Prophecy (Residue Series #4) (33 page)

“It was,” she said, nodding. “It was.”

And I felt a smile break through, because she gave me hope. “I think we can do it again.”

And then it was her smile rising up as she processed what I meant. “Yes, we can.”

“This ain’t right!” A shout suddenly came from the crowd.

“Let them live!” Another called out.

“LET THEM LOVE!”

That spark of opposition inspired unrest, which meant our limited time had come to an end. Any reengagement now would surely kill our dwindling number of fighters, unless Jocelyn and I could do what we planned.

Sartorius, as if sensing this, strode quickly toward us, breaking through the Weatherfords line, and shoving a dagger into Jocelyn’s hand. I never let go of her, as he did this, already feeling her strength coming through me.

His abrupt move quieted the audience.

“Take his life or every Dissident and Defector here will die.”

When Jocelyn didn’t respond, he raged with so much force his breath battered the sides of our faces. “DO IT NOW!”

But another voice, with equal intensity, boomed through the bayou in response. I’d heard it countless times before when it took command over groups of students. I’d never once heard it addressing a Seven or a group of Vires. Regardless, here and now, it held the same amount of poise and austerity.

“We will die, Sartorius, but it will not be today.”

Ms. Veilleux appeared through the trees, winding her way between moss-covered trunks, her black dress swaying with her weaving. The rest of her coven followed in the same way with a long stream trailing behind. Some rode brooms, some entered by way of levitation, but all had one element in common. They wore family stones.

So they didn’t abandoned us…They left to collect the rest of the provinces to fight alongside us.

Sartorius recognized his defeat before it came and launched into a tirade. “Attack! Attack! Attack!”

Vires swarmed the line as it scattered. Our reinforcements broke apart, swooping in from the sides. And again the sky and docks overflowed.

Jocelyn and I didn’t move. That force I was so familiar with, the one that I’d felt that night in my shack, grew steadily, becoming so intense it left me breathless. I released it as rapidly as I accepted it, until I became nothing more than a conduit, expelling it outward, targeting everyone not wearing a Vire uniform.

My hands remained on Jocelyn’s face, hers settled on my hips, and our eyes locked together. But as the noise increased around us, I knew they felt our power. There were shouts of excitement and the intensified sounds of those using their newly acquired traits. No one shouted they could now levitate or form a water spout or channel. They were too busy defending and counterattacking their adversaries. But we knew, we all knew, it was happening…Sartorius included.

Understanding the threat level, he raced into the bayou where we’d entered, and a second later, I saw two others with wings, who appeared to be Maggie and Eran, follow him.

When the last black uniform collapsed to the ground, a resounding cry of victory told Jocelyn and me that we had done it. We had won. And still we didn’t move. Staring into her eyes, I was in a place I didn’t want to leave. And neither did she.

Aidan, however, landed directly next to us, clapping me on the shoulder. “It’s over, cousin.”

Reluctantly, Jocelyn and I broke eye contact.

Turning to him, I said, “Glad to see you’re not hurt.”

He bellowed out a laugh. “Not me, but you should see the Vires four huts down.”

I did look around then, but it was in search of the rest of my family, as Jocelyn did the same. Neither one of us relaxed until we saw all faces, bloodied but still alive, in the crowd. Ezra, Rufus, and Felix were there, too, alongside Ms. Beedinwigg and the winged man they called Campion.

“Maggie and Eran,” Jocelyn remarked, insinuating they had disappeared.

“I know where they went.”

Heading in their direction, a few feet in, I found them in a grove of cypress trees flanking Sartorius.

He was sneering back. “What you don’t realize…is that you’re little ploy backfired,” he announced, and for proof he collected a ball of fire in his hand while hovering overhead. “I told you…I absorb the powers of others. And now you’ve given me all I need.”

“And what you haven’t realized, dear grandfather,” Jocelyn retorted, “Is that it won’t last.”

No sooner had she said it, did he fall back to earth, the fire in his palm disintegrating to embers down his elegantly crafted suit. Those sparks produced enough heat to ignite the few pieces of dried leaves at their feet, where a small fire caught. Sartorius appeared ready to run but Maggie and Eran pinned him down, over the fire that quickly crept up Sartorius’ delicate suit fabric.

“You enjoyed burning Magdalene, I hear,” Eran grunted, mockingly, hinting at where his intentions were leading.

Sartorius fought but without success. “No! NO!”

And as Jocelyn and I turned away, the sound of Sartorius’ end reached our ears.

“That’s it,” Jocelyn said, happiness returning to her voice. “We got them, right? No more greedy Seven or wicked Vire wanting to rise up and control us all.”

I turned to her, took her in my arms, and saw the hope returning to her eyes. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that one more remained. Instead, I kissed her, long and deep, while filling her with the love I felt. And with that gesture, I promised her, without saying the words, that it wouldn’t be long before I’d get to that one too.

21
ATONEMENT

D
AYS PASSED BEFORE
I
COULD MAKE
good on my final promise, before I could do what was necessary to the final Vire. During that time, wounds healed. The bayou returned to normal with the pools of blood seeping into the mud and the water returning to greenish-black. Laughter and the sound of repetitive banging echoed through the trees as the village shacks were steadily rebuilt.

Elsewhere I found signs of recovery, too…quiet ones that you’d miss if you weren’t from our world. Olivia and the DeVilles reopened their stores. The Thibodeaux warehouses were auctioned to the highest bidders. Ms. Veilleux launched an extensive search for a new school location. Defectors found a new life, free for the first time to choose a path of their own. It was interesting that some chose art, which the DeVille’s held on commission for them.

