The Breakers Ultimatum (YA Urban Fantasy) (Fixed Points Book 3) (4 page)

Pulling at an unnoticeable small amount of shade, I weaved an illusion for myself, making it impossible for them to know I was here. For all the crappy things being a Breaker had brought me, the power set was sort of cool.

“You’re afraid that, now that we can move her, they’re going to want to take her out of the Hourglass?” Echo asked, folding his arms across his chest.

“Of course not,” Dahlia answered with a diminutive wave of her hand. “Getting her out of the Hourglass was always the plan. I’m afraid of where they’re going to take her.” Dahlia walked closer to her husband. “Think about what’s going on here; this cabin, the Raven being placed covertly within the Hourglass, Renner showing back up.”

“It’s her mother,” Echo explained. “Renner told you Cresta’s mother orchestrated this to get her to safety.”

“Don’t be daft. You knew the Luna girl, Echo. Does this seem like the sort of thing she could put together? Does it seem like the sort of thing one person could do on their own, or even a small group- like Royce and Renner are claiming?” She shook her head. “They infiltrated the Hourglass. They got in somehow. How impossible should that be? And you’re telling me that Cresta’s mother and some ragtag group of Breaker accomplices- at least one of whom wasn’t even raised here and knows next to nothing of our ways, bypassed security measures that have kept our people safe for over a hundred years?”

Echo watched her for a long moment, seeming to consider everything she had said. “What’s your point here, Dahlia?”

“I think we’re being lied to,” she answered quickly. “I think there’s more going on here than we’re being led to believe.” 

“Renner was your friend, your best friend, if I remember correctly,” Echo answered, his fingers still drumming wildly.

“That was a long time ago, and given how thoroughly he deceived me back then, I’m not sure I ever really knew him.” She ran fingers through her perfectly coiffed hair. “But that doesn’t matter, not when there are so many forces lining up. We’re dancing along the edge of a knife, Echo. One wrong move, just one, and everything that is, was, or ever might be will turn to ashes in our hands. We’ll be the generation responsible for the end of the world.”

Echo peered at his wife for a long moment, studying her up and down. “What are you suggesting we do, Dahlia? Have we really come this far and betrayed our people just to have you ask me to turn around and hand Cresta back to them?”

Dahlia’s icy blue eyes narrowed. I had no idea what she was going to say. Sure, I wanted to believe that, at this point, she would think enough of me to at least not want me dead anymore. But she was right; the world was at stake and, with each passing day, it seemed things spun more and more out of control. I braced myself when Dahlia opened her mouth to respond.

“I told you I was behind you in this, and I meant that,” she said, staring at her husband. “You might not believe that Cresta’s life is important to me, but you should believe that you are.” She walked closer, stopping short of laying hands on him. “They took our home. They took our daughter. They took our entire lives, and now I’m not even sure they had a reason.”

“Dahlia, I-”

“Wendy was with her, Echo.” It was the first time I had ever heard Dahlia say her daughter’s name; the name she picked for herself shortly before her death. “There had to be a reason for that. Our daughter wasn’t stupid. She sacrificed herself to save this girl, and I won’t let her death be for nothing.”

Echo smiled. It was a pained smile, but it was also a proud one. “So what do we do?”

“We keep our eyes open,” Dahlia replied. “Like it or not, Cresta is our responsibility now. Truthfully, she has been since the night she showed up on our doorstep. And until we can trust that Royce, Renner, and whoever else is involved in this have her best interests in mind, we can’t make any big moves.”

Echo shook his head. “So you don’t want us to get her out of the Hourglass? Fate’s hand, you’re confusing me.”

“Not until we know we can trust them.”

“They saved her life!” Echo answered loudly.

“To what end?” Dahlia replied, matching his tone. “Sure, I could understand a mother going to the ends of the earth for her daughter. Fate knows if I had the chance, I would have. But this isn’t just a mother. Trust me, this is much bigger. It’s an entire movement, and movements don’t spark out of a mother’s love alone. Whoever Cresta’s mother has backing her has their own motives, and I’m not comfortable leaving her with these people until I know what those motives are.”

Echo sighed loudly as his fingers slowed to a stop against the counter. “We don’t have that luxury. I checked Cresta’s vitals right before she woke up. Just because her condition is under control doesn’t mean it’s slowed at all. And the constant flow of energy isn’t good for her. Even with Royce around to siphon the excess shade from her body, she can’t stay here much longer.” I felt my hand burn against the wall, as if Echo’s words spurred my condition anew. “The Blood Moon rises in five days, Dahlia. We need to make our move then, because after that, we both know that Lorelei herself wouldn’t stand a chance of getting out of here.” Echo bridged the small gap between them and, unlike his wife, didn’t stop himself from scooping her up into a hug. “I know it’s been hard,” he said. “And I know that we don’t understand everything right now. But we have to believe that fate has a plan for us. Right now, Royce and Renner are our best shot at keeping Cresta safe. But I swear to you, the instant that changes, they’ll have to deal with me.”

She looked up at him, her eyes softening a bit. “Alright then,” she conceded.

“Cresta!” My name sounded throughout the kitchen. I snapped back around. Casper was standing there with a soda in one hand and a befuddled look on his face. I winced. Casper startling me had broken my concentration, which meant the shade illusion I was using to hide from Echo and Dahlia was gone; which meant they knew I was spying on them.

I was about to tear Casper a new one for screwing things up like that, but his reaction to seeing me put a stop to that. His eyes were wide and horrified. The soda in his hand fell to the ground, fizzing and bubbling over. With quivering lips, he muttered, “What the hell did you do?”

