Dark Destiny (43 page)

Sara watched the birds, wondering what had spooked them, as they disappeared in the distance. Shifting her gaze to the lake, she saw her reflection. Only it wasn’t
her
reflection. The girl in the water wore a thin white sundress covered in colorful sunflowers. She was in the same position as Sara, sitting in the canoe staring back at her.

Sara’s brow pinched. “What the . . .”

The girl in the water reflected her facial expression.

“I know her . . .” Sara said, her voice trailing off.

The boy answered, “Yes.”

An image flashed in her mind of when she first woke up in Sebastian’s bed. Heavy confusion. Eyes slowly opening. Blurry image of a glass of water. Cold water. Fear caught in her throat. Bitter taste. Trying to breathe. Sara gasped as she snapped back to the boat.

“She’s
—
” The words would not come.

“You need to open your mind,” he assured her softly. “Focus on her if you want to remember.”

Sara bit her lip. She continued to stare at the reflection. Her reflection?

“Focus,” she heard him say.

Before she was aware of it, her eyes went dull, and images began to crowd her mind. Then, the boy who sat across from her, his warm eyes focused, spoke. His voice was soft, intense, and she felt the words penetrate deep inside her.

“I am going to marry you someday, my brave, beautiful . . .”

Another flash. She saw the girl in the reflection hurl herself forward toward the boy. This boy. She tried to stay low in the canoe, but the boat rocked violently. Too violently.

Sara gasped. Her eyes opened wide and she fixed her gaze on him. The vision ended. “What was that?”

“A memory.”

“Whose? Was that your memory?”

Another flash. Without warning, Sara found herself submerged beneath the lake’s surface. Pain spiked in her arms and legs from the chilled water. Barely able to see, she made out the figure of this boy in the water with her. He clawed at the water until he reached her, pulling her close.

Their eyes locked as he brought his lips to hers. Air filled her mouth and her eyes once again went wide. His last breath. He’d given it to her. Their bodies drifted apart as the stabbing pain in her chest nearly overwhelmed her. Sunlight rippled on the water above her, shining on his face. He was so beautiful. His body sank out of reach. His hair floated around his features, and his hand drifted up as if waving goodbye.

No
, she said to herself.
Not again.

Her hand shot down into the weakening light and grabbed his. If she was going to die, at least she was going to die with the love of her life. Her soul mate. She pulled herself to him, away from the light. They sank as a single being to the bottom of the lake.

From above, a bright light shone on them. They could breathe. The deep cold that enclosed her body became warmth. But there was more to this warmth; she felt loved. The love surrounded their bodies as they looked into a tunnel of light piercing the lake. They still floated, but now, somehow, they were no longer in the water. Instead, they were in a sea of light, gliding up as hands made of light took theirs and lifted them, raising them up . . .

She snapped out of her vision, finding herself back in the canoe. “I—I know who I am.”

“Who?”

The name wouldn’t come.

“Say it,” he begged, his eyes misting. “Who are you? What is your name?”

Her eyes rose to his.

“Makayla,” she whispered.

“My angel,” he breathed, a smile spreading over his face.

“Ethan.”

He rose to his knees and crawled to the center of the canoe. She did the same, and their bodies came together. His arms tightened across her back as their lips locked, igniting a burning love felt within her soul. The kiss sent shivers down her body, and she trembled to be held by someone she cared for so deeply. It was as if they were one being, two halves of the same beating heart.

Everything that had happened with Sebastian was long forgotten. Seals, Shades, Angels. Everything else was lost except this one moment. It was theirs to keep and cherish.

Her heart once again filled with warmth and love. It spread throughout her body. It pounded hard, like a shotgun blast, wild in her chest, almost ringing in her ears. Tears stung her eyes and she let them flow. She didn’t care. She was reunited with her love. Her soul mate. She felt his tears on her face, mingling with hers.

“Wait,” she whispered, breaking away from the kiss. She touched his face, allowing her fingers to explore the fine contours of his cheek. “This doesn’t make any sense. How am I here?”

