The Breaker's Resolution: (YA Paranormal Romance) (Fixed Points Book 4) (14 page)

“You said I could leave here if I wanted to, right?” I asked, actually having to speed up to keep pace with his old ass.

“I did, and you can. Though I wish you’d hear everything I have to say first,” Commissioner Rivers answered.

“See, that’s the thing. I have been hearing what you’re saying, and I’ve decided that a lot of it is bull.”

The commissioner’s eyes darted to me. He seemed equal parts confused and tickled as he answered. “How so, Ms. Karr?”

“Well, Liv would have me believe that the folks here are satisfied with normal small town life, and I’m sure your little ‘disagreement’ with her was just an attempt to prove to me how much you guys value the importance of everyday life. Very un-Breaker of you. But I know how these things work, Commissioner. I know that movements aren’t born out a desire to play Bingo on Saturdays and gather outside the barbershop to talk. And, regardless of how authentic this recreation of the Andy Griffith Show might be, this is definitely a movement. So tell me, Commissioner Rivers, and understand that-if I don’t believe the answer- I’m out of here quicker than you can count your chest medals, what do you people want with me?”

Commissioner Rivers stopped short. His eyes narrowed, but his face didn’t lose even a hint of the amusement it held.  “You get right to the point, don’t you?”

“It’s a commodity that I value. Answer the question,” I barked.

“You’ve lit the world up, Ms. Karr. We’ve watched you for quite some time and, to be completely honest with you, if Allister Leeman hadn’t set forth the series of events that brought your true nature into fruition, we would have. Albeit, in a much more bloodless fashion.”

“Why would you want that?” I asked, my hands balling into fits. “Why would you want to turn me into the things that ends the world?”

“Is that what you think?” He asked, near breathless. “The Breakers have taught you only the strictest translations of their prophecies, haven’t they?”

“Don’t play games with me. I know what the prophecies mean,” I answered, my voice probably louder than it should have been.

“I don’t think you do, Ms. Karr. Because, if you did, you’d know what you’ve just caused.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, my blood chilling. “What did I just cause?”

Commissioner Rivers cleared his throat and straightened his stance. “When you brought the bloodmoon into fruition over the Hourglass, it reacted the only way it could. Binds that had been placed all over the world by Breakers started to snap. Anchors began to lose their potency. Shade that Breakers put into place years, decades, even a century before started to crumble and disappear.”

“That’s not true,” I said quickly. “That can’t be true. If it was, then that would mean-”

“That the world that they put up, that the lies that they fed to mankind for all these years are finally being brought to light. But you have to keep going, Cresta. What you did was only the beginning. You have to stay the path if you really want to free the world of all of this tyranny. I know what they told you about the Damanatus, that her death would mean something horrible for you.”

“That I would kill children,” I said, tears burning behind my eyes. “That I would kill all the children in the whole world.”

“Again, such strict translations,” he sighed. “It doesn’t say anything about children. It speaks to the innocent of the world, to the uninitiated. It doesn’t mean that you’ll kill any children, Cresta. You know yourself well enough to know that could never happen. What it means, what we want from you, is to free all the people whose lives have been touched by the machinations of the Breakers, to open their eyes, to remove the world of the innocent by replacing turning them into the learned. We want to give the people of the world control over how they want to live their lives. And we need you to help us do it.”

My mind was racing, and my face must have betrayed as much. Because Commissioner Rivers leaned in. “You only said you had to believe it. You never said anything about having to like it.”

“I-I don’t know,” I answered, really unable to process anything. “I don’t know that I can do that. I don’t know that I want to.”

“I understand that. Of course, I do. And I don’t expect you to have an answer right now. Just considering it is enough. But, if you’ll allow me, I’d like to show you the package. I’d like to give you a full view of what we have to offer you here.”

“I don’t-I don’t know,” I repeated.

“It’s just right here,” he answered, pointing to the door we now stood in front of. “We’ve made it the entire way. All that’s left to do is walk in.”

Without waiting for me to answer, Commissioner Rivers pushed open the door. He followed and, though I was still a bit shell shocked, I went in behind him.

The corridor I found myself standing in was vast and dark, lit only by ambient light coming from a room at the end.

“Just follow me, he answered and marched toward the light.

Y mind went back to the crone’s temple as I followed, to the long hallway and the pictures of Seers from all throughout history. I wished Wendy was with me now. Sure, I wouldn’t be able to decipher anything she said, but at least I’d have a friend. At least I’d have someone. But she was dead, just like all the others. And I’d have to make due on my own.

Commisioner Rivers settled at the edge of the corridor, staring out into the brightness of the room at the end. As I approached, I heard chatter coming from it. People were guarding this package, whatever the hell it was.

