Dark Destiny (12 page)

The tone of voice the Elder used. It was the same mechanical tone he had used to announce Jared’s death. He knew what was coming. Sebastian commanded, “Wait.”

Hope Ryan—

 “Just, give me a second to think
—
”

The Elder continued,
Age 17, Time of—

“Stop!” Sebastian shouted . . . and lost control.

The area was flooded with one final Purgatorium bright blue shockwave, so large it engulfed Jared completely. He brought his arms up to protect himself from the explosion. It passed through him and faded away, taking him with it. The world repaired itself as the living world transitioned back.

“JARED!” Sebastian screamed, watching his friend be consumed by the ripple, fading away with it.

Monday, 9:17 pm

The gang members piled in a single location, on top of what should have been Jared, kicking and pushing and shoving.

Then. . .

BOOM.

An explosion shot upward. The gang members flew through the air like a mushroom cloud of human bodies. Gang members crashed into everything, everywhere. Sickening thuds from bodies hitting buildings, fire escapes, windows and walls came from all directions. At ground zero, the Reaper rose, like a demon rising out of hell.

No pact created
, the Elder complimented.
By taking out the gang, they will not see your female friend; therefore, she will not die.

“What about Jared?” he asked, wondering if he had blown his first official job as Death. “Tell me he’s not lost in some sort of ghostly limbo.”

He is lost to Purgatorium.

“What does that
mean
? What about his chance at the Light?”

Softly, the Elder spoke,
By yanking him away from the Light in combination with losing control of your power, you have robbed him of that opportunity. He will now exist as a resident of Purgatorium.

The Reaper slammed his eyes shut while his lips pressed together into a thin line. “I’ll
fix
this.”

At least your friend, Hope, is safe.

The Elder was right. And with her being on her way here, he needed to act fast. Jared’s phone lay upside down on the dirty pavement. He dropped to one knee, picked it up with his gloved hand, and held the power button to turn it off. It vibrated once, a brief shudder, before going dead.

He stood and surveyed the area. Unconscious bodies lay everywhere. Some hung off the fire escapes while others dangled off the tops of the roofs, and some draped out of busted windows.

“Geez,” he said. There was no way he could let Hope see this alley. There would be too many questions he couldn’t answer. He was closer to Hope than almost anyone, but this was too much. Even for her.

And how he was dressed was another issue.

He stared down at his gloved hands, wondering how quickly he could strip them off, along with the rest of his robes. He felt a flutter in the air as they and his robes burst into a black mist before fading away, leaving him back in his jeans, shirt and jacket.

“Nice,” he whispered, closing his palms.

That was one problem solved, now to get out of here and fast. Only how had he done it earlier? There was no doubt about it—he had teleported when he grabbed Jared by the neck. But how to access it. It was time to experiment. He thought of the destination he wanted and then . . .
blinked
.

Monday, 9:19 pm

Hope stared through the windshield of her car, gritting her teeth. If she had not been so worried about her brother, she would’ve been fuming. Furious. Livid.
What was he thinking being out this late, especially in a neighborhood like this?

The only reason they knew about it was because, as kids, Sebastian’s mother used to bring them to the coffee shop for its pastries. But that was over a decade ago. Since then, the neighborhood had become dangerous, particularly at night.

When she found him, she was going to kill him. There was no doubt in her mind of that. If Jared thought he was the better twin at MMA, he had another thing coming.

She pursed her lips, then shook her head. “I’m going to kill him.”

A drop of rain hit her windshield. Then another.

“Great,” she muttered.

As soon as she parked her car and swung open the door, she heard some sort of explosion.

“What was that?”

A feeling of dread instantly struck her. Somehow she knew Jared was involved. Maybe it was a twin’s intuition. She leapt out of the car and slammed the door shut, her heart racing in her chest. She dashed toward an alley where she thought the source of the sound came from. Just as she was about to round the corner into the alley, she heard a familiar voice call her name from the opposite direction. She turned back toward her car and stopped in her tracks.

“Sebastian?” she said. “What are you doing here?”

Sebastian greeted her with a hearty smile and cruised over to her. “Heeeeeeey, Hope. I was . . . just having dinner with Mom. She has a case or something around here and told me to meet her.” He extended his arms to give her a hug.

She didn’t fall for it. She shook her head. “But how did you even get out here?”

There was a short silence.

“B
—
bus,” replied Sebastian. He gave her what he hoped was a convincing smile.

“Bus? It takes half an hour to get downtown on the bus. Didn’t you say you were asleep like, ten minutes ago?”

Scratching the back of his head, he giggled for a second and shook his head. “N
—
no. I never said I was at home when you called me,” he said. “I was here with Mom. Yeah. That’s it. She had to take a call and she was outside on the phone for a
while
. Maybe a case or something? I guess I got bored because it was so late and fell asleep in the booth, ya know?” He offered a shrug, trying to be casual.

Hope smiled, cocking her head ever so slightly. “You don’t think it’s quite a coincidence that in all of Baltimore you happen to be having dinner with your mom right where Jared’s location was pointing to?”

Awkward silence. He stared at her.

“Crap.” Sebastian exhaled loudly, looking anywhere but at her.

Hope blinked, flabbergasted. “Sebastian,
what
the
hell
?”

“Um. Well . . .”

“Explain,” she warned, pushing him hard in the chest. “I want the truth.”

“Okay,” he whispered, defeat in his voice. He took a deep breath, “But you’re not going to like it.”

“Like what?” she asked.

