The Marked Son (Keepers of Life) (23 page)

Turning, I pick up both swords and run to the wall that stretches out in front of me. I’m not sure if I’ve become sensitive to it, or if the strange power I possess somehow called it into showing itself. It doesn’t really matter. With a hard push, I ram through the door. My bones ache. My skin tingles. The sick feeling grows. Mist wraps around me and pulls me forward. When the unpleasant sensations of traveling between the two worlds ends, I’m standing in the woods.

A haze of heated smoke snakes between the trees. Ashes swirl in the wind, and the taste of death is in the air.

Escape into Trouble

I stow the swords nearby and chase the smell of fire, emerging from the woods a few miles from my grandparents’ house. Smoke hangs thickly, wrapping around the area like a heated blanket. People are dashing here and there, their confusion clear on their faces. The chaos I’m seeing is hard to believe. As I make my way down the road, I see dead animals lying in a far paddock. Farther along, people scream for water to douse a burning hay bale. A ewe bleats from within a field, eyes rolling with fear as flames lick closer. I see Mr. Tanner, his arms streaked with dirt and soot, standing, dazed.

“What happened?” I yell above the din.

“Don’t know,” he calls back. “Someone’s torched the farms along the road. The Delgatos, Lorrings, mine… Killed sheep. Horses. Dogs…” He sweeps a hand through his gray hair, his eyes reflecting his shock.

“Are you all right?”

“Half my flock is gone. Slaughtered. My barn’s burned. Who’d do this? It’s daylight. How’d we miss seeing them?”

I know, but I can’t say. “Is my family all right?”

“Who?”

“My grandparents. Officer Newman and his wife.”

“Their place was hit first.” He shakes his head, his voice quivers. “Terrible. Just terrible.”

His words echo in my head. I had followed the heat of the fire here, not thinking to go home first. Fear crawls through me, and I back away from Mr. Tanner and run—run until my legs ache, but I don’t stop. I don’t think about the destruction I pass. If I do, I’ll only see what I can’t bear to face. That I brought this devastation here.

I punch through the back fence of my grandparents’ house, the force adding to the hiss and pop of a dying fire. Only when the charred side of the house comes into view do I stop. That crumbling mass of shattered beams and smoldering debris used to be my bedroom. Now the space is a blackened, damage-riddled hole.

A fair distance away, a handful of volunteer firefighters collect their gear, shouting about another fire that needs their attention. The back door bangs open as Reggie emerges from the house, his face clouded, his body rigid. He storms forward, and I back away.

My heart rate spikes. “What’s going on?”

“What did you do?” The muscles in Reggie’s face harden. His lips thin, and his eyes narrow. “Where is he?”

I trip around a wheelbarrow. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play stupid. First your grandfather, a man who deserved better than to be beaten and left for dead in the woods, and now Pop. He’s missing. Where is he? What did you do to him?”

My gaze whips to the house. “Where’s my grandpa?”

“Pop said from the beginning that death hovered around you. I swear to God, if you’ve harmed him…”

He’s blaming me? The men on the other side of the fence quickly look away. I turn back to Reggie, the confusion about what’s happened starting to clear. “You think I tried to kill my grandpa? Where is he? Where’s my grandma?”

“Where’s my dad?” The shaking in Reggie’s arm flows into his whole body. He’s lost control and his face contorts into a violent mask. “Start talking, or I swear I’ll beat it out of you myself.”

When he steps closer, I grab his arms, my hands glow hot against his skin. He fights me as I stare into his eyes. “I’d never harm him…or anyone.”

I project the core of who I am, convey my true soul. The jolt of raw feeling pouring into his body startles him. He fights to be free, but I won’t let him go. Not yet. Not until he sees I’m not the monster he thinks I am. Lumbering around the yard in our strange embrace, we fall. I brace for impact while still holding onto Reggie. He lands on top of me, and I grunt. His angry face hovers over me. He pulls his free arm back, and balls his hand into a fist.

