Barely Breathing (Just Breathe) (28 page)

I look over to where the arrow exited my brother's side and the blood has stopped. The wound is slowly closing itself up. I look up and meet Jack's eyes, "It...It's healing, fast...how?"

Jack half grins and my breath hitches. I look away not able to face him.

"You guys are related to Metea, so maybe you have some of the same traits. She has healing abilities in her blood. She's the only one able to do that."

I look over and meet James' eyes. He smiles basking in this, "Well, this is a nice discovery. See, Ever, I told you when we were kids, I'm Super James."

I roll my eyes and push his shoulder, he winces, "Hey watch it, still not healed."

"Sorry."

Jack leans down, "James do you mind if I talk to Ever for a minute."

James looks over to me with the question in his eyes.

I nod and get up, glad to let the blood flow through me again.

I follow him until we are well past the field where the fighting was. It's eerily quiet. He stops at a bed of coral which of course reminds me of Alex. Sadness spreads through me for what I can't give him but my focus is this unbelievably good looking man in front of me. I forgot how incredible he is. This is the first time I've been able to see him with his fin and admire his chiseled body in his home. He takes my breath away just looking at him. I glance at his face as he sits on the coral and green creeps through his cloudy eyes. I know that to be his telltale sign that this isn't going to be good.

He pats the spot next to him on the coral and I sit making sure there is lots of space between us. He chuckles when I sit down and scoot further away. I look up and meet his eyes. No matter the color, I can still get lost in them.

He takes a deep breath and sighs, "Ever, I owe you an explanation and an apology. I was never really completely truthful with you."

I wait absorbing every word, afraid that he will twist my heart to the point of shattering. My eyes focus on the beautiful fish swimming through the bed, unfazed by the battle still taking place not very far from here.

"I lied to you when I said that I never failed in my job as a guardian. I was to make sure everyone chose to stay on land. There was one that I failed. About a year ago, I was assigned to be a guardian for a girl in Los Angeles. She had family tied to the sea somewhere in her history. I thought it would be an easy one, but she found out about the sea. I'm not sure initially how she found out but she was sneaky and she tricked me into telling her details, she should never know. She decided she was in love with me and wanted to come to the sea. I didn't return her affections, so she got angry. She got us both kicked out of the school and police charges against me for stalking her."

The news article about Jack that I found, pops into my mind. I remember vague details that he had a police record and was kicked out of a school before coming to Pahrump.

He continues, "The charges weren't a big deal. Her following me to the sea
was
a big deal. She made her choice on her birthday and came to the sea."

He takes a deep sea breath and says softly, "Seamus was furious. He kicked us both out of the city. Amber didn't know about it."

He tells me softly "I had nowhere to go, but to the Erebus."

He pauses for a reaction but I wait to see if he is going to add anything. There are still so many unanswered questions.

"When I found you, the first thing I thought was that I'd redeem myself to Seamus. He had been looking for his family line for a long time. He lost it long after his son chose land, but your grandmother brought it to light again when she went to the sea."

"I would help you choose land and show him that I can still do my job successfully."

"But the minute I saw you, I knew I wouldn't be able to stay away."

He turns to face me and blue creeps across his eyes, "Ever, I fell in love with you the minute I saw you. Everything I told you about my feelings was nothing but the truth."

My heart soars at his words. He has always loved me. I want nothing more than to devour his lips right now but I hold back and brace myself for the rest. Usually that's when they drop the gut wrenching bad news, right?

"I couldn't stay away and the more I got to know you, the deeper I fell. When I came to you, it was for my own selfish reasons, redeeming myself with Seamus. Soon after though, Jaspen learned that I was on land watching over you. He used this to his advantage and decided he would start sending guardians to the land too."

"I then found myself doing Jaspen's bidding instead. He wanted you on his side if you were going to choose the sea. He knew how powerful you would be. Then he started messing around with James."

He sighs, "I was ready to leave you alone and never go back to the land again if it would mean to keep you safe and out of all of this."

I finally find my voice, "You made it sound as if you were against the Erebus whenever we talked. Why would you side with them?"

He nods, "I was, the story about my parents, it's true, I fought for the Lior for so long, that's all I knew and I wanted back into the city. Then you started making valid and good points. Every time we talked about it, my mind became more and more confused. I started to see how you thought fighting for the Erebus was right. I just hated Jaspen so much. In the end, I just wanted you to stay on land and forget I ever existed."

Silence spreads between us.

Finally he adds softly, "I stayed away because I hoped you would stay with what you knew."

My heart hangs for his sadness and everything we both lost through this whole thing.

He adds while I'm still processing, "There's a little more...Sara is the girl from Los Angeles. All of this is my fault. If I wouldn't have told her about the sea, we wouldn't be here in this situation."

I glance over feeling as if a rock just hit me in the chest at his admonition about Sara. He looks down at my hand and back up into my eyes. Then I feel his hand on mine and a jolt of electricity flows through my fingers. I pull away out of shock and confusion. Confusion over whether I still want this.

I look the other way and ask, "But James and...she seemed to be so into him."

"I know Ever, she's not right in the head. She wanted to make me jealous. She talked Jaspen into letting her go back to train James. I'm not sure if she really cared about him."

