The Breaker's Promise (YA Urban Fantasy) (Fixed Points Book 2) (12 page)

He smiled, though it was smaller and less enthused than I would have liked. “I guess you’re right. Look, just make yourself at home. Take a nap. Take a bath. I don’t know. I have stuff to talk with my family about; stuff I’m not entirely looking forward to. I’ll be back in a bit, and then we can make a game plan.”

“About the Council?” I asked.

“About everything,” he bit his lip. Then, looking around, he added. “This used to be my room, you know?”

“Wow,” I leaned in. “First I meet your family and now I’m in your bedroom. This relationship is moving awfully fast.”

He smiled. “Not near fast enough to suit me.” He kissed me gently on the lips and then walked out, shutting the door behind him.

When he was gone, I collapsed on the bed. Sevie’s electrolyte wash must have been wearing off, because I was starting to get tired again. What was more, my head started to ache just a little. I stared up at the blank uniformity of Owen’s ceiling and then at the similarly bare room. This might have been where Owen spent his nights growing up, but you couldn’t tell by looking at it. Like the rest of what I’d seen in the Hourglass, there was absolutely nothing about this room that spoke to any sort of individuality. And something told me if I walked over to Sevie’s room, I’d probably find the same thing; albeit sans the door.

I closed my eyes, thinking about taking Owen up on his nap idea and hoping the renewed ache in my head might go away.

“I suppose you’re just a useless slug then, aren’t you? Can’t say that I’m surprised.”

A woman’s voice, a familiar voice, shook me from my almost sleep. My eyes shot open and I saw Merrin sitting on the foot of my bed. She was wearing the same clothes she was in the last time I saw her, the day she slipped into her coma, and her face was resting in her hand; a sour expression painted across it. I jumped.

“Merrin! You’re awake?” The thought filled me with a sort of dual relief and terror. Yes, Merrin being awake would mean that Owen and I weren’t responsible for her death and the body count that could be attributed to my existence wouldn’t go up any higher. But, if she was awake, it would also mean that the Council of Masons were aware of my identity as the Bloodmoon and, you know, were probably gonna kill me dead.

“Oh, so you can hear me now? Fine timing for that,” she huffed and stood up. I watched her as she paced circles around the room. 

“How did you even get in here?” I asked, standing to meet her.

“I came in with you,” she answered, which, of course, was ridiculous, because if Merrin would have followed me in here, I’d have seen her, wouldn’t I?

“That’s-“

“Insane, impossible, confusing as possible? Yes, it is, but it happened nonetheless,” Merrin interrupted, rolling her eyes. “And don’t bother calling for Owen. Unlike you, he’s observant. If he had the capacity to see or hear me, he would have done so by now.”

My head was pounding like a jackhammer against a block of ice now. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about what you did to me,” Merrin shot back. “When you strapped me into that chair and almost fried my brain. When your perky little friend very nearly ended my life. “ She laughed a bitter little laugh. “And you’d think that would be the worst part. Oh, but you’d be wrong. This-This is by far the worst thing that could ever happen to me.”

I shook my head, trying to dislodge the crazy and stop the pounding. “Merrin, just tell me what is going on.”

“I’m stuck, Cresta!” She stomped. “When you tried to fix your mess, when you touched me, hoping to save me, all you did was make things a thousand times worse.”

“You’re stuck where?” I asked.

Her eyes were wide with anger as she responded. “Where do you think, you walking calamity?! I’m stuck inside of your head!”

I would have passed out or screamed or something, but if the last few months had taught me anything, it was that none of that would do any good. Merrin was trapped inside my head; literally inside my head and, judging from the look on her face, it wasn’t the sort of thing that the Breaker’s had a ready solution for.

“What do you mean inside my head?” I asked, wishing I had my trusty steering wheel cover to pick at.

“I’m not sure how many different definitions that phrase could have. I am inside of your head; inside your brain, stuck in your inadequate and hopefully late blooming body, privy to your childish thoughts and desires, and completely unaware of how to remedy the situation. Does that clear things up for you?”

Oh God. Merrin could read my mind.

“Yes, I can,” she said, shaking her head. “Though trust me, there isn’t much of interest in there.”

“What the hell happened?!” My voice morphed into a high shrill thing, like a howler monkey had stubbed its toe.

“The answer to that question could be traced back to four months ago, to two years ago, to sixteen years ago, if you’re so inclined. What happened? The same thing that always happens whenever anything in my life goes horribly awry. You happened, Cresta Karr.” She glared at me with all the hatred you’d expect to see from someone after you’ve stolen their boyfriend and trapped their consciousness inside of yourself; which was to say, a lot of hatred.

“There has to be a way to fix this. You people are the most evolved creatures in the entire world. Certainly there are contingency plans for this sort of thing,” I said, grasping for straws and pulling at my hair in desperation.

“I doubt this sort of thing has ever happened before. Though, if there is a solution, you’re likely to find it with the Council.”

“We can’t go to them,” I said, shaking my head instinctively.

