Mercy for the Fallen (40 page)

“Because we were handling it.  There’s a price…”

“Whatever it is, I’ll pay it.  You said you had a way around it though, didn’t you?  I shouldn’t need to give up all my Grace this time.”

“Yep, I did say that.” 

“So let’s do it.  Let’s get Oriana out here and magic her up.  Then they won’t be able to find us anymore, right?  Eve can grow up like a regular kid and we can stop running.”  It seemed like the perfect solution. 

“Yeah, it’s the right thing to do.” 

There was something about the way he said it… I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but he didn’t seem too thrilled by the prospect.  “What’s the matter?  You don’t think it’s a good idea?”

“I was just hoping to avoid it,” he sighed, looking down at her sleeping face. 

My danger sense kicked into overdrive.  “Why?  What’s the matter?  What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing,” he smiled, getting up to pull on a clean shirt.  “You’re right, this is the only way she can have a normal life.  Otherwise they’ll keep coming, from both sides.   I just wished… I hoped things could be different, for all of us.”

I started to see what was bothering him.  The Grace gave him a connection to Eve, one that Parker hadn’t shared.  I came up behind him to wrap my arms around him in a hug.  “Her losing the Grace isn’t the end of the world, you know.  I can think of worse things than being human.”

“Me too.”

“So we’ve decided, that’s what we’ll do?”

“Yeah.  That’s what we’ll do.”  Adam turned around, and I could see he’d jumped on board with both feet.  “Tomorrow I’ll go pick up Oriana, and we’ll meet back at the house in Olympia.”

“Why there?”

“Because it’s quiet and out of the way, and no one will expect us to go back there.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“I always make sense,” he snorted.

“Look, I know this is bumming you out, but you can still bond with her without the Grace as a bridge.  There are plenty of father-daughter activities you can do to spend time together.”

“Right, I know.  It’ll be worth it,” he nodded, his lips tugging up into a half smile.  “You should get some sleep, tomorrow’s a big day.”

“I’m not sure I could.  I should probably get us packed up.”  We’d broken it down to a science and it wouldn’t take long, but I was way too amped to clock out.

“That can wait.  Come here.”  Adam pulled me over to the bed, carefully climbing in without disturbing Eve or Nelo.  I went into his arms, my ear pressed to his chest to listen to the steady beat of his heart.

I did sleep, in the end, and when I woke he was still holding me, his other arm curled around our daughter.  I smiled up at him and he returned it with a soft, almost reflective smile.  A pensive Adam wasn’t something I saw often, but it made me think he really was growing and changing.  Maybe we did stand a chance at being a normal family after all. 

* * *

“Are you quite certain you want to do this?”  Oriana’s eyes were wide as she asked me the question for the fourth time. 

“Yes, I think it’s the only way, don’t you?” 

“Once the spell is cast, it can not be undone.  Her Grace will be bound until she is of age.”

“Yes, I know, you’ve already explained that.”  I started to get a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach.  “Oriana… is there something you’re not telling me?  Will there be any other side effects?”

“No, no side effects,” she answered readily enough.  “She will be every inch a mortal child while her Grace is hidden.  She will be more susceptible to injury and illness though.”

“So, pretty much like a normal kid.”

“There is no such thing as normal, Matty is often fond of saying.” 

“Right.  So we’re good here.” 

Still, she hesitated.  “I must caution you, I will no longer be able to see her path.”

“But neither will anyone else, right?  Those religious guys, they’ll be just as blind?”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“That’s all we want.  The chance to be left alone to live a…”

“Normal life,” she finished for me with a long, drawn out sigh.  “Very well, we should begin.  Unless…” She looked to Adam who’d emerged from the house with his face freshly scrubbed, the faint whiff of soap coming off of him. 

“Let’s do it,” he said, rubbing his hands briskly together.  “But first.  Give me a kiss.  For luck.”

“I won’t say no to that,” I smiled, tilting my face up to his.  Instead of a quick peck, Adam’s kiss meant business, and I almost forgot where we were when he finally pulled away, holding me tight while I regained my senses. 

