Soul Control (42 page)

“You see, my son Job discovered two very important things about himself in the last few months.”

My eyes darted from him to Nathanael, back to him in search of a sign that maybe everything in my life, including Nathanael, hadn’t been a lie.

“You look so worried, Saydi.” His words dripped with condescension, patting Job’s shoulder, smiling proudly at him. “He discovered he could talk to you through your mind.”

The air in my throat choked and gagged, unsure if it was coming or going, forcing me to cough.

His brow lifted in a false concern. “Are you okay? We certainly don’t want you to choke.” Then he hesitated. “Better?” He didn’t wait for an answer, which was fine by me because he wasn’t going to get one.

“Good. Now where was I?” Tapping his finger to his chin, he turned quickly and pointed. “Oh yes. It was the night of the Christmas party when he discovered his new talent, and...” He shook his index finger in the air, “He also at that time discovered Nathanael could do the same with you.”

A bit of dread released and let some courage seep through, maybe falsely, but it was my only life line. It was no longer about me nor my love for Nathanael. It was about the human soul—something that was more powerful than all Pyre combined. When I flung the coat of armor over my heart and feelings, more courage emerged, and I was able to deaden the look on my face, showing no emotion. Just like Nathanael.

Without dipping my stare, I was able to do a head count—thirty four, yet it was hard to distinguish between Half Night, human or full Pyre, because they were all wearing their human skin. My gaze shifted slightly over to Nathanael and when it did...far off in the distance, among the trees, the Pue was hovering, waiting.

Mr. Braxton swiped his fingers down Nathanael’s cheek. Nathanael didn’t flinch, didn’t react at all. “It saddened me that we had to keep our discovery from Nathanael.”

He rolled his lip up showing his teeth and with a snarl, said, “We always knew Nathanael was playing both sides. We had plans for him once he reeled you in.”

Then he paced back and forth again. “However, those had to change when council informed me of the most wonderful news. My sons were the circle of three and my Nathanael was the warrior of the prophecy.” He put his hand on his heart and put the back of his other hand on his forehead looking to the sky. “It even made me shed a tear or two.”

His love was short-lived.

“That still left us with a dilemma. Nathanael was obviously struggling with his human side. So with the council’s help, we decided we’d let him continue on with his little game until it was time. After all, it was only going to make things easier for us.”

Braxton twined his hands around and around, like an evil scientist would. “You see, there was an ulterior motive for allowing it to go as it did. Nathanael was so busy keeping you away from us, he didn’t realize what he was doing...deception.”

I was waiting for the evil laugh and didn’t get it, but he did continue with his overly dramatic narrative.

“You see, Miss Gardiner, the longer we could keep Nathanael deceiving us, the easier it would be to appeal to his Pyre side.”

I drew a harsh breath in, it left me speechless. He was right. It was the one thing Nathanael constantly told me to watch out for, the sneaky things that could easily trap me. We both missed the fact that by deceiving them, he was doing the exact thing we were to be watching for and he was doing it...to save me.

My insides rolled.

Braxton had centre stage and was loving it. “Now, we had already done the ritual once before and council would not allow us to kill him yet, so we had to take desperate measures.”

Looking at me from under his eyelashes, he gave me the ultimate willies. “We sent him away to a much darker place, a place that...shall we say...would possess even a Tov.” He threw his head back, laughing at his own stupid joke. “There were intense rituals guaranteed to put a Half Night back on track.” He patted Nathanael’s cheek. Nathanael smiled, but it wasn’t real.

“It was quite simple to keep you holding on without suspicion. Job simply mind talked to you as Nathanael.”

For those weeks my insides had tugged at me telling me something wasn’t right. Even though my intuition told me something was fiercely wrong, I chose to ignore it and pushed it down, telling myself not to be so silly—I should have listened to myself.

Braxton glanced at me with a smirk on his face. “I know what you’re thinking, Miss Gardiner. Why didn’t Nathanael tell you himself what was happening?”