He cupped her face in his hands and rested his forehead against hers. He breathed hard and closed his eyes, “Because, when the Horseman ripped down the Soul, it wasn’t the one he intended it to be.” He paused and whispered, “It was you, Makayla.”

Tilting her head ever so slightly, their eyes locked. “But, I
look
like Sara. And I have some of her memories. They
—
”

“Those are not yours. Those memories are
his
. That’s why you don’t have any other memories outside of what he remembers. You didn’t recognize Sara’s house when you went there because he had never been inside. You don’t remember anything of her childhood because he wasn’t there. And your fear of water? It’s because of . . .” He gestured at the lake.

“But then why do I look like her?”

He gazed deep into her eyes. “Because the physical form your soul took on came from him, from his memories. He wanted it to be Sara so bad that he was unaware of what he was doing. Physical bodies can look like anything really. It’s the Soul that matters.”

“But why? I don’t understand. How could this happen? Why me?”

“Makayla, there is more to this than you think. The reason the Seals chose you is because your essence was so close to Sara’s. The Seals poured a vial of her blood in the lake, right at the moment when we—well, when we went into the Light—that blood matched your essence perfectly and entered into your being. That’s why the Horseman thought she was you. That’s why he channeled
your
essence and brought
you
down and not her. It’s why the Seals brought us together in the first place. They couldn’t take any chances with you not being in the Light. They couldn’t have you die with any unresolved issues, without perfect happiness. They wanted to make sure your life was perfect before you died. To make sure you were in the Light.”

“Oh, Ethan,” she murmured, her body shuddering. “I got you killed.”

Their eyes locked once again and he spoke softly. His eyes glistened with tears. “Makayla, I would die a thousand times over to share the little time I spent with you. I would spend eternity in any prison just to have met you, to hold you, to adore you. You are the person I was destined to be with. My heart. My love. My soul.”

Thunder echoed across the sky. The clouds rolled and it became night. Choppy waves began to form on the water. Icy rain began to pour, pelting them both.

Ethan glanced at the sky and then quickly back at her. “We don’t have much time. Listen carefully. You need to get away from the Shades. I’ve put something a little extra in the snow globe to help. Just release its power. That will give you the break you need.”

“Okay,” she nodded.

While the knowledge of power in the snow globe was nice, one last question echoed in the back of her mind.

“What about Sara?” Makayla had to raise her voice to shout over the howling wind. “Where is she?”

Reality wavered and distorted. The boat stretched, pulling Ethan what seemed like half a mile away. He was barely visible through the sheet of rain.

“She’s still alive!” Ethan yelled back, his voice hard to hear in the loud wind. “That’s why you were ripped down and not her! She wasn’t even up there!”

The wind howled louder. She was completely soaked. She pushed away the wet hair plastered to her face and yelled, “But that doesn’t make any sense!”

The boat rocked harder. Putting both of his hands to his mouth like a miniature bullhorn, Ethan attempted to respond, “S . . . ra . . . is a . . . s . . . l . . . tch!”

“Sara is a what? I can’t hear you!”

“Sara is a
—
”

Booming thunder interrupted him as lightning flared across the sky. A white flash blinded her and she squeezed her eyes shut.

Silence fell.

Jared stood on top of the Schaefer Tower with the Revenant. Ghostly blue flames licked the side of the building, yet the fire gave off no heat. Cold wind battered his skin, though he felt nothing. He stared at her hard eyes. The light of the blue flames caressed her face, yet her eyes remained dull.

He inhaled deeply, waiting. Never in a million years had he imagined being the bad guy. This girl, whoever she was, was innocent. And God, she just looked so much like Sara.
Sara
, he repeated in his mind. She’d fooled them all. And now Jared was here, about to do something unthinkable. But what choice did he have? The Seals had promised life, the only thing that would spare his sister the pain of his death. He was doing this for Hope. There were consequences to come, of that he was certain. Right now, he needed to be selfish.

Only a few seconds had passed since the Revenant’s consciousness entered the snow globe. It shouldn’t take long to retrieve her true memories. The truth.

