realm causes discord, especially when he’s not masking what he is.” “And we saw something very in-ter-resting on the tellie yesterday,” Deacon added. “Yep,” Luke chimed in. “One of the commanders of the attacking army was sporting a very fashionable arm band with a Greek shield on it. I have no idea what Ares hopes to gain by starting a war.” It seemed obvious to me. “He just…loves war. He feeds on it like the gods used to feed on mortals’ beliefs in them. And if there’s a huge war that splits a bulk of the world, he can swoop in and subjugate mankind.” “Very true,” Diana said softly. “Ares’ love for war and discord is well-known. He grows stronger in times of great strife.” “That’s exactly what we need.” Aiden folded his arms. “Ares growing stronger.” Moving a few steps over, I leaned against an air hockey table. It was hard seeing one and not thinking of Caleb. “Ares wants to rule. He thinks it’s time for the gods to reclaim the mortal realm as their own, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other gods supporting him.” Namely Hermes, but other than Marcus and Aiden, they didn’t know Hermes had helped Seth contact me. There was a round of artistic uses of four letter words from those in the back, ones that would’ve brought a smile to my face at one point in the past. “Well, at least we know what Ares wants. He’s looking for a war,” Aiden said, addressing the room like the leader he was and I so obviously hadn’t quite learned to be. “And we’re going to give him one.”CHAPTER 3As a group, we decided we would hold a meeting the day after tomorrow for anyone on campus who wished to join what Deacon had named the “Army of Awesomeness”. Diana and Marcus, who apparently had jointly taken over the day-to-day operation of the campus after the dean’s death, picked the Council’s coliseum as the location of the meeting. All twelve of the University’s council members, plus a handful from other locations, were on campus, and Diana swore they would have no problems with us making use of what was considered one of the most sacred buildings on campus. I had a hard time believing it. But the day before that wouldn’t be about recruitment for the A.O.A. or battle strategies. That day would be the day the dead were given their rightful burial. After the meeting had ended, I quickly skedaddled out of the common area and headed outside, needing the fresh air. The oxygen in my lungs felt stale, my brain full of holes. Once the anger had faded, all that was left were the dull ache of my healing body and the odd numbness in my core. Night had begun to fall, and although it was the middle of May, cool air brushed my cheeks
and made me grateful for the long-sleeved shirt Aiden had dug up. I strode past the main building and looked up, sucking in a gulp of air when I got a good look at the top floor. The window facing the courtyard had been boarded up. My gaze fell to the marble pathway below. It was cracked. Shuddering, I hurried around the wrought-iron face separating the courtyard from the walkways. Like the one that had been on Deity Island, flowers and trees from all around the globe blossomed here, despite the climate. The clean scent of roses and the sweeter scent of peonies mixed with the heavier scents of grapes and olive trees. Stopping near the entrance, I stared up at a marble replica of Zeus. With his curly hair and beard, he looked more like a mountain man than the all-powerful god he was. Couldn’t he have stepped in at some point, put the smackdown on Ares, and ended all of this? Surely Zeus could find a way to get around Seth and take out Lucian. But even if Zeus did, that still left Seth for him to deal with…and me. Further into the courtyard, a statue of Apollo glowed, lit by a small lamp at its base. His face was turned toward the sky. “Where are you?” I asked. Once Apollo had blown his cover as Leon, he wasn’t able to stay in the mortal realm for long periods of time without weakening. I wondered if it was the same for Ares, and if so, did he hang out in Olympus with the other gods or did he have a hidey hole somewhere? Turning from the statue, I started back down the path, because it wasn’t like the hunk of rock was going to answer any of my questions. Passing several smaller buildings that looked like miniature Greek temples, I skirted the Council building. Busts of the Olympian twelve were carved into the four sides of the building, which closely resembled an ancient temple. Like always, a measure of dread knotted in my stomach as I hurried past. Council buildings had never held good memories for me. Beyond the Council building, I looked back. Dorms rose into the sky behind the main academic buildings. The University really was its own city, but other than the patrolling Guards, I hadn’t seen a student yet. It was probably a good thing they were keeping the students in their rooms. The last thing anyoneneeded was a bunch of pures running amuck, feeding off hysteria. Gods, I sounded like an old fart. I felt like an old fart. Coming to the end of the pathway, the marble walls in front of me rose into the night. Spotlights situated every few feet atop the walls cast light throughout the campus. In the shadows of the twenty-foot monstrosity surrounding the University, Guards and Sentinels were stationed where sections of the wall had taken some damage. I sat down on a bench and stretched my legs out, working the healing muscles and tissue as I watched the men. Even from where I sat, I could tell that they were all half-bloods. Every damn one of them, and I couldn’t help but think of my father. I’d given up hope that he was here because Laadan would’ve found him by now. He could still be at the New York Covenant in the Catskills. He could be anywhere, or he could be