With my words dripping in sarcasm, I said, “No, actually I’m not. I know exactly why.”

The freak completely ignored me. “As you know, he was rushing to the scene of a well explosion.”

He stopped and took a peek at me, then continued, “Nathanael was the one to inform you that he was leaving. However...” He spun back at me and pointed his boney finger. “He was walking right into our trap. We know, from past experience, that a Half Night is unable to mind -talk when surrounded by pure evil. We simply ensured that once he stepped on the plane that’s exactly what happened, thereby allowing our Job here to take Nathanael’s place in your head.”

I didn’t know if Braxton wanted a reaction from me or not, but he didn’t get one. I was involved in Nathanael’s fixation on me. Everything about him was wrong, completely wrong. If there was even a small portion of him remaining, something would alert me to it, but nothing did. The Nathanael I fell in love with was gone. My heart felt like lead, slowly sinking behind the shield. I wanted to run away and cry. Instead, I did exactly what Nathanael taught me—I pulled on my strength, peeled back the layers of emotion, and exposed the raw physical power to keep me strong.

Braxton’s voice boomed across the pond again. “Now, the next question I am sure you are pondering is how, in heaven’s name...” He rolled his eyes, “Did we know he was playing both sides?”

Then he tilted his head and smiled at me. “Let me put your mind at ease.” Waving his arm, he pointed at Father Lacombe. “Our dear Father here.”

Then he turned back to us.

“You see, a while back Nathanael tried to convince Father to attend this little family gathering, to join your ranks. Unfortunately for Nathanael, Father Lacombe has been working for us for many years.”

Braxton slightly placed his hand on the side of his mouth, like he was going to tell me a secret. “Between you and me, the man has way too many desires for a priest.”

I shot a look at the Father whose face was red, then back to Braxton, who continued to rattle on. “As you know, only leaders of our realms are privy to who our allies are. Therefore it was another secret kept from, well...all my sons.”

Again with the lifting of the eyebrow, he slowly made his way over to Father. My eyes darted from one to the other. Father looked up while Braxton’s hand slithered up the back of his neck and folded around it—the repugnant sound of juicy limbs stretching turned my stomach. I watched Braxton’s hands turn into lethal weapons—claws.

Braxton continued, “Another unfortunate thing, we can’t have...”

Father’s eyes grew to twice the size while Braxton’s hold tightened. Suddenly, with one swift twist, the sound of crushed bone oscillated through the air.

I screamed, smacking my hand over my mouth and held down the puke from bubbling up my throat—someone put their arm around me. But Braxton’s thirst for death wasn’t completely satisfied. He held the Father’s limp body in his clutches and without warning, snapped his neck completely around before letting him go.

The fluid in my gut gagged up, burning the inside of my throat as tears stung my eyes. Nathanael stared blankly at the lifeless body lying in a heap on the ground.

Braxton nonchalantly continued, “As I was saying, we can’t have everyone knowing who our allies are.”

Everything was shaking, my hands, legs, insides, my whole body, as sobs exploded out of me.
This isn’t happening!

Braxton’s voice grabbed my attention again. “Come, come. That’s war, Saydi, the rules of engagement, if you will.”

A woman whispered, “Saydi, there is nothing we can do for him now. He knew the chance he took. We have to remain focused. Andrew did it to throw you off, to keep you unfocused... You scare him.”

Gulping the sobs down, I took some very deep breaths and looked directly at him. “How did you fool Mora?”

He fanned his hand out behind his ear. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. You’re mumbling.”

My voice broke free. “How did you fool Mora?” I yelled, suddenly furious that he took Nathanael away.

He waved his hands. “Oh, that was easy. I am very knowledgeable of Mora’s donum. Why do you think I bedded down with her?” He smirked. ”Blocking her from Nathanael was easy and I...” He threw his arms out wide and bowed. “Myself, made those decisions, as Nathanael was busy. The connection she has with my sons is no match for the connection I have with them.”

