The Year of the Great Seventh (40 page)

It was too late for theories about Cleopatra now. I had to find a way out of this for Nate.

“What about ‘
Beneath the oak tree of Gienne, struck by lightning, the treasure is hidden not far from there
?’” I tried to buy us some time.

“Nice try. No one’s ever deciphered what that means.”

“I’ll do anything you want. Just let her go,” Nate begged.

Preston shook his head from side to side. “You know that’s not going to happen. I need you both here.”

The garden seemed to be flooding from the rain. Streams of water were flowing under the eaves.

Nate begged one more time. “Please, let her go. I’ll do whatever you tell me.”

“I don’t think so. We’re going to have some fun, right, Sophie?” A spur of a smile appeared on Preston’s lips.

Nate took a step toward Preston with his fist raised up in the air. “Enough!”

He moved the gun over to me. “Stay where you are, or I’ll shoot her. And you know I will.” Preston checked his watch. “Anyway, my only purpose here is to make sure you take off that bracelet and let the prophecy take its course. So enough with the talking. Let’s get down to business. We’re running out of time.”

Looking at me, he ordered, “Take it off!”

Nate’s arms and chest seemed to have expanded. The seams in his shirt were bursting. He was gasping as if he were going to run out of breath.

“Don’t do it!” Panic had taken hold of Nate.

“Take it off!” Preston shouted. His voice echoed under the eaves.

“Listen to me, Sophie. Do not take it off. Don’t listen to him.” Nate’s eyes fixed on Preston, trying to anticipate his next move. “Everything’s going to be okay. No matter what he says, don’t take it off. He needs us both alive for the prophecy to happen, so he’s not going to shoot us.”

“You guys are exhausting my patience, and believe me, you don’t want to do that.” Preston shifted the gun again from me to Nate.

“Take it off or I swear I’ll shoot your… boyfriend.” Preston dragged the last word out with irony.

I was shaking. I clenched the bracelet tight with my hand. I had to do it. I knew Preston was going to shoot Nate if I didn’t take it off.

Nate looked at me. “Listen to me. He won’t shoot me! Don’t do it!”

The click of Preston arming the gun was clear over the pattering rain. I couldn’t tell if Nate was telling me the truth. I feared Nate knew Preston would shoot him, but he would do whatever it took to save me.

Preston fired a shot.

My heart hammered inside my chest. “Nate!”

I looked over, but Nate was still standing next to me, intact. Preston had fired a shot at the ground behind him.

“He’s just trying to scare you. He won’t do it,” Nate said quickly.

“If I have to shoot Nate, I can always go through this all again with Cameron, Sophie. I bet his girlfriend doesn’t know about the stone.”

Preston pointed the gun at Nate’s head. “Sophie, I won’t waste another bullet. I’m going to count down from three. This is your final call. Make up your mind. Three.” The rage in his eyes told me he wasn’t bluffing. He was going to shoot him. “Two.”

With shaking hands, I started to take off my bracelet.

“Stop it! Please! Sophie, look at me!” Nate begged in agony.

“Good girl. Throw it over here.” Preston nodded.

As he instructed, I hurled the bracelet over to him. Then he checked his watch. “Nice timing—five, four, three, two, one. Happy birthday! Let the party begin.”

I glanced at Nate, and the grimace on his face made my heart sink. The three of us stood still, looking at each other for a few seconds, and nothing happened. The silence made me more aware of the drumming rain. Lightning flashed and thunder simultaneously roared in the sky. It illuminated the building for a moment, then cast it back into shadow.

My hopes began to build.

Then it all started.

Nate’s body started sputtering as if he’d been struck by the lightning. His head bobbed from side to side. He couldn’t control his body anymore. His arms and legs started to swell and his clothes tore apart. He started blinking quickly.

Another clap of lightning and thunder, then he stopped. He shifted around to face me and stood still, staring directly at me.

Preston took one step back and hid behind one of the coffins.

