The Breaker's Resolution: (YA Paranormal Romance) (Fixed Points Book 4) (15 page)

“What do you want from this?” I asked, eyeing him up and down.

“Do you think you’re the only one who has frustrations that need venting?” He cocked his head to the side. “I hate you. I always have. You’re useless, a vestigial tale. And now, your bitch mother has literally brought about the end of the world just to save your sorry hide. I want to beat your face in. I think you can understand that.”

“And what’s in it for me, besides giving you the thrashing you deserve?” I was already moving closer to him. He was right. I was a ball of stress and anger. And the chance to let all of it out on the first person in the whole world who I ever hated was too good to pass up.

“As if that’s not enough,” he smirked. “If you beat me here, then I’m yours to do with as you please.”

“And what the hell would I do with you?” I asked, bile rising in my throat at the thought.

“A seer with the ear of the Council? I can think of more than a couple of things that might make me useful.” A harsh chuckle escaped his lips. “My word is gospel,” he said, twirling the staff in his hands. “They believe everything I say without reservation. Such is the nature of this place.”

“Are you suggesting that you’d lie to them for me?” I asked, staring at him like he had just offered to part the Red Sea or something. “You understand how big a transgression ever suggesting such a thing is?”

“What can I say? I’m not what one might think of as a traditional seer,” he laughed.

He wasn’t lying. Seers, of course, were traditionally kept away from the general population. They were hidden in invisible towers because being too involved with others weakened their potency. Because of this, they were raised in isolation. Any and all experiences they had were byproducts of the visions. The extent of their knowledge of the world almost always came primarily by what they saw of the future. Because of that, the idea of lying to the Council (or anyone else) would have never dawned on a regular seer.

But Luca wasn’t raised as a seer. His powers didn’t manifest until well after his birth, and his lack of a proper upbringing was beginning to show.

Or was it?

“You’re trying to trick me,” I said sharply. “You want to paint me as a traitor, like I’m angling to convince you to deceive the Council.”

“You’re already a traitor,” Luca scoffed. “We both know that if you weren’t who you are, your head would already be on a spike. So why not go all out? Pull out the stops as the Neanderthals like to say.” He shook his head. “It’s the only way you’re going to make it through this.”

What did that mean? Did he know something about me? Had he seen a glimpse of the future that he was keeping all to himself?

“No deal,” I answered. “I’m not interested in you or the Council. Tell them what you want.”

“And what if I could tell other people?” He winked at me. “What if I could use my considerable powers to let Cresta know that the boy you sent off with her isn’t who he says he is? What if I could show her what I showed you? I wonder if she’d think he was cute after she watched him poison your brother.”

My muscles tensed. He had me and he knew it. Of course he did. I had to do this now, to play along with Luca’s game if it meant a chance at warning Cresta about Royce.

“So that’s what happens if I win,” I said, digging in my feet where I stood. “What about if you win, not that that'll happen.”

“If I win?” He asked slyly. “Then I get to show you something.”

I didn’t like the sound of that and I honestly didn’t believe that Luca would hold up his end of the bargain if he managed to pull out a win. But what the hell. I was frustrated and the idea of knocking this smug bastard out.

“You wanna show me something?” I asked, tightening my grip on the staff. “Let me show you something first.”

And then I charged him.

I swung the staff at his stupid seer head. All the frustration I was feeling- years and years of frustration- all let loose in one terrible, fluid movement.

He swung back the instant my body twitched, as if he knew it was coming.

Of course he did.

My staff hit nothing but air and I wrenched, stopping myself from spinning all the way around.

“Somebody’s upset,” Luca grinned, backing away and undoubtedly readying his own attack.

“And somebody’s about to hurt,” I answered, charging again.

He twisted an instant before I reached him, sweeping his staff at my knees and knocking me to the ground. I hit hard, the breath stopping short on my throat and cursing my luck.

What was I thinking? Sure, I had pretty much thrashed Luca back in training. But he wasn’t a seer then. He couldn’t do what he was definitely doing now; literally seeing my moves before I made them. How was I supposed to compete with that?

He grinned at me from above, and I was a child again. He had stood over me like this so many times, grinning at me, exalted in my misery- misery he had caused.

And what had I done all those times? I bit my tongue and took it. I laid there, taking the beating, feeling like I would rather die than deal with him for one more day. He made me feel like I should have died back then, and that was when I realized it. I didn’t hate Luca, not really. He was a non-issue. Seer status aside, he was an idiot. The Council saw it. That was why they hadn’t even bothered to learn his name before his recent transformation. The genetic testers knew it. That was why they assigned him to a low level security position that a trained dog could do. And the thing that really mattered, the thing that was no doubt fueling his hate, was the fact that he knew it too.

It was in his walk, his talk, everything about him. He was lacking. He was completely ordinary, and he knew it. That made me feel sorry for him, but it didn’t make me hate him. No, I hated myself. I was the one who allowed him to treat me like that. I was the one who was too weak to stand up for myself. And worse than that, I was the one who actually started to believe all the garbage he threw at me.

But I was a boy then. I was a youngling who knew nothing of the world, of duty, of loyalty, of love. But I did know. Cresta had given me that, and damn it, I had given it to her too.

I would never be the boy I was before. I would never be Dead Boy again. I was a man. And I was very much alive.

Heat coursed through me, burning me up from the inside out. But it didn’t hurt, not like before. The fire wasn’t burning through me. It had already done that. It was a part of me now. It belonged to me, inside of me. And right about now it was begging to be put to use.

