The Breakers Ultimatum (YA Urban Fantasy) (Fixed Points Book 3) (24 page)

Cresta

Casper and I moved back into the cabin quickly, taking no time to admire my handiwork. The moon was red. The stars were red. Big whoop.

I burst into the kitchen with Casper right behind me. Echo and Dahlia were hurriedly getting ready, with Dahlia having already changed out of her formal clothes and into a tight black leather suit, much more fitting for the sort of grand escape we were shooting for. Echo wore a dark flannel shirt with a strap slung over his shoulder that held at least six kitchen knives.

“That’s sort of low tech, don’t you think?” I asked, trying hard to catch my breath.

“Are you alright? Do you need something?” Echo asked, placing a seventh knife in the strap’s last open slot. “You look a little worn.”

“She changed fate. It’s a tiring prospect,” Dahlia answered.

“Changed at what cost?” Echo asked, staring at me.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Ask Casper. It was piece of cake.”

“Chocolate cake,” Casper said. “‘Cause that’s the best kind.”

“The fact that it was easy doesn’t make it any less dangerous; much to the contrary actually. But we don’t have time to discuss that at the moment.”

“You’re damn right. Where are Royce and Renner?” I asked, looking around.

Dahlia and Echo glared at each other. “Royce is in the bedroom, composing himself,” Dahlia answered.

“Composing himself?” I asked an instant before it all came together for me. “Oh God. Renner…”

I darted off toward the bedroom, biting my lip and hoping I was wrong.

Pushing the door open, I found Royce sitting on the bed, his eyes cast downward and his hands in his lap.

“Get out,” he said, and I thought I actually heard him sniffle.

“It’s me,” I said.

“I know who you are. I said get out.”

“I-I did it,” I said apprehensively. “I brought up the Blood Moon.

“Yeah, I saw,” he said, and turned away from me to wipe his eyes. “Now could you give me a damn minute, Sweetheart?”

“No,” I said as my heart broke. “First off, we don’t have a minute. And secondly, I wouldn’t if we did. You’ve helped me through a lot of stuff Royce, even when I didn’t necessarily want to be helped. I wanted to kick your ass more than once, and I probably told you that a time or two. But you were always with me. And I’m not about to leave you now.”

“He’s gone Cresta,” Royce said after a long minute. “I thought he was going to get some supplies, medicine and stuff. But when I came to check on him, all I found was this stupid letter.” He picked a piece of paper up from the bed and held it up. “Said he would have only slowed us down; said it was better this way.” He crumpled the paper up in his hand. “Sure as hell don’t feel better.”

“I’m sorry Royce. I’m sorry about all of it. But he loved you. He told me as much when he asked me to-“ I cleared my throat. “When he asked me to take care of you.”

Royce looked over at me, a weird lightness colored his eyes. “He did, did he? That sounds like him, always looking out for the safest player on the board. He sacrificed so much for me, you know. When I was a kid, even when I was a baby; gave up his whole life for me, that one. I just wish he’d have given me a say in it this time.”

“He knows what you’d have said,” I answered.

“Damn right he does,” Royce said, letting a slight grin tug at his mouth. “I know we ain't got time for this Sweetheart, for me to blubber on like a little girl about things nobody can change.”

I moved over to him, sitting beside him on the bed. ‘You remember when you told me that the next time I kissed you; it would be because I wanted to?” I leaned closer. “You were right.”

I dipped toward him, and brushed his lips lightly with my own. It wasn’t a romantic thing, not necessarily. But someone I cared about was in pain, and I could make him feel better. So I did.

And I didn’t regret it.

The door flung open with enough force to pull it off its hinges. Casper stood there, half disheveled and all smiles. “Guess I’m not the only one who’s team Raven.”

I pulled away from Royce, hoping my face wasn’t as red as it felt. “Knock much?”

“You don’t have to knock in a cabin,” he shrugged.

“Says who?” I asked, biting my lip.

“Says everybody. It’s the barn house rule. If the doors don’t lock, there’s no reasonable expectation of privacy. Ask a lawyer.”

“Oh, you’re so full of-”

“Casper!” Royce butted in. “Was there something you needed?”

“Oh right!” he answered, his eyes widening. “We gotta move, ‘cause they’re here.”

“They?” I asked standing and feeling my heart drop into the pit of my stomach. “Not the 'they’ who want me dead.”

“The very same,” he answered. “So if you two are done tasting each other’s dinners, maybe we can make a break for it.”

“That’s not exactly what was going on,”  I said, moving quickly toward the door.

“Is that really the important thing here, Sweetheart?” Royce asked, pushing behind me.

