Forgotten (40 page)

His head twitched. “Do you think I’d
still be alive if she did?”

C
HAPTER
F
IFTEEN

I woke to Elsie’s screams. A woman
slammed her hand over my mouth before I could call out for help.
She drug me off my bed. Jace’s phone slipped through my fingers. My
pulse leaped.

“
You can use your pretty,
wordless talent to warn the others, and we’ll leave but with a
promise to hunt down every person you’ve ever loved and kill them
if you do,” the woman threatened.

She pushed me into the hallway. Her
dark shadow was more lit, but wasn’t as bright as the other
deities. Gripping the railing, I swung my weight to the side and
shoved my knee into her side. She cursed. She grabbed my arm and
twisted my elbow until it snapped. I dropped to my knees. Shooting
pangs radiated down my arm. I screamed. I grabbed my arm and kicked
myself away from her. She was not having any of it; she grabbed my
hair and dragged me down the few remaining stairs. The bones in my
arm grounded into each other, but I couldn’t do anything but
squirm. Tears streamed down my cheeks. My vision blurred. My
stomach flipped.

She kicked my back until I stopped
squirming. My entire body straightened, the moment her heel met my
spine. When she got bored creating a collage of black and blue
marks on my back, she yanked my hair and forced me upright onto my
knees. I sobbed. My stomach turned. I thought I might vomit. She
jerked my head toward the kitchen. John and Martha were either dead
or knocked out cold on the floor.

Elsie was kicking and screaming. Her
feet were pressed against the stairwell, refusing to be brought
downstairs. She managed to bite her captor. A man swore and let go.
Elsie bolted down the stairs. He hobbled down after her. His limp
reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t recall who – my
consciousness had already started to fade. The man tackled her,
knocking a flower vase in the process. The vase smashed onto the
living room floor, thus shattering the container.

“
I caught this spirited
little thing trying to leap from the Chronicler’s window,” he said.
His voice sounded familiar, like I’d heard it from somewhere, but
the pounding in my head refused to let me concentrate enough to
figure it out.

“
You’ve evaded the Butcher
for years, Chronicler,” a different man in the living room said.
Either he was the one in charge or acting as the spokesman. “But
now you’ll bow to him.”

“
The hell I
will!”

The woman slammed my head forward into
the floor. My nose snapped, causing me to tear-up instantly. I
cried out but was quickly silenced by the blood pooling my mouth. I
inhaled some and fell into a coughing fit.

“
We’ve learned something
about you, Chronicler,” the spokesman said. “You’re no more
powerful than humans, without your sisters. So, you are worthless
to the Butcher until then.”

“
Then let me go! I’m no use
to you if I’m dead!” I screamed. The woman backhanded me and
demanded that I stopped crying. My cries turned to
whimpers.

“
You’re no use dead, that’s
correct. But it’s not
your
life I’m concerned about,” the man holding Elsie
said. I knew I heard his voice before. “Do you think Hunters enjoy
murdering deities to extend their life? Do you think we don’t
remember what it was like have their longevity? Do you think we
don’t recall what it’s like to be immortal?”

The woman laughed. “Well perhaps
there’s a little enjoyment killing those arrogant gods.”

“
What do you want with me?”
I asked.

“
Convince the Healer to
return your Elysian to you. The Butcher will give you further
directions then,” the spokesman said.

“
I’d rather die,” I
whispered.

“
Thought so, which is why
we aren’t offering to spare your life,” the man holding Elsie said.
“This girl will be the bargaining chip.”

Elsie’s muffled screams brought tears
to my eyes. They couldn’t take her! She was just a kid. I told them
to take me. They laughed. I was of no use to them until I was
healed. The woman pulled my hair back, forcing me up, and then
threw me in front of the man holding Elsie. I caught myself with my
good arm. Glass grounded into my hands. Tears flooded from my
eyes.

“
Do what we ask, or she
dies. Let Jace heal you. The Butcher will be in contact with you
after that.”