Another figure appeared in the doorway. It was Marco, the boy from the street. “Hey Cresta. I’m so glad you could make it. They’ve all been talking about you.”

“Who?” I muttered as I neared the room. But as I approached him, he moved out of the way. I could see the room, bright white and cheery. And I could see the package.

And it took my breath away.

There, sitting along a series of tables, drinking tea and eating finger sandwiches, sat Casper, Dahlia, Jiqui, and Royce. They were there. They were all there, alive, smiling.

“This isn’t real,” I said, unable to stop torrents of tears from pouring down my face.

“Hey now, Sweetheart,” Royce said, standing up and walking to meet me. “Don’t let your face get so long. It’s all gonna be okay.”

“You’re not here,” I said. “This is the field, the machines they have. They’re making me see the thing I want. They’re trying to convince me to do what they need me to do.”

“Am I the thing you want?” He asked, settling in front of me, brushing moisture off my cheek and entwining his fingers with mine. “I’m here, Sweetheart. We’re all here. Your barrier, it saved us. It was strong as hell, just like you. I tried to get to you, but you were already gone. And when these folks said they could bring us to you, we had to take them up on it.” He grinned. “Of course, it didn’t that she was the one doing the asking.”

“Who?” I said, my brows raising. “Who said that?”

“I did.” A voice chimed in from behind Royce.

I looked past him and, once again, the breath left my body. She stood there arms folded, staring like she had never abandoned me, like she had never abandoned us.

Laurel Luna, my former therapist, my biological mother was right here. And she had a lot of explaining to do.

“It’s good to see you,” she said, biting her lip just like I always did. “It’s really good.”

“No,” I stammered. “No. No No. I can’t. I just- I can’t.”

“I told you it was too soon, Momma,” Royce said from in front of me. And just like that, two syllables instantly made me ridiculously confused and horribly sick.

“Did you just call her Momma?” I stumbled away from him. “Did you just call
my
biological mother Momma?!”

He moved toward me and I threw my hands up to stop him.

“It ain’t like that, Sweetheart. There’s no blood there.” He motioned to her and then back to me. “There’s no blood here. My own parents were about ready to throw me out with the bathwater. So your mother took me in. She raised me. I told you she saved my life, Sweetheart. I just didn’t tell you that she did it every day.”

“So my biological mother raised you? Like, baked you cookies and helped you with your homework?” It was stupid, but tears started welling behind my eyes.

“Is that a bad thing?” Royce asked, his brow furrowing.

“I don’t- I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I don’t know anything right now.”

“Well then let me help you,” Laurel Luna said, moving toward me. “I want to help you Cresta.”

“Help me with what?” I balked, barely able to look at her.

“Well,” she swallowed hard. “With ending the world.”

“
This doesn’t make any sense.”

It seemed like I had been saying that for hours now. Ever since Echo sauntered into that room, less a finger and full of contradictions, it seemed the world was on edge. The Council knew where Cresta was, some little town in Maryland named Clarity. And how did they know? Because Echo told them.

But why? The last time I saw Echo, he was full on in Cresta’s corner. He tortured me the first time I met him, in part, because he thought I was spying on her. He was the closest thing she had to a father for fate’s sake. The idea that, not only would he betray her, but he would betray her in a manner that would cost her life seemed unimaginable to me. But here it was. What had happened? What sequence of events could possibly be enough to explain this away?

“I need to know,” I said, arms folded and eyes fixed at the door.

I was in the Medic Bay, still recovering from the ill-advised trip that Sevie (or whatever it was that was now occupying Sevie’s headspace ) put me on. And it was a good thing too. Merrin was with me, though she was so weak that it was her, not me, laying in the bed. If the Council was to be believed, I’d have to consummate our relationship if her condition was ever going to improve and if I was to keep myself from going down a similar path. But I couldn’t think about that right now, not with everything else going on.

“I just need to know.”

“What good would that do?” Mother asked, sitting beside Merrin and stroking her hair. “It wouldn’t change anything. They know where she is now. The reasons behind Echo’s actions are superfluous at this point. Things
will
move forward, regardless of the rest of it.”

“I understand that,” I said without looking at her.  Of course, I understood that. It had been laying on my mind like a brick ever since I woke up into this horrible nightmare. “He was one of us,” I said. “He was one of us, and now he’s done this. I need to know why.”

“Owen, I need you to stop this foolishness before your father gets here,” Mother said, her hand leaving Merrin’s head and resting on her lap. “I understand that things have been difficult for you, and I have tried my best to accommodate that. But things are serious now. We’re not talking about puppy love and unfulfilled potential. Cresta Karr is, at this very moment, responsible for the anguish and hurt of countless people across the world. The anchors that she broke weren’t there for fun. And if she isn’t stopped, the world will end. Playtime is over. She
is
the Bloodmoon. You
are
the Dragon. It’s time that you dealt with that fact.”