Making our way back to the kitchen, we found Echo and Dahlia standing by the open door, surveying the area.

“Come here,” he said, beckoning for me.

“Out-out there, where they can see me?” I asked.

“It’s okay. You too Royce,” he grinned.

Looking over at Royce, I moved forward. The land was dark, lit only by the blood red moon and matching stars, which put a maroon glow on everything. Lined up in a semi-circle a hundred yards ahead of us, stood a flurry of Breakers armed to the teeth and ready to take me out.

“They can’t get through, can they?” I asked, staring at them. “We’re doing this again?”

“Not us, Cresta. Renner.” Echo looked to Royce. “Renner’s still out there somewhere. He’s still alive and he’s still fighting for us. Even now, he’s keeping you safe.”

“'Course he is,” Royce answered, seemingly unaffected. “He’s family, Mr. Echo. What else did you expect?”

“This won’t keep us safe though, not for long.” Dahlia said.

“Is it tied to the moon?” I asked.

“No,” she answered, her eyes steeling over. “The Blood Moon is making the shade unpredictable. Tying an anchor to it would be nearly impossible. He’d have to tie it to something else and” She looked over at Royce before continuing. “And the only thing with enough strength to hold it at the moment is Renner himself.”

“He tied it to himself?” Casper asked, obviously confused.

“To his life force,” Echo clarified. “It’s a huge anchor. It’s very taxing, and given that he’s already weakened-“

“It’ll kill him,” Royce finished.

“Royce…” I started.

“It’s okay, Sweetheart. I’m a big boy. I can handle the truth. It’ll kill him and, after he’s dead, it’ll fall.”

“Right,” Echo said.

“That damn beautiful fool of a man,” Royce said.

“How?” I asked. “There are Breakers surrounding this whole thing, just like before. Even if it holds how are we supposed to get to the Great Wall?”

“Stand back,” Echo said. After we all made room, he pulled a knife from his strap and flung it toward the ground. Though it landed blade down, it bounced upward like a rubber ball. I jumped back, guarding myself. But Echo grabbed the hilt on the way up and sheathed it again.

“There’s a floor,” Royce muttered. “That’s why it didn’t stick. Uncle Renner made a floor.”

“Right,” Dahlia answered. “And why would Renner make a floor?”

“Tap dancing?” Casper suggested.

“He’s making a casing,” Echo answered. “A casing that can be moved, that can be pushed. “

“You want us to move it?” I asked, thinking about how big (and probably heavy) it was.

“I want
you
to move it, Cresta,” he said. “Move it like your life depends on it.”

Owen

“Just repeat that, because I’m more than sure that I misunderstood you,” Merrin said, looking at me like I was the craziest person who ever lived. I didn’t blame her. After the plan I had just laid out, I wasn’t sure I disagreed. Still- and maybe it was the massive amount of stress I had been under or the fact that I had slept a total of thirty six minutes in the last week, but it all seemed to make sense to me. It was the reason my powers were morphing. It was the reason I didn’t burn when I caught fire. It was the reason Merrin and I were tricked in the symbioses. It was the reason I was the Dragon. Fate had laid out this ridiculous (and very complicated) plan in order to get me to this moment, so that I could do what needed to be done.

“You want to make a giant fire dragon?” She asked, already knowing the answer. “You want to make a giant fire dragon, and ride it away?”

“No,” I answered calmly. “I want
us
to fly it away. See, that’s why we’re joined. The symbiosis makes me like you and you like me. I can’t be burned, at least not by fire that I create myself. And, because you’re like me now-“

“I can’t be burned either,” she finished, though she sounded less than convinced. “You know, I also can’t fly.”

“A technicality,” I answered.

“Maybe, but it seems like a big technicality,” she said.

“I couldn’t fly either. I still can’t. But that didn’t stop me from flying through the air on that big wave of water that Cresta created. See what I mean?”

“No, Owen. I absolutely do
not
see what you mean. You want us to break out of Council chambers and do what exactly; aside from breaking about a dozen ancient laws?”

“Merrin-“

“You really have no problem with this, do you? Turning your back on everything we were brought up to believe in doesn’t even faze you, does it?” She asked.

“They turned their backs on us first, Merrin!” I said, pointing at her and feeling the indignation flower inside of her. “This isn’t what the Breakers of old wanted for us. They didn’t want this, us to blindly follow some prophecy to the point of losing all sense of what’s right or wrong. This is madness, and I know part of you sees that. I can feel the part of you that sees that.”  My eyes traced the floor. “I need you Merrin. I literally can’t do this without you. I can’t do anything without you.”