His knuckles slam into my jaw. Pain explodes in my head. Our eyes lock, and I see the fury that’s raging in him. He pulls his arm back again, and it’s then I realize this isn’t going to end any time soon. I don’t want to hurt him, but I don’t want to be hurt, either. I know what it’s like to kill a man, and I’m not eager for a repeat.

Reggie’s eyes grow wide. He hesitates. “You’ve killed someone?”

I blink. I didn’t mean to delve that deeply, to reveal so much.

A snarl ripples across Reggie’s face. His fist tightens.

I brace myself.

“Dad!” Leo runs into the yard followed by Jason and Jason’s dad, Carl Delgato. Mr. Delgato yanks Reggie off me, and I let him go. Reggie’s eyes are wild with alarm. Leo grabs his dad’s shoulders and gives him a quick shake. “He didn’t do anything. Mr. Delgato says he saw Pop by his place not more than a half hour ago.”

Reggie pushes out of Mr. Delgato’s restraining hands and stumbles back. “You need to go,” he says pointing a finger at me. “Whatever the hell you are, we don’t need your kind of trouble here.”

Leo frowns and steps toward his dad. “What’s wrong with you? Didn’t you hear me?”

Reggie ignores his son, and his eyes fixate on me. “You don’t belong. You know it, and now, so do I. When I get back, you’d best be gone.”

He storms away with Carl Delgato on his heels, and Leo and Jason turn to me with nothing but questions in their eyes. Nothing is going right. I’m running blind and falling with every step I take.

Leo motions toward his dad. “What’s he talking about?”

I pull the pair aside, out of earshot of the men working nearby. “I had to show him who I am.”

Jason frowns, and then his eyebrows pop into a high arch. “You don’t mean—”

“That I’m part of the
firsts
. He didn’t seem too keen on it.”

A smirk crosses his face. “It’s like telling him you’re a Dungeon Keeper, twelfth level, and you need to put his beating heart in a box and give it to your master as proof of your loyalty.”

I throw him a disgusted look. How can Jason joke at a time like this? Leo smacks his friend in back of his head.

Jason throws up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. But seriously, I’d think you were nuts.”

He has a point.

Leo sweeps his fingers through his hair, looking more frazzled than a laid-back guy should. “We’ve got burned houses, dead livestock, and no one’s seen anything. Did my dad tell you that your grandpa’s at the hospital?”

“You saw him. Your dad wasn’t in the sharing mood,” I say.

“Well, don’t worry, your grandpa’s in the hospital and your grandma’s with him. That old man is lucky he’s got one tough hide. Someone worked him over good.”

My chest grows tight with helplessness. None of this should be happening. Kera and I didn’t do anything wrong. All we want is to be left alone. Now the council has declared war on everyone who’s had any kind of association with me. My eyes sweep the people milling around—that means everyone within miles are in danger. I need to end this. But how? I’m no soldier. I don’t know the first thing about fighting. Hooked up to “Halo” with a bunch of internet geeks, yeah. But the real thing? I’m making this up as I go, and so far, I’m not doing so hot. Grandpa was my only hope.

“My grandpa’s going to be okay, right?” I ask Leo.

“Yeah, he won’t be walking around for a couple of days, though. And then there’s Pop. He got spooked last night and disappeared. That’s what my dad’s all fired up about. With Pop gone, and your grandpa found all mangled up, and then you were missing, well…”

“I came out the bad guy. Nice.”

“Yeah, well, nobody’s perfect. I told him you wouldn’t do anything like that, but you know parents. They think we’re all brain dead or something.”

“So,” Jason says in a drawn out manner that hints at his curiosity, “where’ve you been?”

“In Teag,” I say distractedly. “The land on the other side of the wall.” With my first plan totally screwed, I’m desperate for a back up. Grandpa was the one with all the authority around here. Who did one go to when the authorities were laid up?