My head was pounding. Was this real? Was my mother, the only bastion of sense I had in a sea of ravaging lunacy, finally starting to turn on me? And, if so, what did that mean? I would never kill Cresta. Nothing could make me. But was I wrong to side with her? Was what she had done, inadvertently or not, so bad that she had forfeited her right to defense? Was that why Echo had turned on her? Was he seeing something I didn’t, something Mother was finally coming to terms with?

But I couldn’t let it go at that. I couldn’t let her preach to me as if her hands weren’t every bit as dirty as my own.

“And whose fault is that, Mother? Who made me the Dragon in the first place?” I asked, standing up shakily.

“That isn’t a thread you want to pull, Owen. None of it matters now,” she said. “Now sit down.”

“It does matter. It matters, and I will not sit down.
You
started this. Maybe there couldn’t have been a Bloodmoon without a Dragon. Did you ever think of that?? Did you ever think that, if you hadn’t branded me this thing, that none of this would be happening now?”

“Do you know what would be happening now, Owen?” She asked, standing to meet me. “You would be dead. You would be cold, in the ground, and forgotten by everyone but me. So no, I try not to think about that, son.”

“Maybe I’d rather that,” I said, blinking back tears before they got a chance to form. “Death wouldn’t be so bad. It couldn’t be worse than this.”

“Tell that to the dead,” she answered. “Tell that to their families. Tell that to those suffering and losing their lives because of what Cresta Karr has brought about. Tell that to your wife, laying here feverish and weak because the two of you can’t find it in your hearts to grow up and understand that life will always just be life.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“It means that love isn’t always the most important thing. Sometimes duty is. Sometimes compassion is. Sometimes truth is.” She moved closer to me, her face and tone softening. “And as hard as it might be for you to admit, the truth is, it might be too late to save Cresta.”

The door to my room (a welcome respite, given the open air nature of most of the buildings in the Hourglass) slid open and my father strode in.

Petar Lightfoot had never looked at me with much pride. As a boy, I was an albatrose, a soon to be corpse hanging on long enough to ensure my mother’s heartbreak when the inevitable happened.

Even after the tattoo, even after becoming the Dragon provided me an exit from my ‘fixed point’ status, he never saw me as his. Not really. Sure, I was technically his son. I had his eyes, his last name, and before too long, I would probably have his grandchildren. But he never treated me like anything more than a subpar genetic placeholder. I was there until something better came along, someone who wouldn’t disappoint him, someone who wouldn’t subvert his expectations. Someone who wouldn’t force him to become a traitor by association.

For all intents and purposes, he should have gotten that from Sevie. But Fate saw fit to give him a second son whose powerset was placed firmly in the ‘passive’ department. Father never got the action hero son he had always dreamed of. Not until now.

“There he is,” Father said, a smile so rare that it seemed foreign to me, spread across his face. “The Dragon, the savior of mankind.”

No wonder Mother wanted to shut me up before Father got here. He was practically beaming, the jackass.

“Don’t start with me, Father,” I said, instantly shattering whatever delusions of grandeur he might be holding onto. “I want to see Echo.”

“I think that’s a fine idea,” he said.

“What?” I asked, furrowing my brow in surprise.

“It makes sense that you’d want to get a feel about what he knows for yourself before your journey starts. It’s a general’s move, and it’s a smart one.”

“That’s not-” I sighed. “You know what? Fine. That’s why I want to see him. I’m going to mine his ass for information before I go off to make my killing.” Even the words sent bile rising in my throat.

“Just because I choose to ignore it, doesn’t mean your sarcasm is lost on me, son. “ My father stated flatly. “It doesn’t matter that you enjoy doing your duty, only that you do it.”

The idea of testing him jumped to the forefront of my mind. The words ‘And what if I don’t?’ almost came spilling out of my mouth. But I thought better of it. I would never get his approval. Looking at him and my mother side by side now, I realized I would never get either of their approvals. He was staunch and strict, seeing things one way and one way alone. And, massive transgressions on her part aside, she was always going to stand by him.

But I didn’t need them now. I wasn’t some youngling looking for approval or permission. I was a grown man and a Breaker. I was the Dragon for Fate’s sake. So I bit my tongue and let it slide.

“The Council is preparing transport for you now,” he continued.

“Now?” I asked, my head darting toward him. “Isn’t it customary to do reconnaissance for a while before starting a new mission?”