dead. Rubbing my hands down my face, I told myself not to think that, but man, I was so rocking a Negative Nancy vibe like there was no tomorrow. Or maybe I was just being a Realistic Rachel? How could he have survived? How could Ares not know that my father had been at the Catskills? Surely he would use my father against me if he could. And what would he have chosen for his life if he’d had a choice to be something other than a Sentinel, Guard, or servant? What would any of these men out by the walls have chosen? Did any of them ever think about that? I had, at one point in my life, when I’d been living among mortals, way before I knew what I was or had even heard that stupid prophecy. I’d wanted to work at a zoo. Not the biggest aspiration for one to have in life, but I loved animals and because all creatures could be controlled by compulsion—therefore pure-blooded daimons—I’d never had a pet. The few times I’d visited a zoo, the workers had always seemed to enjoy their jobs, and I wanted that. I wanted to be happy with what I was doing with my life. I used to think becoming a Sentinel would fulfill that need. Funny thing was, when I’d been living among mortals, all I’d really wanted was to be back at the Covenant among my own kind. Now I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be a Sentinel if I survived this. Glancing down, I put my hands on my stomach, like a pregnant woman did. The cord buzzed along, a constant open connection. I closed my eyes and focused, like I had the night before I went toe-to-toe with Ares. Gods knew I probably looked as much an idiot now as I did then. Seth? There was no answer—nothing on the other side. Like the cord went out into space and just ended. Footsteps crunched over the gravel, and I didn’t need to look behind me to know who it was. Aiden had been following me the whole time. The footsteps stopped behind the bench. “I’m not going to run off,” I said, and I wasn’t planning to. There was a pause. “I know.” A few seconds later, he came around the bench and sat beside me, his hands resting on his thighs. Neither of us spoke for what felt like forever. He was the one to break the silence first. “I’m sorry for yelling at you back there.” I choked on a laugh as I slid him a glance. “No, you’re not.” One side of his lips tipped up, but it wasn’t a real smile that showed off those dimples. I hadn’t seen one of those since I’d woken up this afternoon. “Okay,” he conceded. “I’m not sorry for what I said, but I am sorry for raising my voice.” “It’s okay.” “I wish you’d stop saying that.” I stood a little too fast, and my knees backhanded me in the form of sharp bursts of pain. “But it isokay.” My back was to him, but I could feel the frown in his voice. “Everything is not okay, Alex. I’m pretty sure the world is coming down around us. It’s all right for things not to be okay.” I placed one foot in front of the other as if walking a balance beam, but my equilibrium hadn’t caught up with the healing, and after three steps I could’ve easily passed as a drunk. “It doesn’t mean you’re weak if you admit that things are pretty screwed up right now,” he continued. I stood still. “This isn’t a very motivating speech.” Aiden laughed dryly. “It’s not meant to be. More like a dose of reality.” “I think I’ve had enough doses of that recently.” He let out a heavy sigh. “You don’t have to be okay with what happened to you, Alex. No one expects that. I sure as hell don’t.” Turning around slowly, I opened my mouth to tell him that was the last thing I wanted to talk about, but that wasn’t what came out. “If I’m not okay with that, then what am I supposed to be?” His eyes met mine. “Angry.” Oh, there was a whole lot of that. “You can be upset—scared—and you can rage that it wasn’t fair, because it wasn’t. A lot of this stuff hasn’t been fair for you, but especially this. Nothing about it was right, and you’ve got to let yourself experience those emotions.” “I am.” Kind of. Strange thing was that I felt all of those things, but it wasn’t enough. Like a cap on a bottle unscrewed just enough to let a little bit of air in. A sad look crossed his face as he shook his head. “You’re not. And you’ve got to let it out, Alex, or it will rot you from the inside.” My chest rose sharply. I was already rotten on the inside. “I’m trying.” “I know.” Aiden leaned forward, his eyes never leaving mine. “I’m sorry I doubted you this morning.” “Aiden—” He raised a hand. “Hear me out, okay? The last thing you needed when you woke up after something like that was to have me react that way. I know that didn’t help.” It wasn’t the choir-singing, romantic reunion I imagined, but I also understood. “My eyes…” “That’s not a good enough reason for how I acted.” “It’s not that big of a deal, Aiden, but I forgive you.” Aiden stared at me a moment longer and then sat back. His gaze drifted over my face and then to the sheared locks. I wanted to hide. “Come here,” he said gently. The coldness seeped into my chest, and I stayed in place, but the words burst out of me as if my mouth had been hijacked by inner Alex. “I look like Frankenstein.” “You’re beautiful.” “I look like Frankenstein with a beauty-school-dropout haircut.” Our eyes locked again. “You’ve never been more beautiful to me than you are right now.” “You need your eyes checked.” He smiled a little. “And you need your head examined.” I bit down on my lip. “Come here,” he said again, raising his hand. This time, I didn’t think about the numbness and the coldness in my chest. I pushed past them and forced my legs forward. In three uneven steps, my fingers curled around his. Aiden tugged me into his lap, fitting me against his chest so I could hear his heart thunder in his chest. His arms swept around me, holding me in place. A