The abilities each of us absorbed from Jocelyn gradually faded until we were left with what we once had. This was fine with me. After what we’d been through, I was ready for a sense of “normal” to return.

The only change I welcomed was our world’s new structure. Since it was left permanently altered, a committee, consisting of Isabella, Theleo, Lester, and a volunteer from each province, was formed to develop a fair and balanced election process. I was given a position but declined. I’d had enough of politics. But they ignored my refusal and said they’d leave the seat open for when I changed my mind.

What I wanted to do, really looked forward to doing, was getting back home, in all senses of the word. It felt like a reward simply to sleep in my own bed again and to wake up to the smell of chicory coffee. And when I signed up for classes again to finally finish out my senior year, it felt like Fate remembered that I still wasn’t done being a teenager.

In the course of all that changed, only one wound was left open, and it weighed heavily on me, until I received a message from Theleo. It was delivered by traditional mail and had only three words scrawled on a piece of scrap paper.

I have her

It was exactly the kind of message I expected from him. Short, to the point, and yet nondescript. He wasn’t much for elaborate communication, but he always got the job done.

Because this wasn’t my wound to heal, I sent my own message to the necessary parties, telling them when and where to meet me. I had planned to harass Charlotte or Vinnia for a lift to the meeting site, but when Jocelyn dropped past my window just before daybreak I knew she was going to insist on being present.

“You were going to leave me behind?” she said, before I even had both feet out the back door. “For this of all things?”

“Muffin?” I offered, holding one out to her.

She took it.

“Jameson,” she demanded.

I was already down the steps and in the yard, the dew creeping up the cuff of my jeans, before I stopped and turned. “Jocelyn, I’m not sure what they’re going to do to her. I’m trying to spare you the-”

“Well, you can stop,” she directed playfully as she loped down the stairs. “I’m coming.”

And that was it. She had clearly made up her mind, and proved it by shooting us off the ground and in the direction of France before I had time to respond.

She held on to her contempt for my decision until I reached across and took her hand. Only then did she, begrudgingly, let down that wall. I saw it in her face when her frown subsided, and then in her sigh that expelled the frustration built up in her, and finally in the downward smile she gave after we’d passed the halfway mark. It took that long for her to forgive me. And I realized, once again, that it was a good thing I find her stubbornness appealing.

We made it to the Ministry just before sundown in that part of the world, and landed in the courtyard.

“Huh,” Jocelyn muttered, as we stood in the center, surveying the area.

The Ministry was going through changes of its own, with a new administration in place to make it what it should have been all along – a place for our people to assemble.

“They’re renovating,” I explained. “Removing the stains left by The Sevens.”

“In that case, they should consider bulldozing it,” she remarked, stirring a laugh from me.

“I was actually thinking of something else, though,” she added.

“What’s that?”

“That this is the first time we’ve landed here without having to be conscious of being seen.”

She was correct. There was an almost electric vibration running between the people here. They were smiling, laughing, moving with assuredness. There was life here now, and they were using that energy efficiently, tearing down walls, carving out windows. But that wasn’t what she meant. She was referring to the fact that the fear The Sevens had lain as a cloak over this place was now lifted. Everyone, including us, was free to come and go as they pleased.

That wasn’t the only change made though, and Jocelyn noticed it as soon as we entered the main corridor.

“Everyone’s so colorful,” she noted. “No one is wearing black.”

“Isn’t that nice,” I muttered, without telling her that it had been my edict that called for cloaks to be worn based on personal preference only.

We took the route that led us to the floor farthest underground. Because Jocelyn had no idea where we were headed, I guided, keeping my eyes open for any sign of those who I had told to be here on this date and time. There was no one, because I found that they had already arrived.

When I opened the door to the very same room where I had found the Thibodeauxes, I realized this would be the last time anyone would enter. After what was about to happen here, this place, and all the remaining dungeons, would be demolished. So, in a way, Jocelyn would get her wish.

The room had been cleared of the bodies, which were then given proper burials. The blood had been scrubbed from the walls, ceiling, and floor. The table used to torture victims was gone. Two metal locks were the only reminders of the violence that had taken place here. They remained drilled into the rock wall at the far end of the room. Inside each of those locks was a wrist, belonging to Lacinda.

When she saw me, the scowl on her face disappeared and desperation took hold. “Nobilissss, you’ve come for me.”

“I have,” I confirmed, “but not for the reason you think.”

Ignoring me, she exclaimed, “You’ve always been noble! Always, my lord!”

“Don’t call me that,” I told her, not bothering to withhold the disgust in my tone.

“You are mine! And I will do anything you wish! Anything to please you!”

“Now that you realize The Sevens are gone and that you are alone in this world?”

She seemed dumbfounded, which wasn’t far from typical. “But I’m not…I have you, Nobilis.”

I wondered what Jocelyn was thinking about all this until she strolled past me. She stopped at Lacinda, her shoulders back, her head high. “No, Lacinda. You most definitely
do not
have Jameson.”

With that, she curled her hand into a fist, drew it back, and swung it directly into Lacinda’s jaw. The result was a crack, either from her fist hitting the jaw or from Lacinda’s head hitting the wall. Satisfied, Jocelyn spun on her heel and sauntered back to me.

“Nice hit,” I said as she passed.

“Thank you.”

Now it was my turn to approach Lacinda. Her head wobbled back and to the side before her eyelids fluttered and she understood someone else was facing her. The fear brought her back to us then.

“Lacinda, I gave you a choice. I warned you about jeopardizing Jocelyn’s life and you did not listen. You have taken the lives of others. And now, I am going to give you another choice. If you do not give me an answer, I will make a decision for you. In response to the charges of committing Miss Mabelle and Miss Celia to death, you may face a jury of your peers or you may be delivered to your peers.”