“What if I do?” She conceded. “What if I do think this is right? It wouldn’t change anything. We are where we are. Cresta is where she is, and the things she’s done; they can’t be undone no matter how much we wish they could. Going to see her won’t save her Owen. It’ll just make it harder to do what needs to be done.”

Bile rose in my throat. What ‘needed to be done’ was me taking a knife of a spear or a hammer to the head of the woman I loved. Merrin knew that, and still she spoke about like it was a necessary evil, one I’d never be able to circumnavigate.

“It couldn’t be harder than it already is Merrin,” I answered. “That’s simply not possible.” Pity sprung up inside of her and found its way over to me. “Besides, I can’t go to see her, not after what the crone said.”

“Right. The next time you see her will be the day you kill her,” Merrin remembered.

“That won’t be today. If I have to throw myself on a sword, I won’t let that happen.” I shuffled nervously, wondering if, when the time came, I would actually have the power to stop it. “But I know that, if I can talk to her, we can figure this out. We always do. We always will.”

“And how, pray tell, are you going to talk to her if you can’t see her?” Merrin asked, pulling her robe closed tighter.

A smile spread across my face because, once again, fate had offered me a way where there seemed to be none. “It helps if you know a dreamwalker.”

“Sevie,” Merrin muttered. “You’re actually going to force your brother to make contact with the woman who was supposed to be his perfect? Do you have any idea how hard that will be for him, to be face to face with the person that was supposed to be his future, with the person who failed him?”

“Yeah,” I muttered softly. And the thing was, I did. I felt it radiating off of her. The way she felt about me mirrored that perfectly. And it hurt like hell.

“I won’t have to force him, Merrin. My brother is smart. He knows what the right thing is and, if there’s anything I know for sure about Sevie, it’s that he’ll do what’s right regardless of the cost.” I traced her hand with my finger. “And so will you.”

She glared at me, but I could feel that her resolve was weakening. I was getting through to her. I couldn’t stop now.

“If we let her die, we’ll never forgive ourselves,” I said.

“No Owen, that isn’t true,” she answered. “It would hurt for a while. But I could tell myself that I had done my duty and, after a suitable amount of time, I’d make peace with that. But you wouldn’t. If Cresta Karr dies, it will make her a martyr in your eyes. She’ll be forever exalted; the patron saint of star-crossed lovers.” She exhaled heavily. “I don’t ever see a time when I could be happy with you. And fate knows the idea of you being satisfied with me is a joke. But life is a long time, and it can take you to places you’d never expect. We’re stuck with each other, forever and ever. If there’s even the slightest chance that we might be anything other than miserable one day, I can’t let it melt away with some plain skinny girl’s life.” She shook her head. “I can compete with a lot of things Owen, but whitewashed fervor isn’t one of them.”

“What are you saying?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.

“I don’t think there’s any way we can save her, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you pin that failure on me. So,” she said, looking up at the ceiling. “Let’s light it up.”

Moving closer, I grabbed Merrin’s other hand and closed my eyes. Holding my breath, I waited for the fire to come back. A minute passed; then two, then ten. But no fire came.

Finally, Merrin asked, “Performance anxiety?”

“Shut up,” I muttered, opening my eyes. “It’s harder than it looks.”

“I’m sure that’s what they all say.”

“Shut up!” I said. “Just let me concentrate.” But another ten minutes passed without even the smallest flicker.

“I thought the goal was to do this quickly. If we wait much longer, the Council will deliver Cresta to you. Just think about what you were going through when it happened before.”

“I’m trying!” I shouted. “But it’s not like before. I had been pushed to my breaking point when I lit myself on fire. I was fed up and completely at the end of my rope. I didn’t see any future and pretty much had nothing left to lose. I don’t know how to recreate that.”

She looked at me for a long moment. “Maybe you don’t have to.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” I admitted, staring at her.

“We’re the same person now, right? We share the same thoughts, the same feelings? So what you’re feeling affects me and what I’m feeling-“

“Yeah,” I answered. “Why do you ask?”

“Because Owen, I think it’s about time I let you in on what’s really going on inside my head.” She tightened her grip on my hands, squeezing them so tight that I was sure she’d draw blood. Then, like a faucet dripping hot water, I began to feel emotions trickle from Merrin and into me. They were soft at first, light things like hurt and betrayal; all the things you’d expect from someone who had been through half the stuff that Merrin had.

But then the faucet got turned up, and the emotions poured into me like a tidal wave of anger, hopelessness, and utter dissatisfaction. It crashed into me again and again, ripping at my defenses and stripping me bare. It startled me at first, the rawness of it, and the finality of it. There was no future within her; at least not one she wanted.