“Wow, that was some kiss,” I breathed, my Grace casting a faint glow over my skin.

“We can use all the luck we can get, right?” he said with a playful wink, letting go of me to approach Eve.  “You too, BunBun, give me some sugar.”  Adam caught her up in a big hug, holding her close and laying a noisy kiss to her cheek.  He even laid a hand onto Nelo’s shoulder, giving it a brief squeeze before he carried Eve out into the driveway where Oriana had drawn a large four square in white chalk. 

“Alright then, everybody take their places,” Oriana called out brightly, steering Eve to one of the spaces.  “There’s a good girl.  Nelo, you’d best get in there too.”

That was news to me, I hadn’t known we were going to involve him at all.  “Why?  He doesn’t like being out in the daylight.”

“It’s going to be okay,” said Adam.  “Oriana knows her stuff.” 

Oriana’s smile at the compliment was dazzling and she coaxed Nelo into the morning sun with a wave.  “The spell will bind Nelo’s darkness as well so it can’t be sensed.” 

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”  Still, I didn’t like having things sprung on me.  I’d learned not to appreciate surprises all that much.  I noticed a small box in Adam’s hands for the first time, about the size of a deck of tarot cards, intricately carved with Celtic knotwork.  “What’s in that?”

“The power we need to pull the spell off for good.”

“Where did you get it?”  I remembered him saying something about calling in some favors from his brothers, but we hadn’t had much time to talk about the specifics. 

“What difference does it make so long as I’ve got it covered?” he snapped, and I looked up at him in surprise.  “Shit, sorry.  I guess I’m a little edgy about this.  Don’t worry about this, Mercy, we’re doing the right thing.”

“I know,” I said softly. I hadn’t had any doubts until that morning.  But something was off…

“It’s time to begin.  Each to your own squares please.”  Oriana physically separated us, placing Adam in one square and me in another.  She took her place in the final remaining square.

“Why?”

“It’s necessary, for your safety.” 

“If you say so. You’re not scared, are you, Evie?”  She hadn’t looked the least bit frightened, but as she stood there with Nelo’s hand in hers, I saw a flicker of worry behind her eyes.

“No, Momma.  Uncle Adam explained it all to me, I’m not afraid.”

I nodded, looking to Oriana to begin.  We stood waiting, each of us in a different quadrant, like we were about to play the weirdest game of four square ever while she lifted her face to the sky.  The words were different, unlike the guttural chant in the demonic language Dahlia had used.  These sounded more lyrical, reminding me of those Elvish passages in the
Lord of the Rings
.  It was still all Greek to me, but the tingle of magic in the air convinced me it was more than pretty gibberish. 

The air around Eve’s body started to glow, visible even in the daylight, her Grace a beacon. I was glad we weren’t doing this at night or we would’ve attracted every demon in the county.  Nelo let go of her hand, as if it burned, but Eve showed no signs of discomfort.  A soft breeze fluttered Oriana’s pale hair, but it didn’t touch Eve’s or mine.  I started to feel warm, like I was standing next to a raging fire, but whatever she was doing wasn’t accessing my Grace, there was no telltale glow. 

Adam on the other hand blazed bright, more dazzling than Eve, and I could see the sweat standing out on his brow from the effort it cost him.  He was using up too much of his own Grace instead of relying on the Grace he’d collected from his brothers.  “Hey, open the box,” I called out to him, more worried for his sake than the risk of messing up the spell at that point. 

He wouldn’t meet my eyes, his chest heaving as he sank to his knees, his Grace crackling and flickering around him like a bug zapper.  It sparked a memory from the dim recesses of my mind – of Sam standing over me in the hospital, his aura faltering after giving me his Grace.  I started forward, spell be damned, but ran face first into an invisible barrier, like the one in Midian.  My hands came up to push at the forcefield, but I was trapped like a mime gone horribly wrong.  “Adam!” I yelled, my voice sounding small to my ears, muffled by the powerful magic encasing us.  “Oriana, what are you doing?”