It was going to start soon, you could feel it in the air. The evil was rising. Swiveling quickly once around, I was able to count the heads on our side with quickness and precision—twenty five. The one beside me smiled. “I’m Sheranda, your aunt, and these two beside me are your uncles, Paul and Matthew. We were here first because we were in the field. Your dad and the rest are...”

“We’re here,” Dad said, from my side.

“Ah, John! Are you enjoying your last days with your lovely daughter?” Braxton sang out.

Dad threw his finger out. “It’s your last days, Andrew!”

Braxton rubbed his chin and again patted Nathanael’s cheek. “Tsk, Tsk.” Then he called out loudly, “Come now!”

As our heads turned in the direction of the advancing movement in the trees, the most hideous, horrible grin of teeth wrapped around their lower jaws. One by one, Pyre stepped out from the shadow of the woods until their group grew to about one hundred strong. Nathanael and his brothers turned back. He watched me from the corner of his eyes, his lip twitched up baring his teeth, and I was certain a snarl rose deep from within his throat. It sent a wave of chills through the length of my whole body.

Nothing dented Braxton’s stage presence. “You see, we knew my son was telling you our secrets. This was of no concern to us, because we knew with him training so hard with you he’d gather all the knowledge we needed to be victorious when he came back from camp.” He threw his head back again and laughed.

Mora cut him off and screamed, “Andrew, you’re going to pay!”

The man had a thing about being flamboyant, and again he flapped his hands in the air. “Yes, yes, I’m sure. Anyway, as I was saying, I don’t know why he was so intent on helping you when he knew who he was. It was inevitable he’d fight alongside us.”

I squeezed Dad’s hand in a way to let him know it was well understood: Without Nathanael fighting with us, we didn’t stand a chance. I was ready. My only hope was I would be able to read some of his moves before he did them—it would be hard, because Nathanael knew he was the warrior and knew all our tricks. My goal was simply not to get caught and taken away.

Dad whispered, “I’m sorry, honey.”

Mora stepped forward and took my other hand, then Zack took Mora’s. André and Pearle were on Dad’s side, and the rest held hands with us.

A faint whistling echoed above the landscape of the woods, branches of the trees swayed as the Pue flowed through them, the crackling of dry leaves could be heard as they danced across the ground—the air pressure shifted. The Pue descended upon on us as rolling black clouds of thunder followed. Everyone looked to the skies except me. I stayed alert, my eyes sweeping across the faces in front of me, deciphering who would be the first to go.

“It is as we suspected. The battle would play out during a spring storm,” Dad said.

Our first strike needed to be severe, to take out as many as we could, whether they be Half Nights or injured Pyre. It was our only hope to get an upper hand before the battle really began.

We raised our hands at the same time. I wanted so much to maim Braxton, but he stayed too close to the one he knew I would never hurt...unless I had to. Not to mention Joshua, the Protector and Job, the Guardian, stood there.

“Zack, Saydi, let’s do this. We have a powerful storm wind,” Dad instructed.

“Okay, Dad.”

“You got it, John,” Zack agreed.

“Saydi, until your wind attaches and gives us its hue, use your arms.”

“Okay, Dad.”

Our arms rotated in the same direction in unison, summoning the power of the winds, and with the command of three, its speed surpassed any realm of possibility. Exploding from the trees into the clearing and hurling some Pyre to the ground, it moved with proficiency and force as it snaked across the pond, spraying water as it went. In a surge, it latched onto our hands with such force it shoved us back.

The air instantly stilled—the calm before the storm. In sequence, one right after the other, the hues of pink, purple and green launched out and accelerated toward the trees behind them. We directed our vengeance the farthest away from Nathanael.

From the other side, three threw up their arms—hues of blue, yellow and red discharged into the air in a counter strike—swirling and swooping under and over ours. Their hands moved in short, quick bursts, coercing their hues to duck around our much stronger ones.