“And how did I know you were going to say that?” Merrin mused, tapping her finger against her chin in a mock act of concentration. “Oh I know, because you’re a selfish narcissistic creature who cares about no one but yourself.” She walked closer to me, so that our noses were almost touching; if she was the sort of thing that you could touch anymore. She gritted her teeth and said, “and before I forget, let me throw this little tidbit on top of the’ Cresta Karr description’ pile. You
ARE
the Bloodmoon!”

“T-that’s very true,” I answered, almost stammering. “But it’s not my fault.”

She huffed and turned away from me. “And something like that is supposed to matter when the entire world is at stake?”

“I’m not gonna destroy the world, Merrin. I don’t have it in me.” I marched toward me.

She spun around quickly, though her hair stayed perfectly still. “Is that right? You’ve done a good job of destroying me and, to hear you tell it, you weren’t even trying. So don’t give me lectures on what you are and are not capable of.”

“You need to get out of my head,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Don’t you think I want to? Do you really think this is my idea of a good time; watching you inch toward the apocalypse while canoodling with the one person in the world that fate chose for me? This is hell, Cresta, and you’re my own personal Satan.” She turned away from me again, her voice cracking as she continued. “I just hope that, when my body dies, it takes my mind with it.”

“I’m not going to let that happen,” I answered.

“Don’t do me any favors Bloodmoon,” she said, still looking away from me.

“I’m not doing it for you,” I answered. “If you die, Owen will never forgive himself. He’ll live the rest of his life in torment, blaming himself for what happened. After a while, he’ll start to forget who you are deep down. He’ll only remember the good things, and maybe I’d lose him to that memory.” This time it was my turn to get nose to nose. “You don’t scare me, Merrin. I don’t care if you know the truth about what happened to my dad. I don’t care if you know that I’m the Bloodmoon and that your people’s crazy ass end of the world prophecy can be pinned on me, and I don’t care if you know every secret I’ve ever kept. I want you around. I want you alive. He chose me, Merrin. He chose me and not you, and I want you here every day of our lives, so that he never forgets why.”

She huffed, staring at me so hard that I was afraid the bulgy vein that was throbbing up and down her forehead might burst. “He’s going to kill you, you know. He might be with you now. He might kiss you, and hug you, and promise that he’d give anything in the world to keep you safe. But at the end of the day, he’s a Breaker; a real Breaker. And love isn’t something that real Breakers take into consideration when the chips are down. Before it’s over, he’ll come to his senses, and he’ll take you down. I just hope I’m still around to see it.”

Tears stung behind my eyes, but I wasn’t about to cry, not in front of her. Instead, I spit of the words, “Get. Out. Of. My. Head.”

And, to my surprise, as soon as the words escaped my lips, Merrin was gone. I closed my eyes tight. The pain in my head was so intense now. This was crazy. Was Merrin really there, trapped inside of my head, or had the intensity of the situation finally gotten to me? Had I lost my mind? It certainly wouldn’t have surprised me. I slumped onto the bed. Maybe I just needed to sleep. Maybe the trip to the Hourglass had been too hard on me and I was seeing things. A nap would take care of it and, if it didn’t, I’d add ‘mental image Merrin’ onto my ever growing list of problems.

I drifted off to sleep easily, eager to forget about Merrin, the Council, and everything that had happened. The next thing I knew, I was jarred awake by a loud noise.

“I should have known! I’m not even back a whole day and you want to start with this!” Owen’s voice was loud. He was obviously angry. I sat up in bed. The sun was low, almost set. How long had I been asleep?

“You will not use that tone with me!” Owen’s father was yelling too. “You will address me with the respect that I have earned.” I stood quickly and ran to the door. I inched it open and pressed myself against it. Whatever they were arguing about wasn’t my business, but I’d wager that, in one way or another, it was my fault.

“I’m an adult, Father. I’ve been through things that you couldn’t imagine.”  I couldn’t see him, but if I knew Owen (and I did) his hands were clenched into fists and his teeth were gritted.

“You’re no such thing,” Petar spat out. “You are seventeen, that’s true. But you still haven’t been made a Breaker, and you have no one to blame for that but yourself.”

“I take responsibility for my actions, Father, but that doesn’t mean that I would change them,” Owen answered.

“You allowed yourself to be manipulated, Owen. Your mother and Sevie and I spent the last two years under the presumption that you were a traitor.”

“Sevie never thought that!” Owen butted in.

“You wouldn’t have any idea what Sevie thought, would you? Because you were gone letting Allister Leehman make a fool of you and this family,” Petar answered. “You are two years behind your contemporaries. Devinan Oswald was just made a Breaker, Owen. He’s a year younger than you. Do you have any idea how that makes us feel, how your actions reflect on this family?”

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Owen’s voice was softer now, less forceful. I wanted to run out there and hug him, to grab his hand and let him know that he wasn’t alone; that he’d never be alone. But this was his father. It was complicated and placing myself in the middle of a fight that I couldn’t fully understand wouldn’t be good for anybody. “Yes, I got tricked, but once I learned the truth, I did the right thing. I was brave, and I fought like a Breaker.”
 