“This is the end of the world, Owen, not an old world bank heist. The former rules don’t apply, especially now. Have you seen what that wretch has caused? Word just came in that an anchor she caused to fall is responsible for civil unrest in Syria. When will it end?”

I couldn’t hold my tongue, not for that. “The next time you call her a wretch. That’s when it ends for you,” I growled.

“Owen!” Mother gasped.

“It’s alright, dear,” Father said, holding a hand up to silence her. “Our son has grown. He’s the man he is. And apparently, that man is one who would threaten his father over the bedside of his dying wife over the honor of his whore.”

“Don’t you dare call her-”

“But that’s alright, dear,” he said, addressing Mother but looking at me.  “Because he is also the man who will do what he has to. Not for us, mind you. At this point, I doubt we could convince him to get dressed in the morning for our own sake. No, he’ll do it for the same reason he does everything. He’ll argue and protest. He’ll swear from the top of his head to the tips of his toes that nothing in the entire world could ever persuade him into doing the thing that he must, the thing that he dreads. But he’s wrong, dear. You see, whether he wants to admit it or not, I know my son. I know what makes him tick and I know what he values above all other things. He will do this thing, this thing that he finds so reprehensible, for the same reason that he’ll relent from his self-invoked celibacy and save the life of his wife. It’ll be for the same reason he’ll cross whatever sea and climb whatever mountain he finds in an effort to make whole what’s been taken from his brother. He’ll kill her, my dear. He won’t want to but he will. Because it’s the right thing.” A smile, dreadful and smug, distorted his face. “And he knows it.”

********

I moved through the Medic Bay quickly, anger flaring up hot in my chest. I had to get away from my father. I couldn’t deal with his smugness, with the sense of victory he felt now that he assumed I was going to have to do what I always swore I never would.

This couldn’t be it. The end didn’t look like this. I hadn’t fought this hard, given up this much, just to be exactly what fate had deemed I would.

But all of my people were slowly falling away from me. Sevie was fading away, replaced by a vacant eyed douchebag as his brain patterns were rewired. Flora was completely gone, a victim of whatever method of horror her uncle Chant inflicted on her. Merrin was laying half unconscious in a hospital bed, her body betraying her as a result of the bond we now shared. My mother had even left the cause. The truth of what was going on, what bit seemed Cresta had inadvertently caused, was apparently too much for her.

But what did she know? She had never looked into Cresta’s eyes and seen what I’ve seen in them. She didn’t know her heart. She didn’t believe in her the way I did. I couldn’t fail now, not with so much at stake.

I pushed back out into the Meditation Grotto. The last time I was here, Sevie had very nearly put me on my ass. I wondered what he was doing now. Was he afraid? Was there even any of him left anymore? What was I going to do? How could I help him, Cresta, Merrin, Flora, and the entire world when their interests were at odds with each other?

“You’re not,” A voice that stuck into me like a dagger made of ice cut through the air.

I turned. Luca, the Council’s new pet seer, stood there all white eyed and sneering at me.

“What in Fate’s name are you talking about?” I asked, tensing as I caught sight of him.

“The question you’re asking yourself right now,” he answered, his voice low and monotone. “The answer is that you’re not. You’re going to do what you have to, of course. And by the end of our conversation, you’re going to want to.”

“The hell I will,” I said through gritted teeth. The idea of me murdering the woman I loved in cold blood was ludicrous, but the idea that I’d want to do it was even crazier.

“I miss being like you, Dead Boy,” Luca said, circling me and shaking his head. “When I knew nothing, I thought I knew everything too. Now that I know everything, I realize how horribly shortsighted we all still are. You
are
going to want it Dead Boy. Not only that, but by the time this is over, you’re going to beg me to let you do it.”

Rage spiked up in me, hot like fire. “I wouldn’t wait on it.”

“We all wait,” Luca grinned. “Your brother, he’s waiting for the statues to speak. He told you that, didn’t he?” His hand grazed a particularly large statue and continued. “It worries you. Does it not? It shouldn’t When they start answering him, that’s when you should be worried.”

“Cut the nonsense, Luca!” I warned. “I’m not interested in your hyperbole and I’m certainly not interested in your opinions. You might have gotten a plush spot in terms of the Council and all of that, but all you’ll ever be is a bully to me.”

“Well then, I have a proposition for you.” He leaned down. Picking up a staff from behind one of the statues, he threw it to me. It stung my hand as I caught it. The wood was cold for some reason. Ice cold. When I looked back at him, he was holding a matching staff.

“What is this?” I asked.

“What does it look like?” He answered.

“Striking a Seer is punishable by death,” I said, tightening my grip on the staff, more out of frustration than anything else.

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” He grinned. “Besides, you couldn’t be killed if you were angling for it, not when you’re this necessary. You know that.”