Nate’s arms were stretched to his sides. His hands were balled into fists and they quivered as if he struggled with himself.

“I’m so sorry, Sophie. This is the end for you. This is the end of your line. You will never serve any purpose other than this.” Nate spoke with a deep voice that I no longer recognized.

“Nate, is that you?”

But he didn’t respond. His eyes were now completely white, and he stared at me blankly. Then a tear dripped down his face. Only then did I realize everything was over.

Thunder rumbled again, and like in the strobe light at Ethan’s party, I saw Nate’s fist travelling in slow motion toward me. I didn’t fight. I didn’t try to dodge it. I was numb. I couldn’t believe this was going to end the same way it started.

The blow on my jaw sent me flying and my head hit the corner of a coffin as I fell. The truth was that the punch hadn’t hurt much, or at least, the pain in the back of my head was so agonizing that I didn’t feel anything else.

Thunder rocked the sky violently.

I was lying on the ground, facedown, but I couldn’t move. I could see Nate’s feet stepping in my direction with the same sense of slow motion created by the lightning. He picked me up by the neck, and I looked into his eyes, only to realize that Nate was gone.

He tossed me into the air like a ragdoll. This time I landed sideways, my hip hitting the ground first. I started coughing and I couldn’t move. I tried to wipe the blood away from my mouth.

I searched for Preston. But like the coward he was, he still hid behind one of the coffins. The moment his eyes met mine, he ducked down.

Lightning lit up the sky again.

Images of the night at Ethan’s party flashed through my mind. Strangely, only the happy parts. The crowd gathering in the middle of the dance floor. Chase and Tyson talking to Catwoman. Alex and Megan whispering into each other’s ear, their chemistry floating in the air. Emma rocking it in the middle of the dance floor. The strobe lights flashing.

For some reason, I wasn’t scared of dying anymore. I’d had the best life that I could’ve ever hoped for: my beloved parents, my friends, and even Nate. I was fortunate to have had every single one of them in it.

Nate kicked me in the stomach, hurling me out into the garden. A grunt escaped as I hit the ground in agony. I couldn’t do it anymore. I felt as if my body were made of stone. Closing my eyes, I let myself be drawn into that peace.

The rain tapped softly on my skin. I could hear Mom’s giggling. I could smell her as if she were right here with me, protecting me. I knew that everything was going to be fine. We’d been so close to getting out of this one, but I also knew I had to let go.

“Beneath the oak tree of Gienne, struck by lightning, the treasure is hidden not far from there. That which for many centuries had been gathered, when found, a man will die, his eye pierced by a spring.”

Lightning again. This time it hit the Vault of Iron, breaking it open with a huge roar. I could see the underside of the coffin as pieces of it shattered on the ground. It was engraved with many trees. All the branches were interconnected from one tree to the next. The Egyptian symbol for the number seven and the symbol of the ankh, also known as the key of life, were engraved under the trees.

Then I understood.

Dad had spoken about the seven levels of consciousness the day he gave me the Syenite necklace. I remembered the different levels. The first is the waking; the second the evolution; the third the sleep; the fourth pure consciousness; the fifth is the cosmic consciousness; the sixth is the God consciousness; and the seventh, the supreme consciousness, or nirvana stage of the soul, where the mind can control the sequence of the universe.

I heard Nate’s steps splashing in the garden puddles. He was coming for more. He stood next to me for a moment, and when I thought this was over, he knelt down and grabbed me by the throat.

My body wasn’t going to be able to bear it much longer. I tried to breathe, but the air wouldn’t flow in. He was strangling me. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the first level, the waking. My broken bones made me aware of every part of my body.

I didn’t have much time left, so I moved to the next level: the evolution. Slowly, I let my mind fall into the numbness. My arms, my legs felt heavy. I began gradually detaching from my body as I could no longer sense his hands pressing around my neck.

