Dark Destiny (37 page)

“No,” Sebastian said, shaking his head vigorously. “Listen.” He sat down beside her on the swing and turned his body to face her. “Jared already fulfilled his pact. And now he’s in Purgatorium. He’s not in the Light. There
should
be no consequences for this. Nobody will come for him and nobody has to die.”

She blew out a breath of air. “You said ‘should.’ That means you don’t know for sure.”

He took her hands and stood, pulling her up with him. “I know this is true. I can feel it. It’s like I’m starting to comprehend how things work.”

“What if you’re wrong?” she asked, unable to hide the fear in her voice. “What if you’re wrong and somebody dies the way Grayson did? Or what if Jared becomes another Revenant and the Seals and the Angels and whoever else start coming after him?”

“He won’t. I can feel it.”

She closed her eyes for a moment before sighing deeply. “I hope you’re right.”

He exhaled deeply. “Me too.”

Dejected, Sebastian and Sara watched Hope drive away before dragging themselves off the porch swing and to the door where Mr. Thompson waited. The expression on his face implied he’d overheard their conversation and itched to say something. “Sebastian, I don’t think this is the correct course of action.”

Sebastian huffed a sigh and walked into the living room.

Mr. Thompson followed. “I have some experience with this type of thing and things of this nature usually turn out poorly.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes and turned back to his teacher. “I have to ask,” he said, feeling combative. “What was the deal with you and my mom?”

Mr. Thompson blinked, but quickly recovered when he noticed Sara taking a seat on the couch.

“At some point, I knew this subject would come up. Now is as good a time as any to explain,” he said with a sigh. He stepped past the living room and pulled out a chair from the kitchen table with a loud scrape on the tile flooring. He sat down, his face showing signs of regret.

 “It seems like you two have a bit of talking to do. I’ll be in the restroom for a bit.”

Sebastian followed Mr. Thompson’s path to the kitchen and pulled out a chair from the opposite side of the table. Placing both elbows on the table, he interlocked his fingers and waited for Cole to speak.

“Sebastian, I’m going to tell you the honest truth. I know it’s going to be hard, but please do not judge me. Just keep an open mind.”

Sebastian didn’t reply. He raised an eyebrow, then gestured for Cole to continue.

Cole took a deep breath. “Seventeen years ago, Ariel came to me in a dream. She told me you were going to be born in Baltimore, and that your name was to be Sebastian. As soon as my wife awoke, I told her about the dream and convinced her we needed to move to Baltimore. I convinced her that I had to be there for you, to prepare you for your role, to teach you about the Seals, about how dangerous they are, about how they can manipulate . . . And what the consequences might be if they succeed. Imogen agreed. One week later, we moved, bought a house and were settled.” Mr. Thompson sighed deeply. “Who could believe how miserably I would fail in my task?” He closed his eyes and swept his hands over his face. “To think the very first thing you did when you took on your role as Death was to create a Revenant, to give the Seals exactly what they needed.” He glanced toward the powder room door where Sara went. “And it’s all my fault. I’ve failed you. I’ve failed us both.”

Sebastian’s frustration grew. “But what does all of this have to do with my mother?”

“Don’t you see? I needed to be close to you, to get to know you, to prepare you! But how was I to do it? When I got here, all I had to go on was your name. I didn’t have an exact birth date and I found three other Sebastians born that week in Baltimore. The first one I tracked down just happened to be you, but—and this is where things get messy
—
”

“How so?” Sebastian asked calmly, although speaking to this man, he felt his blood pressure rising.

“I learned who you were. One quiet afternoon—it was a hot, summer day—your mother had taken you to a park. I had only gotten there moments before she was about to leave. But it only took one look, and I saw it was you.” Cole smiled. “It was the eyes that gave it away. Same dark brown eyes that had haunted me all those years ago. So, I went to your mother and introduced myself. I wanted to be her friend. I was charming. Of course, I was charming. I was trying to be a part of your life. I knew that your father had died recently. I didn’t know how lonely she was. I didn’t mean to be flirtatious. I suggested coffee. She accepted. It was just supposed to be a friendship. I needed to keep an eye on you.”

