The Shattered Genesis (Eternity) (122 page)

             
“I don't have to guess.” I replied sarcastically, “Well,
it's a bubble-bursting extravaganza because I'm telling you now that I'm not staying here and neither is Penny.”

             
“You're safe here. The other side is dead. If they haven't all died yet, they will soon enough. We'll win and we'll be able to live peacefully
. We survived the end of days, Violet. Now, our brave soldiers are going to make sure we survive this new age, too. And we're going to fight them and win without ever using those terrible powers. It's going to be wonderful, darling, I promise. We are the c
hosen race, my love. We will come out of this on top. The Bachums promised us that much. The Old Spirits have been kind to us. Tyre makes sure that we are fed. He hates Adam and he will bring him
down. They will reclaim the city.”

             
“No, I can assure you th
at they won't.” I snapped at her indignantly, “Adam told us that Tyre, or whatever the hell his name is, has lost his powers. All of his people have.”

             
“They were farming the earth. They sent horrible creatures to hunt down people like Brynna and Elijah. T
hey know that humans are not meant to wield such great power. Luckily, they got a lot of them. But the people who made it and have embraced those powers...” Maura shook her head, “They have to die, Violet. That's why I'm telling you to stop it. Stop it or
they'll...”

             
“Maura, get out.”

             
My father was standing in the doorway. Maura jumped up and immediately walked towards the door with her head down. Her clothes hung like draping robes from her emaciated form. I shuddered again.

             
While she looked on the verg
e of death by starvation, my father had acquired a swollen belly and fatty jowls. I grimaced at the sight of him; he had always been handsome, so handsome that two women had vied for his affections. Now, he reminded me of an eighteenth century king who spe
nt his days imbibing on ale and gorging roasted pig meat as readily as he breathed. The metaphor was not far from the truth, I would soon discover.

             
“Violet.” He opened his arms as he walked towards me. What was it with those people expecting warm embraces
after all that had transpired between our two sparring armies? Did they truly believe that I had longed for them or that my allegiance would change with no hesitation? I held my hand up when he went to wrap his arms around me.

             
“I know. A lot of bad thing
s have happened. But just know that I'm going to make it up to you.” He sat down on the chair Maura had been sitting in and it creaked under his weight. “I was afraid that you and Penny were starving to death. But you look healthy. I'm glad. At least that
despicable man and that disgusting tramp made sure you were fed.”

             
“Did you just call Brynna a tramp, really?” I asked with a slight laugh, “That's funny.”
             

             
“Violet, you should have no loyalty to her anymore. I saved your life in more ways than you know.
Not to mention, I'm your father and you wouldn't be here without me, right?”

             
“So, I should just forget that you abandoned Mom, imposed rules over the campsite that involved people starving to death, abandoned us, shacked up with Maura, and abducted Penny
and me from our home?”

             
“I did not abandon your mother! Brynna did. I was letting people starve because I was thinking of the group. You don't think that was hard for me to do that to people? I had to think of the whole and not the parts, Violet. I don't e
xpect you to understand that.” In his voice, I heard genuine remorse. I heard a genuine plea for me to understand.

             
“You're right. I don't understand that.” I told him angrily, “There were other ways, Dad, and you know...”

             
“I had to do what was right for
everyone. We never would have survived a month if everyone had to have a fair share. Don't you see that? And I didn't abandon you! You ran away. We searched for you for days! Maura and I love each other, so yes, we're together. But that doesn't mean that I
don't still love your mother. How could I not still love her? We were married for almost twenty-five years.”

             
“And God knows how many affairs you had! Don't try to convince me that you two were happily married! You might think that I'm still that young, i
mmature little girl that I was only a year ago but I remember things clearly now!”
             
“You remember things the way Brynna wants you to remember things.” My father hissed in fury. “I can't imagine the lies she's put in your head.”

             
“Brynna never even talked a
bout you. She never tried to warp my view of you, Mom or Maura. But I do know something that you all kept a secret. I know what happened to her. I know now, even better than I did before, that what happened to Lucien wasn't her fault.”

             
He rose to his feet
, trembling with rage.

             
“Lucien's death was no one's fault but hers! She went off into her head and while she was rolling around in her ridiculous thoughts, he was drowning! My son! Your brother!”

             
“You all shouldn't have left her alone! Not after what hap
pened! And you called her a liar! Maura knew it was happening! Only Mom believed her! Only Mom took care of her after it was over! That is, until Lucien died and she turned on her, too! I believed your lies about Brynna for years, Dad. But for some reason,
I couldn't hate her. Now, I know why. I couldn't hate her because all of the things you said about her were bullshit!”

             
“You watch your mouth!” He grabbed a hold of my face in a grip so painful that I whimpered. My body was shaking with fear; I squeezed m
y eyes shut when he brought back his hand. I was going to experience the same punishment he had inflicted only on Brynna. I wanted to feel the pain she had been forced to endure. I deserved it for believing their disgusting lies. But my father took a breat
h, released my face and dropped his arm back to his side. When I opened my eyes, I saw that he was seated again with his face pressed into his hands.