His eyes traveled to the wall beside me. With no idea what he meant, mine followed his gaze. My hand was bloody and shaking, still pressed against the wall. I gasped when I caught sight of what had happened. Somehow, while eavesdropping on Echo and Dahlia, I had unconsciously carved something into the wall…with my fingernails.

Taking it in, I saw the blood splattered message read ‘Damnatus’.

“Oh God!” I yelled, jerking away from it instinctively. “What’s happening? What does that mean?”

Echo and Dahlia were behind me now, inspecting the wall. Peering from me over to the message, Dahlia answered, “It means things are much, much worse than we ever imagined.”

Chapter 4

Ancient Laws

Owen

I fully expected to wake up in a dungeon. Traitors who were deemed unfit to be banished or executed were placed in the Hourglass’ dungeons. And I was, after all, a traitor; a traitor twice over actually. Or was it three times? With all that had gone on lately, the twists and turns that fate subjected us to as it forced me to give away the person I loved most in the world, it became harder and harder to remember what the ancient laws were, let alone how many times I had broken them.

I didn’t wake up in a dungeon, though. The bed was too soft. The walls were decorated with paintings and, on the counter beside me; I found a plate of fresh fruit and a cup of cold water. I wasn’t sleepy or weak, but I felt more than a little tired; the sort of tired you only get after you’ve slept for way too long and allowed your body to become accustomed to the lethargy. How long had I been lying here unconscious, wherever here was?

I pulled myself up from the bed, bypassing the fruit and wrapping the sheet around my waist because, for whatever reason, I was stark naked. The sheets were silk, softer than I would have liked, and certainly much nicer than I expected the Council to fit a prisoner with- even if I was a special case. As the Dragon, the Breaker prophesized to kill the Blood Moon and bring an end to her reign of terror, killing me or even banishing me would be a tough sell. I was too necessary for that. Still, I imagined some sort of punishment. I had betrayed them, betrayed my entire race by sticking to my guns and helping the Blood Moon (who also happened to be my girlfriend) escape the Council’s clutches and the certain death she’d have been dealt.

Everything I knew about the Breakers and about this incarnation of the Council particularly told me that I should have been made into an example. They should have strung me up in the center of the Main Square and shamed me; denying me food, water, and shelter until I broke down for all to see. But I wasn’t. I was gifted this room, which looked like it belonged in a palace, with silk sheets and a comfortable mattress. What was their goal here?  Did they think that they could coddle me, soften me up until I saw their side of things? If that was the case, they’d be sadly disappointed.

I hadn’t gone this long, fought this hard, and given up this much, to be bought off with a plate of fruit and the promise of mercy. I was ready for whatever horrors the Council had in store for me. So why not get on with it. I dared a glance out the window as I made my way to the door, the silk bed sheet around my waist swishing along the floor like a dress. I needed some pants bad.

I grabbed the handle. Locked. Here we go. Now the façade would break. Now the truth of my imprisonment would rear its ugly head. I pounded against the wooden door. “I demand to see my mother!”  I shouted, still pounding. There was no response, so I set my fist upon the door again. “She is my chosen council and I invoke my right to council of the accused!” Still no answer.  Fate’s alive, I knew there was no way my door would be unattended; even for a minute. If the Council was as paranoid as I knew them to be, they’d assume that Cresta and the others would come to save me. They’d have assumed that I was a tragic consequence of our battle, and have no idea of the true reason that I stayed behind. How could they? What the crone said was confidential; a principle built into the very laws that made up the Breaker’s code. No one, not even the Council of Masons, could bypass that.

They wouldn’t know that the crone warned me that, if I stayed with her, Cresta would die. They’d have no idea about the things she told me about Sevie; things that would ruin him if they ever came out. And, most of all, they wouldn’t know that the crone told me that the next time I saw Cresta would be the day I kill her. And that, because of that: I made her swear to leave and never turn back. She wasn’t coming back for me, not ever.

After a few more moments of silence, I started beating on the door again. “I know someone is there, and I will not be denied my rights as the accused, rights that were afforded me by the Founders.”

I hated talking like this. My time in the outside world had changed me more than a little, and as a result, I’d be more comfortable saying something like ‘Hey Dude, you wanna let me talk to my mom or what?’ But I wasn’t in the outside world anymore. I was with the Breakers, and letting them see how much my mentality had shifted wouldn’t do me any favors- even if I never planned on actually getting out of here.

No, leaving the Hourglass meant that the Council had put the Dragon into action, that the hopefully avoidable day of them pitting me against Cresta had finally come. I had no interest in that ever happening, but I needed to talk to my mother. I needed to know what was going on with me and be sure that the Council wasn’t punishing my family in my place- because they obviously felt they couldn’t do so to me.

The wooden door swung open, and an old woman wearing a poufy purple gown came shuffling in. She looked familiar, like someone I had seen before but not actually registered. Had I seen her before here, in some sort of semiconscious state? Or was this not the first time I had been conscious at all? I knew there were Breakers here who were powerful enough to make minutes seem like days and years melt away with a touch of their hand. Those Breakers could have successfully done what I botched with Merrin in instants, and they could most certainly do the same thing to me. I could have been here for years. I could be an old man at this point, having been made to kill Cresta, having spent the entirety of my life here- wherever here was. Looking around the room, I realized with a thud that there were no mirrors here, not even one.

“Hello Dragon,” the old woman purred. She was holding a pair of red pants and a folded green shirt.  If I was on the outside, I’d say that it was probably Christmastime. But these colors meant nothing to the Breakers and, as such, offered me no clues.

Still, I was happy to have the pants. I grabbed the clothes from the woman, slipping the shirt over my head and deciding to wait until she left to do the same with the pants. “How long have I been here?”

“A few days,” she answered without hesitation. “You exhausted yourself in the battle and the Council wanted to make sure you were thoroughly rested before they brought you back to consciousness.”