“So you started
dating
her?” Sebastian asked, exasperated, filling in the blanks.

“No! I didn’t consider it dating. I realize, now, I should have. Of course, your mother did. She was vulnerable. She missed your father. She had this new baby. I was there for her. I helped her. I spent time with her. I thought she just liked me as a friend. I had no choice, I needed to teach you, to prepare you for what the Seals might do.”

Mr. Thompson took a breath to calm himself. “Sebastian, you have no idea what they are capable of, how they can control your mind, make you do things. The
Gifts
they possess. If completed, if they become seven, they
will
crack this world.”

Sebastian let out an irritated huff, “Just continue.”

“Well, one night—we were just hanging out together, mind you—she . . . well, she kissed me. I—I didn’t know what to do!”

“You kissed her back,” Sebastian whispered, eyes narrowing.

“I couldn’t very well push her away! I didn’t mean to lead her on. It just got so out of hand. I should have introduced Imogen right away, but it just seemed too late, like I’d been lying to her. I didn’t mean to deceive her.”

“But you did deceive her,” said Sebastian quietly, his tone deadly.

He pressed his lips together and nodded.

A tense silence hung in the air. Finally, Sebastian asked, “So what happened?”

“I told her I couldn’t be in a relationship with her. That I just wanted to be friends, but she wouldn’t have it. She shut me out. I can’t blame her. Looking back on it now, I know I led her on. I know I did.”

Silence fell, leaving both of them staring at the floor.

Then Mr. Thompson continued. “I tried to apologize but you know your mother. I was afraid she’d pull her gun on me if I kept calling. I had failed. Miserably. You must understand my first interaction with the Seals long ago was not a pleasant experience. One of them broke me with merely a thought. I was scared that if one of them could do that to me, imagine what all seven of them could do. Maybe I was blinded to the long-term consequences of our plan.

“I hadn’t taken into account how lonely your mother was or how attached she would become.” He leaned back in his chair. “So I tried a different tack. I became a teacher. Tried to get to you that way. I didn’t count on how much Caroline’s anger would have filtered down to you. I’m sorry.”

Sebastian stood and walked through the living room to the window. He gazed at the neighborhood, his eyes hard, and took a deep breath. What kind of person would take advantage of a vulnerable woman? But had he really taken advantage of her? And could anyone really consider his mother, with her holster under her jacket, vulnerable, even if she had just lost a husband and was raising a baby on her own? Sebastian tried to look at this objectively, as an outside observer, but the image of his mother, broken-hearted, was too strong.

At first, Mr. Thompson didn’t say a word. He merely sat in silence, thumping the mug in front of him. Then he stood. “I can help you. I can teach you how to hone your power. That’s why I came here in the first place.”

Sebastian turned to him, his arms crossed over his chest. “Help me?”

“Yes, help you. You’re still learning about your powers, about what you can do. Did you know you can shift your abilities around, reduce your powers in some areas to make others more powerful?”

Mr. Thompson came a step closer. “Think of it this way: your main core is at 100%. But each aspect of your power has a certain piece of that. Example, your robes have 20%, your vision 20% and your scythe 20% and so forth. If you wanted to, you could allocate the power of your robes and your vision to your Scythe, giving it 60% and making it three times as strong. If you did that, you could hit something with the force of a freight train. Of course, you would be more vulnerable in other areas, your robes, for example—your armor. There is so much more. Let me help you.”

Sara left the bathroom and came to a grinding halt. Her eyes darted back and forth between Sebastian at the window and Mr. Thompson at the table. Feeling the tension in the air, she walked over to Sebastian and placed her hand on his shoulder. In return, he placed his on top of hers, their fingers intertwined. She hugged him from behind.