             
“I know now that what Brynna said happened actually did happen. With Michael, I mean. I wish I could say
that I feel badly for her but I don't. I
can't
. I'm sure I would feel terrible if she hadn't been responsible for Lucien's death. That was my son, Violet.”

             
My heart jumped with the same startled, momentary terror that follows being spooked by someone jump
ing out from behind a wall and shouting in your face. His voice had broken and he had tears in his eyes.

             
“He was my youngest child. He looked just like me. You can't imagine the love I had for him. He was so young and he had those huge eyes. You remember
them. They always lit up the moment I came through the door. God, I loved that little boy so much...”

             
He covered his face with one hand as tears ran down his cheeks. A part of me began to sympathize.

             
No
, my mind shouted in a fury that shocked me just as
much as his tears did,
He doesn't deserve your pity. He is an evil man. Whatever pain he feels is karma.

             
Was Lucien's death karma for the evil deeds committed by both him and my mother? I couldn't bear the thought of my little brother paying the price for
their sins.

             
“And she took him from me. She was so profoundly selfish, Violet. You've seen how she is. I've had a lot of time to think about what happened to our family while we were on Earth. I've come to the conclusion that Brynna is lying to all of us
and herself when she says that she drifted off. I think that she let him drown because she was angry at your mother and me for letting Michael do what he did. She made us pay a price for our ignorance. That is
unforgivable
, sweetheart.”

             
“Yes, it would be,
if it were true.”

             
“She deserves that disgusting man she's with now. He's a traitor. He's a liar. He's a killer.”

             
“James is a good man.” I spat at him, voicing the fury I felt down to my bones. “He is good to her, which I'm sure makes you hate him. Let m
e ask you something, Dad.”

             
“Go ahead. Anything, honey.” He looked up at me.

             
“Why is Maura so beaten up?”

             
We stared at each other for a good long while. I tried to detect any emotions that flickered across his face but none were present. There was only a
thoughtless ambivalence that I knew preceded an apathetic explanation that would involve at least one reference to the God they worshiped so blindly.

             
“Maura refused to repent for a very long time. She deserved what they did to her. But she's alright now,
Violet. I took care of her myself after it was all said and done. What you need to understand is that Mary and Rich do what they have to do. They make us see the Light by whatever means necessary. They do use force, especially when people are stubborn, li
ke Maura was. But she knows now all the things she did were wrong. She's a better person for it.”

             
“Will they use force on me so that I'll see the Light?” I asked sarcastically, but I was deeply afraid of being forced to endure such agonizing torture. I co
uldn't bring to mind readily any significant
misdeeds I had committed in my short life but I knew they would find something to punish me for.

             
“Of course not!” He assured me firmly. “You're only sixteen.”

             
“I'm seventeen.” I corrected him quickly.

             
“That's
right. Either way, you haven't done anything that requires repentance. Us older folks, though, have done plenty. But every last one of us has paid for what we did. And the Good Lord has graced us with a victory we couldn't possibly imagine.”
             
“You were ne
ver religious before. You said religion was for cowards. Do you remember that?”

             
“'Before' is the key word there, sweetheart. Everything is different here. Everything has changed. Now come on, I have a surprise for you.”

             
I didn't want to leave the cell I
had been placed in. Learning the ways of the Bachums was crucial to discovering how best to beat them but I couldn't stand the thought of pretending to be on their side. I was a product of living under Don's tutelage; all I wanted was to see them die. They
were a threat to our existence. They were the only things standing between us and a peaceful life on Pangea.

             
But I allowed my father to steer me out into a torch-lit corridor. He walked ahead of me up a set of stairs fashioned from logs. With one strong
thrust, he pushed open a trap door above our heads, unleashing a blinding stream of light that sent me stumbling back.

             
“Whoa...” He grasped my arms to keep me from tumbling backwards down the steps. “Sorry. I should have warned you about that.”

             
He had to
practically carry me out into the sunlight. I was unable to open my eyes until they had properly adjusted. When I finally saw what was around me, I was as stunned by the beauty of it as I always was when witnessing Pangea's natural wonders.

             
The village h
ad been built into the stone walls of the surrounding mountains. The houses were beautifully constructed from wood and leaves, stretching as far as I could see. We were at the very top of the mountain; I felt almost level with the sun. It was warmer than I
would have expected; the snow beneath our feet was beginning to dissolve before my eyes. The blue sky was even more brilliant from the top of the world than it was from the ground below. If I hadn't been in enemy territory, I might have cried at such a be
autiful sight.

             
“So, this is the famous Violet Olivier.”

             
I whipped around to see an elegantly dressed woman studying me with hazel eyes so menacing I believed that she might have been capable of killing me with one glance. The jack-o-lantern grin on her f
ace didn't help to dissolve the illusion. Her age bordered around fifty but her skin bore no trace of aging. Even without any makeup on, she was still gorgeous. I noted the cross displayed on her prominent chest. Little deliberation was necessary to determ
ine her identity.