I moved to the third level: the sleep. I allowed my mind to go into those hidden places. Those that you lock away in the back of your mind to never bring back again. It brought me right back to Ethan’s party. Nate stroked his fist against Ethan’s face. The fear paralyzed me. I stood still in the middle of the chaos without knowing what to do. I wanted to scream, but the words weren’t coming out.

The fourth: the pure consciousness. Suddenly, all fear vanished. I was a little girl. The sky was overcast and I stood on the beach, watching the unrevealing waves break on the shore. I liked the roaring sound. Drops of water from the breaking waves sprinkled my face, and the smell of the ocean filled my nostrils.

The fifth: the cosmic consciousness. Images of my life flashed through my mind with the speed of light. The flashbacks accelerated, merging into one. The energy of my whole life was concentrated into a single moment, this exact one.

The sixth: God consciousness. Love, hate, anxiety, fear, passion, all the feelings at once and nothing at all.

The seventh: the supreme consciousness.
The divine spirit will make the soul happy, seeing the word in its eternity.
The silence of the depth of the oceans, the calm… the eternal peace.

CHAPTER XXII

THE RAIN TAPPED ON my skin. I wanted to open my eyes, but my eyelids were made of steel. Awareness of my own body was slowly coming back. Every part of me hurt.

I wasn’t sure where I was or what happened. I just knew that my body wasn’t responding to my orders. I tried to open my eyes again, but I couldn’t do it. It was all dark, like a never-ending tunnel.

The memories started coming back, but they didn’t scare me. An eternal peace filled every part of me. The storm must’ve receded, as I couldn’t hear the thunder anymore. The cool drops of rain stroked my skin and soothed the pain.

I needed to know what happened and where exactly I was. Trying again with the little remaining energy left in me, I managed to lift my eyelids.

Nate stood under the eaves. A wave of emotions invaded my body when I realized he was back to beautiful Nate. His piercing dark eyes. His angular face. His full lips.

I wanted to call to him. I wanted to tell him it was over, but my body seemed to no longer be mine. I lay on the floor like a corpse. All I could do was look at him through my semi-shut eyes.

He stared at me, looking like he couldn’t believe what he’d done. He stood still without tearing his gaze away from my immobile body. Then he stepped toward me. He dragged his feet as if he were marching to a funeral. He came to a halt and knelt beside me. He stroked my face and then he broke into tears.

“Sophie, what did I do to you? What did I do?” he cried in despair.

I wanted to tell him I was still here, right by his side. I didn’t want him to suffer, but my mind and my body weren’t connected.

He bent over and rested his head on top of my chest. His shoulders heaved with each sob.

The moon appeared behind the fast-moving clouds. The sky was clearing quickly, and stars were starting to peek out.

I wanted to stroke Nate’s hair. I wanted to hold him in my arms, but I could barely keep my eyes open.

The lemon trees were completely leafless, and drops of water dripped down the branches with a regular beat. The plants in the garden stood still, just like the ocean after a storm.

“Sophie, please come back.” Nate held me, but like a corpse, my body lay lifeless in the middle of the garden.

“Do it for me! Please come back!”

I couldn’t bear it. I wanted to tell him that everything was going to be fine. I just wanted to stare at him, at his beautiful face, his enchanting dark eyes, his strong arms, his smile.

He kissed me as if he were trying to resurrect me, probably hoping that kiss would bring me back to life. Just like it did in fairy tales. But this wasn’t a dream. This moment was cruel reality. Even the soft touch of his lips made me ache. This was solid proof that I was still here, alive.

He stroked the side of my face and followed along my lips with his fingers. I could feel the swelling on my right temple.

Tears welled in Nate’s eyes as he assessed what he’d done to me. Not being able to bear it anymore, he covered his face with his palms, and, kneeling next to my fading body, he sobbed uncontrollably.

He tugged my hand and interlocked his fingers around mine.

This was my chance. This was my only opportunity to tell him that, as of now, I was still alive. I gathered whatever was left of my almost nonexistent energy into my hand and tried hard to squeeze Nate’s hand back.