Screams of the little girl who just
walked into my life became faint until the sound of my front door
quieted them. They took Elsie because of me. They took a little
girl because they wanted me, and I was utterly useless until I
found my sisters. The woman stepped over John and Martha and walked
out the front door. Unable to do anything but bleed out onto the
living room floor, I screamed soundlessly in my mind, hoping
someone would hear my pleas.

My screams turned to sobs by the time
Jace and Marco appeared in my living room. I was crying on the
floor, picking glass out of my hands. Jace cupped my face. His rage
poured into me; it gave me the strength to gather my thoughts and
speak.

“
Who did this?” he
demanded.

“
Two men and a woman,” I
said, hating what I was about to do. It wasn’t all a lie, and not
what I wanted, but I knew the Butcher would kill Elsie if I didn’t
cooperate. “I couldn’t see them, Jace. I can’t tell you what they
looked like because I can’t see! I couldn’t tell if they were
Hunters or just psychopaths getting back with John.”

“
Why would anyone seek
revenge against him?” Marco asked.

“
Lawyer,” Jace and I said
simultaneously.

“
That’d be a little bit too
coincidental,” Marco grunted. He disappeared. A few seconds later
he reappeared. “The Thompsons are out cold but unharmed. The dog is
alive but needs those hands of yours to pull through, Jace. The
young girl is gone; they took her.”

“
They hurt you, but they
spared your life.” Jace said carefully touching my arm. “The
Butcher was sending a message, Gwyneth. He wants you to fear him.
But remember, you’re safe until we find your sisters. He doesn’t
want you to die.”

“
Well, not yet anyway,”
Marco said.

“
Jace, they’re going to
hurt me as much as they can without killing me. They’ll hunt others
of your kind down until they get what they want.” Thinking of my
memory where the old man grows young, I replied, “He kills to defy
death. I’ll grant him immortality if he lets Elsie go. It will be
simple.”

“
It doesn’t work that way,”
Jace said. “Anyone who steals you must be willing to kill you for
their heart’s desire. If they aren’t willing to end your life, you
don’t have to grant their wish.”

“
They’ve killed for
centuries, Jace. I sincerely doubt he will hesitate to end my life
to ensure he gets what he wants.
Please,
heal me. I give you
permission to heal me. Give me back my Elysian.”

He sighed like I’d given him
everything he’d ever wanted and taken everything away at the same
time. Jace whispered my name as he brushed the hair away from my
face. “Close your eyes, dearest. This will not be
pleasant.”

He spoke out soundless language. The
longer he spoke, the louder the distant ringing in my ears became.
I struggled to breathe when the shape of Jace’s mouth formed.
Fighting the urge to cover my ears, I tried calming my nerves. The
white and black in my sight began to twirl furiously. As my world
spun into a gray blur, I focused on Jace.

He stroked my cheek. He kissed me like
it would be our last. His passion trickled onto my lips as he stole
my breath. He broke the kiss only to place the gentlest kisses on
both my eyes. As soon as his lips made contact, my eyes burned. As
Jace spoke in his wordless language, I screamed out.

An explosion of sound blasted me as he
spoke. As he spoke, a melody became apparent but was sung louder
than anything I’d ever heard. It felt like I’d been deaf and was
suddenly given back my hearing only to be screamed at. My ear bled.
He refused to stop even though I begged him. I heard myself scream
so loudly that I hurt my own ears. My agony grew.

His body ignited into flames, but Jace
never let go. His heart was broken, but he warmed a cold, dead part
of my scared soul. I reached out, trying to find another soul to
connect to. The power I’d refused to believe in grew. I didn’t know
how to control it, but it didn’t stop me from embracing thousands
of human lives.

I saw the destinies lying out before
them, ever changing but real just the same. I didn’t see them as
shadows; their bodies were no longer important. Instead, I saw
their threads of life, intertwining with each other. They grew from
the dozens to the hundreds. The more I strained to reach each
thread of life, the more quickly they pulled away from me like they
were afraid.