Just then, the Revenant opened Sara’s beautiful dark eyes.

“Well, that was quick,” he said in surprise. “You were only gone for about ten seconds.”

No answer came, only her soft face with questioning eyes.

He gave her a bitter laugh.

Whatever this Soul’s real name was, he didn’t care. That wasn’t his concern. But was that really true? She continued to stare at him, the questions on her face mounting. Did he care? Why was he doing this? Why? Maybe she did have some effect on him.

Jared averted his eyes, staring down toward the concrete.

No, push that away. You need to do this. For your sister. For yourself.

He lifted his gaze back up to her, jaw clenched. “I know things look really bad for you right now. Being you sucks, I get it.” He paused and let his words came out icily. “If you don’t come with us, things are going to get much worse for you.”

Behind him, he felt Kei and Obsidian blast out of the growing mushroom cloud of smoke and dust from the collapsed Transamerica Tower. Jared had wondered if bringing the whole building down was overkill, but whatever, it was cool, he guessed. He would probably have done the same, given the opportunity.

Kei was the first to join them on the rooftop, bringing with him a flurry of wind. Gracefully landing on the rooftop, Kei said, “The Angel is still alive. He will be here shortly.”

“What about the big one?” Jared asked.

“Not sure,” Kei answered. “Cleo had him cornered.”

Obsidian caught up to them and landed hard, buckling his knee onto the rooftop and almost shattering the concrete. He stood slowly and glanced around in irritation.

“We need to hurry,” he said, his heavy voice rumbling. “Pick her up and let’s go.”

The Revenant’s eyes darted toward the snow globe and then back toward the Shades. A slight smile crossed her lips. Hopefully Ethan gave her what she needed.

Jared took a step toward her. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he warned, “but I will if I need to. Let’s. Go.”

“Release!” Sara yelled, holding the snow globe up in the air.

It flashed a blinding light before separating into three distinct blasts of white energy. The blast struck each of them separately. All three screamed in agony. Intense pain flared in Jared’s body. He dropped down to his knees, holding his stomach in pain, twitching.

I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I need to?
Jared thought.

Though his body still writhed in pain, he couldn’t help thinking,
Okay, I deserved that
. He sighed and smiled.
She’s got spirit.
To his right, Obsidian snarled something he couldn’t make out over the ringing in his ears.

He managed to raise his head enough to see the Revenant hop up to the edge of the rooftop. She turned to face him, then peered down over the side of the tower. Back at him once more. He saw her take a deep breath and then one step backwards, roughly an inch from the edge.

“W—what are y—you doing?” he asked, the words coming out shaky. “Ar
—
are you nuts? That drop w—will kill you.”

The Revenant pursed her lips.

What is she thinking?
Jared wondered.

“I know what happens if your master gets my soul,” the Revenant said.

Every word came out pained. “But if you jump, that will kill you. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but when you or any Soul is brought over into this world, their soul is made whole. That means, inside of your chest, there is a physical soul. If you jump, when you land and go splat your soul will be crushed within your body. Think about what you’re doing.”

She paused and gave him an unrelenting stare.

“That will be what we call a final death. Some say it’s like living in oblivion. Just the endless black of nothingness. Of course, nobody knows for sure. Is that something you want?” Jared asked softly.

She twisted her body to glance back over the edge of the building. She stared at it for a few seconds, her expression giving nothing away. Her hair blew from a light wind. Facing him, her expression determined, she said, “And the alternative is going back with you and having my soul ripped out? No thanks.”

She took a step back and fell.

“No! Dammit!”

There went his chance at life.

No
, he thought. He wouldn’t be robbed of this opportunity. Gathering what little energy he could, he pushed off his weak legs and stumbled forward, breathing hard with each painful step.

As he reached the edge of the rooftop, in his mind, he had an illusion of himself looking badass and gracefully sliding over the edge as he dove off. In truth, his waist hit the edged and he flopped over, head first, legs up.

He knew he needed to try and get to her before she went splat (and her little soul too).