A strange look crosses Jason’s face. “What wall?”

“Listen, I don’t have time to get into it. Stuffs going down on her side that’s really messed up. Kera’s getting married to some whacked-out, wanna-be king, and I’m pretty sure he’s the one who messed up my grandpa, torched the house, and went ballistic on everyone around here.”

Jason’s head swivels from side to side, his eyes scanning the area. “We’ve got
your kind
in the neighborhood now?”

“Yeah, and they’re pissed. They don’t exactly like me.”

Leo purses his lips and gives a quick hum. “Sounds like your popularity has taken a serious hit lately.”

“Really?” I couldn’t help the sarcasm. I’m more like my mom than I want to admit. All I wanted was a better life, but all I got was more trouble. “This is pretty par for
my
life.”

“You against the world, huh?”

“Two worlds, actually,” Jason adds.

“That’s rough,” Leo says.

I don’t need Leo’s compassion. I need a miracle. My frown deepens. “It gets worse. Kera’s like me, a half-blood, only they don’t know it yet, and when they find out, they’ll kill her.”

“Wow,” Jason mutters. “They’re like cannibals.” We stare at him blankly, and he shrugs. “You know. They eat their own kind, so to speak.”

I drag out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, well, until I do something about them, they’re going to get a lot nastier.”

“Like…?”

I wave at the house. “Take your pick. Burn up houses. Kill sheep. Kill people. I don’t know. But they’re not messing around. They do
not
like humans, and they really don’t like guys like me.”

“Bro,” Leo breathes, the sound of fear in his voice unmistakable. “That sounds like a war.”

I know where the fault lies. “Look around. It is.”

Suppressed energy pours off Jason. He can barely stand still. A dangerous twinkle of excitement flickers in his eyes. “You gonna ask us to help?”

“Are you offering?”

“I’m not bad in a fight.”

I believe him.

Leo stares at the ground, tense and quiet.

“You don’t have to help,” I say. “It’s my fight.”

His head snaps up. “They’re threatening all of us now. I don’t like it, but I’m not going to hide. I’ll help.”

“This could get ugly,” I say.

Leo motions to the burned and dying around us. “It’s already ugly.”

We make for the woods, creating a plan on the fly. Go in, get Kera, bring her back, and have Faldon fix the wall behind us. It’s the only way to stop the violence.

“It’s too simple,” I say, worrying.

Jason shakes his head. “Complicated gets you in trouble. Trust me, I know.”

I’ve seen his daredevil pictures, heard about his juvenile record. I trust him.

We burst into the clearing and bypass the foxhole. With my powers, I’m fairly confident I’ll be safe, but Leo and Jason need some form of protection. Grandpa’s guns are still hidden within the bushes, tucked neatly under a tarp beside the forgotten ATV. While the guys stuff their pockets with ammo, I hesitate.

Is this really a good idea? Is there another way?

I can’t see any. The
firsts
have pushed too hard. They’ve attacked innocent people.

The guys check over their rifles and count out the ammo, increasing my confidence that they’re familiar with guns. Jason slings one over each shoulder and looks at me. “Ready. You sure you don’t want one?”

“I’ve got a pair of swords hidden by the wall.”

“Swords. Wow.” He doesn’t sound impressed. “Suit yourself.”

Leo hefts his rifle. “I’m ready.”

We start for the wall. The mood between us has grown serious, our steps firm, our bodies tense, as we push through the woods. The path we’re following bends around a clump of trees, and on the other side, Pop stands directly in our way, a determined tilt to his body, like he’s been fighting all day, and he isn’t opposed to getting his rumble on.

“Dude,” Jason whispers to Leo. “I don’t think your grandpa is having a good day. He looks a little strung out.”

Jason isn’t kidding. Pop’s clothes are a mess and his hair—what’s left of it—is spiked on his head and not in a cool way. Scratches cover his face, and his gaze darts around the area like he expects a mountain lion to spring from the bushes and maul him.