“I-I never knew,” I muttered. “I mean, I thought I knew, but I didn’t really know.”

“Owen,” she started.

“No. It’s important that I tell you this. I knew that I hurt you, that you
were
hurting. But I never imagined that-”

“You’re on fire,” she said.

“I mean, I think I’m starting to get it. I wouldn’t say that I was on fire necessarily.”

“No, you moron. You’re hands are on fire. We both are.”

I looked down to find that flames had encased our joined hands. Panic flashed within me, hoping that I was right about Merrin sharing my invulnerability. But she wasn’t screaming, and I couldn’t feel any pain coming from her.

“Close your eyes. Let it take you over,” I said. She did what I asked and, to my surprise, the fire ignited without me even trying. It was like Merrin was doing it, pushing
my
power further than I ever had- at least purposefully.

Flames shot up my body and spread over hers. My body arched and my breaths came short and shallow. But I felt good. I felt powerful.

“Are you ready?” I asked, still holding Merrin’s hands.

Her eyes were flecked with power, a power she had never felt before, and I could feel it lighting up something deep inside of her.

“I think so,” she said.

Closing my eyes, I pushed myself even further. The heat seared me, but it didn’t burn. It filled my lungs, danced along my skin, and seemed to change my every cell. I was the fire.
We
were the fire. And we could do anything.

We left the ground quietly at first, less like a rocket taking off and more like a baby bird taking flight for the first time.

“Are you afraid?” I asked her as we moved closer to the window. “I won’t let anything happen to you, not if I can help it.”

“You either,” she said, and something about the tone of her voice put me at ease. We might not be in love. That might never be in the cards for us. But Merrin was still important to me. And I was beginning to think I might be important to her again too.

The energy began to form around us. It pulled at me as it formed the tail, then the body, then the head, and finally the wings of a dragon. It didn’t necessarily have to be a dragon. The fire would have bended to my will, whatever shape it took. But there was something about this particular visage that was just too delicious to pass up. It was the tool the Council wanted to use to kill the Blood Moon, and I was going to use it to save her. And besides, when this was over, I didn’t want there to be any confusion as to whose side the Dragon was really on.

I flicked my hand and the dragon’s head turned. “Watch this,” I smirked at Merrin. The dragon opened its flame formed mouth and roared, shattering the window that separated us from the Main Square below.

“Show-off,” Merrin grinned as glass showered down to the ground. We moved toward, and then through the window. It shouldn’t have surprised me to see that the ruckus below had died down. Everyone was standing stalwart, mouths agape, watching two people fly away in the burning enter of a dragon made of fire.

The wind whipped through my hair as we ascended higher and higher into the sky. It was cold and a little damp, but it felt like freedom and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world. Well, for
almost
anything.

The Main Square soon became a dot in an ever shrinking landscape of houses, buildings, farmland, and rolling hills. The great Wall that separated us from everything else the world had to offer didn’t look so great from up here. Sure, the anchors were still in place, and would probably knock me on my ass should I try to exit. But maybe in their current condition, basking in the bright red glow of the Blood Moon, they might actually falter. Maybe I could actually leave this place, fly away to somewhere far off, and start all over again; free of the dragon, the Breakers, and maybe even the memories.

But that wasn’t what life was going to look like for me. I wasn’t alone. I had Merrin to think about. And besides, Cresta was the one who belonged outside of these walls. She was the one who had a family waiting for her out there, who had places to go and people whose life goal was to keep her safe.

I was a gangly boy riding a fire dragon. And, given what I had learned about the outside world, there didn’t seem to be much demand for that out there.

‘It’s cold,” Merrin said through chattering teeth. She was so much like me now, thanks to the symbioses, that she could be covered in fire and still feel cold.

I looked down, and then back up at Merrin. We had traveled so high up that the air was beginning to thin and the clouds, thick and tinted red, were actually underfoot.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I guess I got carried away.”

“Understandable, I suppose. Just take us down.” Her teeth were practically clanging together now and, though I wasn’t personally as chilly as she was, I could feel the cold inside of her, and I began to shiver too.

“You’re right,” I said, flicking my hand again, and sending the dragon into a headlong dive toward the earth. “There’s not much time, and it’s not like we’re inconspicuous in this thing.”

We shot downward, still hand-in-hand, and I scanned the ground for signs of the farmhouse where I had spent the majority of my life. Finding it (mostly because of the old barn to the left that, in a different world, might have been Sevie and Cresta’s wedding house), Merrin and I made a beeline for the left.