The petite witch ignored me, her lips moving soundlessly as she continued her chant, hands raised to the heavens.  Nelo had crouched into a ball, his darkness partially obscuring him from my view while Eve stood beside him, staring into space.

“Now!” Oriana commanded, her voice reverberating through the square prison.  Adam opened the box, to my relief, but instead of a flow of supportive Grace as I’d been anticipating, nothing rushed out.  It sucked the Grace right out of Eve in a river of pure light.  At the same time, the darkness around Nelo shifted and dissipated, leaving the huddled form of a naked little man shivering beside her. 

I stared in wonder before a groan drew my attention back to Adam, who swayed on his knees, his skin waxy and pale.  “Adam?” I called out, but he ignored me, focusing on the box.  “Adam, stop it!  It’s taking too much.  Let me help you!”  Tears spilled from my eyes as I started to grasp what his intent was all along. 

“Oriana, stop… you have to let me help him.  Take my Grace to finish the spell!”

The witch gave no sound that she’d heard me at all, her intent tightly focused while her body wavered like a leaf caught on the wind.  

“Adam, look at me!” I demanded, beating against the unseen barrier, wondering if I could blast through it with my Grace.  His hand came to rest on the other side of the invisible wall, palm to palm, but not touching.  Confusion clouded his blue eyes, but I could reach him, I was sure of it.  

“Yes, you can stop it.  Please, please don’t do this.”  I tried to send a pulse of Grace to him, but it dissipated into the barrier, having no effect on him whatsoever.  “Adam, please… I need you,” I pleaded, chest heaving in desperate panic. 

His lips quirked into an almost smile.  “Always… love you…” he breathed, the confusion clearing for one long moment frozen in time, before he disappeared in a brilliant flash of light.

“Adam!!!” I screamed, beating against the wall with both my fists and it suddenly failed, leaving me to topple over into the next square, but it was too late.  Adam was gone. 

Oh God… I couldn’t…he couldn’t really be gone! 

I couldn’t bear it.  For endless minutes I was so stunned, so shocked, so… there were no words.  I wanted to die too.  I wanted it all to just stop.  To take away the pain, the loss, the unbearable agony of facing a lifetime without Adam. 

I’d always thought there would be time.  In the back of my mind, even when I was happy with Parker, I admit, I always thought Adam would be waiting for me someday.  Someday, when he learned to think before he opened his mouth.  When he learned you couldn’t bolt when things got tough.  I’d even dared to think we were finally there in those few short weeks we spent together as a family.

Only the moment he did the growing I knew he was capable of, he did a boneheaded thing like sacrifice himself for our daughter.  How was I supposed to live with that?

Numbly, I looked down, surprised to find Eve cuddled up against me, her soft sobs echoing mine.  Oriana lay panting on the driveway, looking near death herself, and part of me lashed out angrily, thinking
good
.  Her head turned, pale eyes meeting mine, and I felt my anger sharpen into a burning thing with a life all its own. 

“You had no right to do this!  You had no right to take him from me!”

Her eyes widened in hurt like a wounded animal not knowing where the hunter’s arrow had come from.  “But… it’s what he ordered me to do.  It’s what you wanted.”

“I never wanted this!”

“You knew… you knew of the sacrifice required,” she gasped. 

“No, I didn’t.  How could you think I would make a decision like this?”

“
It was his choice to make.”

“No, it wasn’t.”  Not when it affected all of us like this.  Eve cried softly in my arms, and I pulled back to try and see her face.  “Bunny, I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry you had to see that.”  First Parker and now Adam… how much loss could a girl take?  She surprised me, her blue eyes shiny, but serene as she looked up at me.

“He said he had to go away, and that we shouldn’t be sad,” Eve said with cheerless resignation.  “But I am sad.”

“Of course you are, honey,” I said at first, wondering at how I’d been the only one without a clue.  “Adam told you he was doing this?”

She nodded.  “He said it would keep us safe from the shadow people.  Am I safe now?  I don’t feel any different, but you do.  You don’t shine anymore, Mom.”