The Breakers Ultimatum (YA Urban Fantasy) (Fixed Points Book 3) (28 page)
Read The Breakers Ultimatum (YA Urban Fantasy) (Fixed Points Book 3) Online
Authors: Conner Kressley
“She’s one of your people, one of my bio mom’s people?” I asked.
“And I bet she ain’t alone.” Royce moved forward. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he screamed, “Now!”
At least half the Breakers coming toward me pulled up stakes. They spun on their heels and turned their weapons on the others. Pandemonium erupted as Breakers turned on Breakers, blood spurting from the battle like paint onto a canvas.
“Oh my God. That’s maybe the fourth coolest thing I’ve ever seen in real life,” Casper gasped.
“We need to move!” Royce barked. “We gotta find a door.”
“They’re fighting because of me. I won’t let them die,” I said.
“They’re fighting for what you stand for. And if you don’t move, then they’ll be dying for nothing. I can’t fight with you about this right now, Sweetheart. We need to-”
Royce’s body went ridged and still; which was perhaps the only way to shut him up. But it wasn’t just him. Everyone and everything went still. The world had stopped spinning, and come to a screeching halt at one of the most gruesome moments of my life. But why?
In the distance, I saw a lone figure moving toward me. My heart skipped about ten beats. This was the Council. It had to be. Who else would have the power to do something like this? Looking around, I grabbed a knife from out of Echo’s still hand.
“Okay!” I screamed, so extremely tired of all this nonsense. Of course it would come down to this. Of course, it would be me alone versus the Council. Well, if they wanted that, I’d show them what it really meant to be the Blood Moon. “You want me! You’re about to get me!”
But the figure flickered and reappeared before me. And, with a gaping mouth and racing heart, I realized it wasn’t the Council.
Owen stood before me, his hands clasped together and his electric blue eyes lighting up the dark dank world.
“That would be just about the best thing ever,” he grinned.
“You’re here,” I muttered, flabbergasted. “Is it you? Are they messing with me?”
“It’s me,” he said, and I knew it was true. I could feel it in my bones, in my gut, in my heart. “But I’m not here, not really at least. Sevie’s powers; they helped me.”
“Are you- Is everything okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” he answered, his eyes flickering down to the ground.
“You got married?” I asked, though it wasn’t a question.
“They were going to kill her if I didn’t I-”
“Oh no,” I said, raising my hands. “I wasn’t asking for an explanation.”
“But I want you to have one,” he said. “She would have died if I didn’t marry her.”
“So you-”
“I did,” he confirmed. “Would I be the man you loved if I hadn’t?”
“I just want you to be happy,” I answered, and part of me really meant that.
‘I won’t be,” he said, breathing hard. “Not really; not without you. But, that’s okay. If you’re alive, then it’s okay.”
“Come with me,” I said, with more than a little pleading in my voice.
“You know I can’t do that, but God, do I want to.”
“You can,” I answered, with tears in my eyes. “Leave Merrin. Leave your family. Leave it all. Just be with me.”
“Sevie is dying,” he said, biting his bottom lip. “The Blood Moon, it’s doing something to him. I was sent here to tell you that, if you don’t take it down right now, then he won’t survive the night. I came here to ask you- to beg you-to save my brother.”
I opened my mouth to answer.
“But I won’t. Looking at you now, seeing you- even if this isn’t really seeing you-” He cleared his throat. “I love two things in this world more than myself, Cresta Karr. And I won’t trade one for the other. I just won’t. Leave this place and don’t ever come back. Promise me you’ll do that. Promise me a Breaker’s promise.”
“No,” I said slowly. “I can’t let Sevie die for me.”
“You have to. Please. You don’t have a choice.”
“You’re right. I don’t.” I moved closer, though something told me I wouldn’t be able to touch him even if I tried. “You loving me is the most important thing in the world, more important to me than anything else. I have to save your brother. Would I be the woman you love if I didn’t?”
He began to cry. “Please don’t do this.”
“I love you,” I said. “And I will see you again. That’s my Breaker’s promise.”
“Cresta please…”
But my mind was made up. Tapping into the Essence, I pulled the Blood Moon from the sky, replacing it with what was normal and sealing the anchors that surrounded the Hourglass.
“I’ll see you soon,” I said as Owen vanished from my sight.
Time began to move again and, as it did, those around me began to realize that the Blood Moon was gone, that it was over.
“What the-”Casper said.
“I had to,” I said. “I’m sorry, but I had to. There was no other way.”
“It’s alright,” Echo said.
“Is it?” Dahlia balked. We can’t hide anymore, Echo. They know where the cabin is. We’re all dead. All of us!”
“No,” he said. “It’s okay because Cresta’s going to get us out of here.”
“What?” I narrowed my eyes.
“You can do it,” he said. “You can do anything.”
“Echo, I-“
“He’s right,” Royce said, keeping one eye on the continued fight ahead of us. “You changed the Blood Moon; you saved me when you shouldn’t. You can change what is, Sweetheart.” He leaned into me. “Put a hole in this goddamn wall.”
Looking forward, I saw Candace. She lay on the ground, bleeding and still. “You got it,” I said.
Whipping around, I tapped back into the Essence. The anchors on the Great Wall shone, unlike anything I had ever seen before. They were complex things; like mazes within mazes within traps.
I moved toward them, but I had no interest in undoing them. The knots were much too intricate for that. Nope, I’d just blast right through them.
I put every piece of myself into the blast; all the anger, all the pain, all the fear. But I also put all the love, all the passion, all the friendship and everything I didn’t want to lose wrapped up in one fell swoop.
“How’s this for bigger than a wrecking ball,” I said, and let loose onto the wall. It bellowed, shivered, and finally gave way. Bricks tumbled, crackling and disintegrating around me. This was it, the opening, the out.
“Now!” I yelled and jumped through the opening in the wall. A lightness took me over. This would be okay. We were out, and I could already feel the wall stitching up behind me. They wouldn’t be able to follow until we were long gone. Maybe this would be okay. Maybe everything would be-
Dizziness pulled at me as I jumped through the opening in the wall, and then the world went white. I left myself, became something else as voices filled the area around me.
“Watch out!” One of them shouted.
“What better to temper the weakness of a mother than the strength of a father,” another answered.
“Our love will break the anchors,” a woman’s voice echoed.
“It’s him,” one finally said. “I know you don’t want to believe it, but it’s him.”
“Do it,” one said, at last. “Don’t think about the consequences. Just do it.”
The world came back, and I was standing in a great field. I was dressed in a white gown that had been stained with blood, standing atop a huge stone circle. The Blood Moon was back in the sky, but that didn’t make any sense.
Royce was on the ground, lying still and motionless at the feet of a woman who I instantly recognized as the blond who appeared to me in the forest. She stared at me with knowing eyes and I turned to run. This wasn’t a dream or a vision. I felt as much, as I tried to take in my surroundings. How did I get here? How much time had passed?
I ran through off the stone circle and, in the distance, saw a sign. The words at the top were obscured. But those at the bottom read ‘The Strangest of Places’. I turned left, ready to scream for help.
Owen was there though, dressed in black with tears pouring from his electric blue eyes. “I’m sorry. You should have listened. Why didn’t you listen,” he said, coming toward me. I was so relieved to see him that I didn’t notice the tenseness of his body. I didn’t register the way his teeth were gritted together. I didn’t even fully understand when he wrapped his hands around my throat and started to squeeze so tightly that I began to see spots...
“It was always seven," he cried. “I’m so, so sorry.”
To Be Continued.
Cresta Karr will return in
The Breaker’s Resolution Part 1:
Spring 2015