“If you want to help me, protect her until I get back. Then we’ll talk.” He leaned back and whispered over his shoulder. “I need to find Jared.”

As much as he loved Sara, he couldn’t be here. He was too angry, afraid of what he might say or even do to Mr. Thompson. He needed to clear his head and have some time to himself, time to put this new information into perspective. And as much as he hated to admit it, he needed Mr. Thompson’s help with the Sara situation. Finding Jared and accomplishing what he had promised Hope would be the perfect way for him to cool off.

“I understand,” Sara replied.

He turned to face her. “You should be fine here with Mr. Thompson.”

She nodded. “Be careful.”

With one final hard glare at Mr. Thompson, Sebastian shook his head, took a step back and
blinked
. Flakes of ash materialized into a swirl from his
blink,
then gradually faded away.

Mr. Thompson stood and exhaled deeply, preparing himself for what he was about to do. He walked over to Sara, hoping the expression on his face wasn’t giving away his intentions.

“Sara, I just want you to know, I’m sorry.”

He hadn’t planned on doing what he was about to do, but the stakes were too high. He needed to think about his daughter.

Sara took a step back and cautiously asked, “For what?”

Their eyes locked and Mr. Thompson whispered, “Sleep.”

Sara’s eyelids became heavy, her knees crumbling beneath her. She did her best to fight the compulsion, but after a few moments of clenched fists and belligerent blinking, she fell forward into his outstretched arms. Most people would have succumbed to his influence much more quickly. Thompson couldn’t help being a little impressed by the girl’s resilience. He set her down on a nearby couch and draped an afghan over her. “I’m sorry about this. I truly am.”

With Sara safely incapacitated, he stepped into the bathroom, just across the hall, and flicked on the light. In the dim glow of the bulb overhead, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror. Who was this man? This merciless ogre who would trade the soul of an innocent to shield himself from the consequences of his own selfish actions? Whoever this monster was glaring back from the cloudy glass, Cole was repulsed by the sight of him.

Shaking his head, he cranked on the faucet. A steady stream of cold water poured into the sink. He slouched over the tap, his vision drifting between the flow of liquid and the stranger in the mirror. The gravity of what he was about to undertake weighed down on his muddled psyche. It was wrong, of that he was certain. No, he couldn’t—wouldn’t do it. There had to be a better way. He was about to turn the water off when an image of his daughter’s face flashed in his mind’s eye.

The bathroom counter cracked under the force of Cole’s right hand slamming down. “Damn it!”

Between a string of muffled sobs and pained grunts, he muttered under his breath, “Ariel, I’d like to make a deal.”

A soft reply chimed from within the cascading water and echoed around the room. “Interesting. What sort of deal?”

Thompson’s voice shook as he spat out his reply. “I’d like the slate wiped clean for my past indiscretions. I want amnesty for me
and
my family.”

Ariel’s normally sweet voice was tinged with sarcasm. “I see. And what do you have to offer that would warrant such forgiveness?”

He waved his hand at Sara, still dozing on the couch just beyond the bathroom door. “I have the Revenant everyone has been searching for.”

The water flowing from the faucet glowed, burning white. A thick fog formed at the center of the mirror and swirled, gradually expanding outwards, obscuring his reflection. Cole took a step backwards and assumed a defensive posture. In seconds, the shimmering mass before him had coalesced into a new image: the face of Gabriel. Behind Gabriel, within the mirror, Raphael materialized. Cole felt his heart rising in the back of his throat. In a panic, he blurted, “I—I said I want to make a deal!”

Hot breath singed the back of his neck as a collected voice murmured in his ear, “There will be no deals.”

Cole spun around to fend off the new arrival, scythe igniting in his hands. The sweeping stroke of his weapon tore through the walls, rending sheetrock and splintering studs. A cloud of white dust exploded out into the hallway, blanketing Cole from head to toe. Despite the mass of particles floating in the air, Michael’s flowing overcoat still appeared freshly pressed.