“I need to tell you something . . .”

Digging in his pocket, Sebastian pulled out Jared’s phone and held it out to her, motioning for her to take it. “I didn’t want to have to be the one to tell you this. But you should hear it from me.”

“Sebastian,” she began, her tone unsettled, “why do you have Jared’s phone?”

“He gave it to me as a down payment for some cash. Said something about clearing his head for a few days.”

The irritation drained from her face.

Sebastian continued. “I didn’t want to take it, but he was insistent.”

She closed her eyes and let her head fall forward onto her chest. She sighed. “Dammit, Jared.”

“You know how Jared can be.”

Her face flushed. “Yeah, I do.”

Taking the phone from his hand, tears welling in her eyes, she asked, “How much do I owe you?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Cash,” she said, fumbling in her jacket pocket with shaky hands. “How much do I owe you?”

“What? No. Hope.” He grabbed her, hugging her tight. He whispered, “He’s my best friend, okay? I got this.”

She nodded.

“It’s late. Go home. He said to give him a day or two.”

She slid her arms beneath his jacket and he felt her hands on the contours of his back. They hugged for a few seconds before she finally pulled away.

“Remember,” Hope said, rubbing the heel of her palm across her cheek. “Call me if you hear anything.”

He nodded. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Gently, she placed her hand on his chest, directly over his heart, and whispered, “You’re going to be fine, okay?”

He nodded again, not knowing what else to do.

Moving her hand up to his face, she gazed into his eyes and gave him a sad smile. Then she turned and climbed into her car. He waved while he watched her drive away until her car disappeared from view.

His shoulders slumped and his face fell as he thought about what had just happened. With that whole exchange, he felt terrible. He never lied, and now this? Talk about one of the worst nights of his life.

Now that Hope was safe, Sebastian had to check on Jared. He’d lost control of his power and Jared had suffered for it. Though he didn’t exactly know the complete rules of how deaths
should
occur, he was positive that what had happened to Jared was not usual. He needed to do something.

He
blinked
back to the alley. He snapped his fingers, commanding the Purgatorium ripples to come. They immediately responded to his call, flowing in from every direction, putting him back into the world of the dead.

Monday, 9:23 pm (Purgatorium)

“Jared!” he called out. Somehow he had to fix this.

No response.

“JARED,” he shouted louder.

He
blinked
himself back out of the alley into the center of the street.
Blinking
was something he was going to have to get used to. So far, every time he teleported he became completely disoriented. How, exactly, did Nightcrawler do this? One thing was for sure: Focusing on one thing,
blinking
, and then appearing in a different location was a sure fire way to get a massive headache. The human brain was clearly not designed for
blinking
. He would probably get used to it over time, but for now, it was a colossal goblet of suck. He took a moment and cleared his head.

This street was even more dilapidated and depressing than the alleyway. Besides the typical burnt-out buildings, broken windows, and cracked pavement, shadows moved about unnaturally. Jared must have taken off to get somewhere safe. He had to be hiding out somewhere. And judging by some of the screams and howls echoing through the air, Jared would
need
to stay hidden.

Tuesday, 6:15 am

The morning alarm went off. Sebastian rolled over, clicked the off button and laid his head back down on the pillow. He stared at the ceiling, thinking. He wanted to go back to sleep but his mind wouldn’t let him. He hadn’t gotten back to his bed in the world of the living until two in the morning. He’d wandered the dark, strange streets of Purgatorium for hours, calling out for his friend, but no luck. It was the Elder who’d finally told him he had to give up, that his power level was too low, that if a danger confronted him, as it surely would, he’d be powerless to fight back. Reluctantly, he returned to his bed. Somehow though, he’d find Jared. He had to.

His phone vibrated on his nightstand, bringing with it that annoying buzz he’d come to hate. He picked it up, swiped his finger and was going to say “hello” when Hope’s voice cut him off.

“Did you hear from him?” she asked, the concern in her voice evident.

“No,” answered Sebastian, a tightness in his chest.

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, not your fault. Are you going to Sara’s funeral?”

“Sara’s funeral?”

“It’s today.”

Sebastian nearly jumped out of bed. “To
day
?”

“Oh. You didn’t know . . . I thought your mom would have told you. I forgot to mention it last night because I was so concerned about Jared but sometime after you left school, they announced it over the loud speaker. If anyone wanted details about her funeral, they could be picked up at the front desk.”

“Oh.”

“You need to go.”

“No. I
don’t
,” he replied, voice hardened.

“You’re hurting right now, anyone can see that. Going will offer you that sense of closure you need. It’ll be good for you.”

He knew she was right, of course. But it was just so hard.

She continued. “Do it for Sara. Do it for yourself. Who knows, maybe Jared will show up.”

The mention of his name again rang deep inside of Sebastian. He shuddered at the idea of where Jared was. Soon he was going to have to tell her something.

“Okay,” he told her.

“Good. Starts at eleven. I’ll meet you there.”

Tuesday, 10:04 am

Beeep . . . beep . . .

Sebastian eyes peeled open and he reached out to whack his alarm clock.  As soon as he’d gotten off the phone with Hope, he’d rolled over and fallen back asleep. He dreamt of Jared. In his dream, his friend was standing in a decrepit alley, all alone. The Jared in his dream would try to walk somewhere, try to find a way out of the alley way, but something invisible was stopping him, some kind of glass wall, surrounding him completely. Every way he turned, the invisible force was there. Sebastian was trying to call out to him, to help him, but he was paralyzed, his voice silent.