“A Breaker follows the rules, Son,” Petar answered. His voice had not quieted. “You fled from your designated facility, stole a car, and embarked on an unauthorized mission that resulted in the death of one of the world’s only Seers; and I’m not even touching on the monstrosity that you allowed to happen this week.”

“Well, you’d know all about breaking the rules, wouldn’t you?” Owen answered. “Why do you think Allister Leehman targeted me in the first place? It’s cause of what you did! Because of this tattoo you branded me with!”

“We did that to save your life!” Petar answered, in what was quickly becoming a shouting match.

“There was a life at stake when I did what I did too, Father.”

“You speak of Ash?” Petar snorted. “She’s a traitor. She put her own wants and desires before that of the world. She got what she deserved.”

Heat rose into my face. Owen’s father or not, nobody was going to say that garbage about my mother. I stormed out of the room, intent on giving that son of a bitch a piece of my mind. Before I could round the corner though, Owen answered for me.

“How dare you?! You didn’t know her. That woman left her entire world, her whole family and the only home she had ever known to save the life of a child. Can you really stand there, after having done what you did to save me, and tell me that you think she was wrong?”

“I didn’t do anything to save you,” Petar muttered.

“Petar no! Not now!” Owen’s mother yelled. I hadn’t even realized she was there. She had been so quiet during all of this.

“What are you talking about?” I heard Owen ask.

“What was done to you, it was your mother’s doing alone,” Petar answered. I stopped in my tracks. “She brought the idea to me, told me how she planned on saving your life, and I forbid it.”

“You were going to let me die?” Owen asked. The hurt in his voice yanked hard at my heart.

“Your death was a fixed point. Stopping it would mean defying fate, and there are always consequences when one defies fate.”

“And I suppose being the colossal screw up that I am was your consequence?” Owen asked.

“The end of the world was my consequence,” Petar answered.

“Petar, I’m begging you to stop this,” Owen’s mother pleaded.

“She’s not the Bloodmoon,” Owen lied.

“It doesn’t matter,” Petar said. “You
are
the Dragon. The fact that you’re still breathing years after you were fated to die is proof of that. And, given that you are who you are, it means that the Bloodmoon walks the earth now. We brought about the end of the world, Owen. There’s no way around it. Our family will be responsible for the suffering and death of millions. And we did it all to save you.”

There was a long silence, during which I became very aware that I was standing in the middle of a barren hallway across from a window, totally invading this family’s privacy. Still, I couldn’t move. Owen was-Well, he was Owen. We were a team. I loved him more than anything and, even if he didn’t know it was happening, I wanted to be there for him.

“I thought you didn’t do anything, Father,” Owen said with a shaky voice.

“No, I did. And I would do it a thousand times over if I had to,” Owen’s mother said. “Now would the two of you stop this foolishness? What’s done is done.  There’s no going back, only forward.”

“And what is forward, Mother; when I know now that my father would have let me die if he had his way?” It sounded as though Owen was crying, though I hoped he wasn’t. Like Merrin, Owen’s father didn’t deserve those tears. He hadn’t earned them.

“To save the world, to save the future, I would let us all die,” Petar answered. “That is who we are. It is the merit of our lives. But I wouldn’t expect you to understand that. You’ve allowed yourself to be corrupted, and by what; some foolish girl and her drama?”

Maybe he wasn’t talking about me?

“Cresta is foolish, and what happened to her wasn’t her fault,” Owen answered.

Well, so much for that.

“Fault has no place within the confines of the future. If you were half the Breaker you could be, you’d know that. Every creature on the planet is a pawn of destiny. What makes us special is that we have a say in which way it turns. But you still don’t understand that. Do you Owen? You still don’t realize how great the responsibility of being a Breaker is, let alone the enormous weight that comes with being the Dragon.”

“That’s not-“

“I’m not finished!” Owen’s father yelled. It was a scream so loud that the glass in the nearby window shook. “Cresta Blut might not be the Bloodmoon, but you thought she was. There was every indication that she would be the person responsible for the end of the world, and you still fought for her. You still stood by her and helped advance her agenda. Why would you do that, Son?”

“Because we’re in love,” I muttered under my breath. Still, I hoped Owen wouldn’t say that. The last thing I needed was for his parents to learn about us.

“It was the right thing to do,” Owen said.

Good answer.

“Are you really that young?” Petar said, though his voice seemed less angry somehow. “Right and wrong is only perspective, Owen. Make sure that your perspective isn’t distorted; not by anything.” He cleared his throat. “Now, there is much to prepare for. We haven’t time to fight about these matters anymore. You’ll both see the Crone tomorrow, and things will take shape from there. Until then, I believe your perfect; the girl with whom you share a sacred bond and responsibility is fighting for her life in the infirmary. You’d do well to spend some time with her. Unless, of course, there’s someone else you’d rather while away the night with.”