My eyes burned as if they’d been
destroyed by the sun. My world was still painted in black and
white. My body was soaked in sweat. Utter exhaustion imprisoned my
body. I looked at my savior. He looked to me like I belonged to
him. He was weak but managed to feel imposing. He spoke to me in my
mind. Although I didn’t understand what he was speaking, I found
myself getting tired the louder his voice became. Soon his deep,
soothing voice grew darker. The longer he spoke, his vehemence
became more apparent.

“
Anger feeds my power,” he
whispered, apologetically.

He stroked my smallest finger with his
thumb as he screamed into the night. Shades of white, black, and
gray mixed with different shades of color I’d never seen, flooded
my mind. Just as quickly as the thousands of colors invaded my
mind, they vanished. My world built upon shades of gray vanished. I
was truly blind. I couldn’t hear, couldn’t feel, and couldn’t taste
the blood on my lips.

***

I came-to in a hospital bed; noises
from the alarms, doctors, nurses, and patients bombarded my senses.
Feeling about as good as being beaten by a sledge hammer, I
couldn’t fathom trying to move my mouth much less speak or open my
eyes.

“
I know you can hear me,
Gwyneth. Perhaps you don’t care about your body right now, but you
survived the transformation,” he whispered in my mind, while
squeezing my hand. “It’s going to take me a few days before I’m at
full strength, so I couldn’t speed along your injuries. Just
another day, dearest, and you’ll see. Your foster parents are safe;
they don’t recall anything. Marco fed them a story that Elsie had
run away while they were sleeping. He told them that you tried to
stop her, but it ended in a fight, which is why you are at the
hospital. Now close your ocean eyes and dream.”

Sleep washed over me quickly. What
felt like seconds later, I was awakened by someone walking into my
hospital room. I couldn’t see. Bandages covered my eyes. However, I
knew the person was injured because I heard the uneven step of a
limp. An intravenous line was hooked up to my arm. It tugged on my
skin, and the person said that I needed medications. A glorious
haze washed over me a few moments later. It wasn’t long before I
wondered why my tongue felt so large in my mouth. I
giggled.

“
You need meds because we
can’t have you alerting Jace, now can we? He can sense when your
anxiety spikes - so these muscle relaxers should do the trick in
keeping you calm.”

His voice sounded so familiar, but my
mind was groggy. I couldn’t think straight.

“
Jace is tired,” I agreed.
“He doesn’t need to worry about me right now. He’s a
mess.”

“
Do you know your name?” he
asked.

I laughed; of course I knew my name. I
told him not to ask such silly questions. It made the man chuckle.
He was pleased at my reaction. I was pleased. I had heard that
laugh many times before, yet, it sounded slightly different, like I
was hearing with new ears.

Tugging on the bandages covering my
eyes, he instructed me to sit very still. He peeled them off.
Brilliant light briefly blinded me. I expected to see the world in
an explosion color. But I was confused. My surroundings – the bed,
floor, and nightstand – everything but the man – were still shades
of gray. At least it was more than my black and white vision. I saw
clear edges of shapes, definition, and depth. That pleased me. I
clapped.

On the other hand, the man was painted
in pale, dull colors. His skin was a pale tan. His hair was a light
brown, and his eyes were light green. He wore faded blue jeans and
a gray jacket. A shaggy beard covered his face. I grinned; for the
first time in my life, I saw my best friend, Hector. For some
reason he looked familiar, but I couldn’t place it. In addition to
the splash of color, I noticed his fragrance. He smelled like fresh
spring rain.

“
Hector,” I said, giddily.
“You’ve come to visit me!”

He set a vase of lilies on the stand
beside me. He always brought me that flower in honor of my
sister.

“
You’re full of chuckles
tonight,” Hector said. He smiled back at me, but it didn’t reach
his eyes. “We’ll, it might humor you that you weren’t wrong about
HomFree. The security system had been tampered with.”