I look up into his eyes and see the sincerity in them. Warmth spreads through my face and down my neck. I look down to his hand and grab it. He sucks in his breath as a shock spreads through our touch. My eyes meet his again and he lowers his head slowly so we are only inches apart staring at each other. I watch as a wave of vibrant blue pushes away any green and I crash my lips into his. HIs hand comes back around my neck. Tingles spread through my body, the good ones not the darkness. I can feel again. Slowly my heart unwinds just a little.

Chapter 51

James

As soon as I'm healed, I weakly push up from the sea of bodies around me and begin to look for Sara. The fact that the sea floor is covered with silver and gold clad bodies makes me want to vomit. I'm usually good with gore but this is just too much. How can this be okay? Is anything really worth this many lives lost?

I decide to head for the Erebus caves. She's probably there feeling very bad about the accident that just happened. At least I hope it was an accident and she didn't really mean to aim her bow at my sister.

I know I'm kidding myself. Somewhere in this whole thing I must have missed something. The Jack thing, and now, attacking Ever. Do I really know her? I'm not so sure anymore.

I swim through the glass doors and fly down the hallway. Her room is in the far part of the caves, past the training rooms, on the opposite end of where my room is. When I stop in front of the door, I find it closed and locked. I knock and wait. There's no answer so I try a different tactic.

"Sara, hey it's James, are you in there?"

No answer.

"Sara, we need to talk. I think you owe me an explanation."

I hear the lock click. Slowly, I push the door open and glance around.

She's sitting on her bunk with her head in her hands. I approach her slowly.

"Sara, I just...I just need to know why?"

She looks up with tears brimming from her eyes, glancing straight at me but it doesn't seem like she's actually seeing me.

"He came for me. He wanted me to come to the sea with him. We were meant to be together."

I frown. This is ridiculous. She can't possibly mean Jack. Now I'm regretting not killing him when I had the chance and Ever is off with him somewhere.
Great.

I crouch down by her bunk so we are eye level. I grab her hand, "Hey Sara, it's me, James."

She seems to shake herself back and looks at me. She pulls her hand away and shies away from me.

"I'm...I'm ...so sorry but she can't be with him. I was doing her a favor and you...you got in the way."

She looks down at my side and back up into my eyes, questioning me.

I stare at her unbelieving, where is all of this coming from?

I back up a little and tell her slowly, "Sara, I'm fine, it was just a flesh wound. Why would you hurt Ever?"

She looks back up at me glaring, "She can't have him, he's mine."

I feel like we're talking in circles and I can't get a clear answer from her. With each thing she says, my heart breaks a little more. She obviously wasn't who I thought she was. I back up and decide my questions won't be answered here. As I turn to the door, I feel a hand on my arm so I turn toward it with a tiny bit of hope. She's grasping my arm, squeezing tighter with each second that goes by.

She glares at me, "You were a game, and I won the game. Jack is mine and Ever is dead."

I pull my arm away and swim out the door. I don't glance back again. My heart has just been stomped on and I need some answers now.

***

I find Ever and Jack amid a bed of coral. They are talking and laughing quietly. I glance down and notice their hands are intertwined. The look on Ever's face is a look, I haven't seen in a long time. She seems genuinely happy.

As I swim up, Jack glances my way and whispers something to Ever. She nods and he swims toward me.

"Hey James, I think we need to talk."

I nod and follow him to a field of grasses far away from the coral bed. He turns finally and explains, "Please know that everything that has happened is my fault and I am so sorry."

I knew the douche was the cause of all this. I should just end him now, but Ever would kill me. So I hear him out. He explains that Sara was living on land before she met him and became infatuated. I'm relieved to hear that he's never touched a hair on her head. But I wonder if it's true because she is so enamored with him. He ends his story with an apology for everything. I accept the apology but it doesn't make my broken heart heal. He's admitted that the longer Sara has been here, the more delusional she's gotten.

I ask the only question that comes to mind, "What do we do then?"

He shakes his head, "About Sara, I don't know. But about this war, we need to end it."

I look at him not believing my ears. Ever swims up at that moment with a look of complete fear on her face. Did I miss something here? One minute we're talking about how crazy Sara is and the next we're talking about ending a fight that is just enormous, no other word comes to mind to describe it. We are three people, we can't possibly end it.

Jack pats me on the back and wraps Ever in his arms kissing her forehead, chuckling.

"You two don't understand. Why do you think they let you go to the land anytime you want? Why do you think they went to such great lengths with kidnapping and planning? You guys are the key to this. If you set your mind to it, you can end it all.

I glance over at Ever, meeting her eyes. She looks as unbelieving as I feel. She backs out of Jack's arms and asks, "What do we do then? It isn't fair that people have died. I'd like to prevent any more deaths."

Jack looks back and forth between us seriously, "The first thing you have to do is decide which side you're on."

Ever sighs and sinks to the ground. I rush to her side and realize she didn't faint, she slid to the ground on purpose.

She whispers, "This has been the problem through this whole thing. I can't choose a side."

Jack picks her up and holds her face in his hands staring into her eyes, "I think you made your choice a long time ago. You just let too many things get in the way and cloud your judgment. Just choose Ever."

She looks over at me as if asking for my opinion.