breath shuddered through him, and gods, I loved it when he held me like this. His lips brushed my forehead. “Agapi mou.”I smiled against his chest, and in the dark, I could almost pretend that everything was normal. And in that moment, I needed that. I really did. *** Just as the sun began to crest the horizon, thousands of students, hundreds of staff members, and those who had sought refuge converged on the cemetery that rested beyond the dorms, nestled against the fortress-like wall surrounding the back of the Covenant. The cemetery was a lot like the one on Deity Island. Statues of the gods oversaw the massive mausoleums and graves, and hyacinths bloomed year-round. To me, those flowers had always served as a twisted reminder of what could happen if you were favored by a god. I wondered if there’d be a flower named after me one day. Alexandrias had a nice ring to it. Hopefully they would be beautiful, like a dense spike of vibrant red flowers, and not look like something you’d find growing up from a crack in the pavement. In death, a half and a pure were treated as equals, and like my mom had once said, it was the only time the two races would rest side by side. But things were still segregated amongst the living, even when there was no greater time than now for halfs and pures to come together as one. Pures took center stage, situated in front of the funeral pyres. It didn’t seem to matter that only one of the linen-wrapped bodies had belonged to a pure, and the other three bodies belonged to halfs. Ritual and law decreed that pures got first-row seating, and so they did. Behind the pure-blooded Council members, students, pure Guards and Sentinels, and civilians, stood the half-bloods. I knew they could barely see the pyres or hear the memorial speech being given by Diana and another Head Minister. Our group stood off to the left of the masses, there but separate. We had followed the somber procession through the campus just before dawn, and the eight of us had moved as a collective group to the side, as if we all agreed without words that we would be a part of this but would not separate into the class structure. One would think most of the eyes would be faced forward at a funeral, but they weren’t. A lot of people stared at our group, namely Aiden and me. Some of the stares were openly hostile. Others looked disgusted. Those looks came from the pures. The halfs just seemed shocked and awed. Aiden’s hand tightened around mine. I glanced up at him, and he gave me a faint smile. There was no way he didn’t know half the congregation was staring at us, but he held onto my hand. I think he knew I needed that connection. It was funny how things were so different. Before everything had happened, whenever Seth was around large groups of halfs, he got stared at in wonder. I got stared at because I was holding hands with a pure-blood. How messed up was that? Looking over the crowd, I caught the eye of a pure-blooded student. Pures looked just like halfs, but all of us had this gods-given, wonky ability of sensing the difference between the two. He stared at us like he wanted to rip my hand out of Aiden’s and then take a day’s worth of time to explain why we shouldn’t be holding hands. My eyes narrowed on him as I raised my free hand and scratched the bridge of my nose…with my middle finger. The pure’s head whipped forward. Back in the day, I probably would’ve been beaten for that, but I was the Apollyon, so I doubted he’d go tattle. And honestly, there were much bigger problems than a half and a pure being naughty. Tightening my grip on Aiden’s hand, I forced my gaze to the pyres. The words spoken were in ancient Greek, and for one of the first times in my life, it didn’t translate into “wha-wha-wha.” I understood the language, and the words were powerful and moving, prayers and accolades truly fit for those who’d died by Ares’ hand, but there was something missing. Not that Diana or the other minister was doing anythingwrong. I didn’t understand it at first, but then I got it. What was missing…it was inside me. The words spoken meant something, and I felt the somber pall hanging over the campus. As the torches were placed along the foot of the pyres, I even thought about Lea and how she deserved this kind of burial, not a hastily dug grave out in the middle of nowhere. My chest ached for her and all those who were being mourned. I mourned. But while I felt these things, I really didn’t feel them. The sharp pang of grief, a feeling I’d become well familiar with over the past year, was numbed. When the orangey flames licked into the air and covered the bodies like blankets, I didn’t turn away like I always did. The finality of it was muted. There was this ball of coldness deep in my chest, sharp shards of ice in my veins, and every so often fear, spiked like the flames. Fear and pain were things I did feel—they were real, and tangible enough that I could taste them. Everything else was dulled, like I was disconnected and detached from the rest of the human scale of emotions, and I didn’t understand why. Realizing this caused that very fear to skyrocket, bringing along a nice little dose of anxiety, and it figured that, since fear and apprehension were like two peas in a messed-up pod, it made sense that if I felt one, I’d feel the other. My heart was pounding like a jackhammer and my palms were sweaty by the time the funeral was over and the sun was directly overhead. The crowd started to move back toward the campus. There’d be a feast in the memory of those who were lost, and most of group was attending it. Marcus had left to join Diana. Solos was chatting it up with Val, and Luke and Deacon were walking ahead with Olivia. Air sawed in and out of my lungs at an alarming rate, and I