“Really?” Luca scoffed, looking down at me with white, empty eyes. “I saw that as taking much longer.”

“Don’t worry,” I answered, the fire in me tinting my vision enough to be able to say that I was actually seeing red. “It’s about to.”

When the words left me, so did a surge of energy. Fire, dragon fire as bright and hot as anything that existed on the planet.

Though his eyes held no expression, I could tell by their widening that Luca hadn’t seen this one coming. He threw his hands up and fell backward.

The flames tickled at him, catching his sleeves and spreading to his shirt.

“Damnit!” He screamed as he dropped to the ground and started rolling around in an attempt to doubt the flames. But they didn’t go out. The more he rolled, the bigger they got, the more they consumed. This wasn’t regular fire. It was the flames of the dragon, and it was under my control.

“This isn’t right!” He screamed. Jumping up, he ripped his shirt off, throwing the flaming thing to the ground. “That bitch lied to me!”

What?

No, I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything he was saying or ever would say. This fire felt too good. It made me feel powerful and in control, like I might have a say in all of this for once. I burned as it burned, brighter and brighter, stronger and stronger. And I wasn’t ready for it to be over.

My eyes darted from the burning shirt to Luca. The flames followed my unspoken command, jumping from the shirt to Luca’s pants. I wasn’t quite ready to burn the bastard to death, but I’d definitely give him the scare of his life. Fate knows he deserved it.

“Stop this!” He screamed. “I am a seer, you worthless mound of flesh. I’m a-“

But the flames kept growing and, with them, so did the panic in Luca’s tone.

“You lied to me!” He screamed to the skies. “You can’t do this! This isn’t what we agreed on! You put a stop to this right now or I’ll do it myself!”

“Who the hell are you talking to?” I asked through gritted teeth. I wanted to put the flames out, to stop before I did something I couldn’t take back. But it felt too damn good. I couldn’t force myself to free him. I just couldn’t.

“Screw this!” He screamed, still looking at the skies. “You don’t want to make this right?! I’ll do it myself!”

Luca ran toward me, his hands outstretched.

“What are you doing?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“I told you,” he snarled, still on fire. “I have something to show you.” His thumbs pressed against my forehead and a jackhammer started pounding against my brain. I fell to the ground and, before the pain robbed me of my sight, I saw my flames start to die out.

Luca knelt down. His face was red. His mouth was twisted with rage. “You tell her this makes us even. Do you hear me, Dead Boy? This makes us square. You tell her that. And Dead boy,” he added, standing up. “I win.”

Then he kicked me hard in the gut and I passed out.

*******

The next thing I knew I was standing in a large field. The crops were dead, whatever they had been, and the ground was littered with burned trash and charred ground, signs of a fire.

Was this Luca’s idea of a joke, throwing me in some burned wasteland to punish me for the fire related assault I’d just thrown at him?

I shook my head and started walking. I had been screwed with enough lately to know that my body wasn’t actually here. In truth, my body was very likely still lying on the ground of the Meditation Grotto with my eyes rolled back in my head and my stomach in kick induced cramps. Only my mind was here…wherever here was.

“What is this, Luca?” I screamed, looking up at the heavens even though, with his track record, Luca was probably in the opposite direction. “You wanted to show me something. Well, show me!”

A sniffle sounded at my feet, startling me.

Looking down, I saw a little boy. He was barely dressed. A ripped shirt and pants so tattered that they were hanging on by a literal thread stared up at me. His eyes were red rimmed and tired and his hair had pieces of debris in it. His feet were bare and cut.

“Who is Luca?” He asked in a dialect from a small South American village that my Breaker mind translated instantly. “Is he your god? Is that why you call to him?”

“Hey there,” I said, matching his language and kneeling in front of him. “No, Luca isn’t a god. He’s a…” My voice trailed off as I tried to come up with a word that would both describe this loser and be suitable for a child’s ears. “He’s a troublemaker. What’s your name? Where are your parents?”

It occurred to me as the words left my mouth that this person might not be real. He might just be a construct of whatever weird world Luca had thrown me into. Damn seer powers.

“A-Alonso,” he stammered. “And my mother is gone. The fire took her.”

Tears welled anew in the little boy’s eyes and my heart started to break. But I steeled myself. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. Whatever this was, it was an attempt to hurt me.

“No, it isn’t.” Her voice sounded through the air. No, it sounded through
me.
I recognized it before I turned around. How could I not? I had heard it much more since she died than I ever had when she was alive.

“Wendy,” I said, and then turned around. Unsurprisingly, Wendy was at my back. Her hair was longer than it had been in life, but her eyes were still vacant and empty-like Luca’s. She wore a long white dress that covered every inch of skin save her hands, face, and neck. “I’d like to say it’s nice to see you…”

“Do not worry, Owen Lightfoot. I would not believe you even if you had.” She blinked and I couldn’t tell if she was looking at me or looking past me. No pupils and all. “There is not much in your life that you would describe as nice. Even though there should be.”

“What does that mean? You know what?” I shook my head. “Nevermind. It doesn’t even matter. Just tell me why you’re here. Because it certainly isn’t to cure me of my depression.”

“Don’t be so sure,” she answered, and moved fluidly around me, her hair blowing across her face. The day will come when you consider me a friend, Owen Lightfoot. And it shall come sooner than you think.”

“I do consider you a friend,” I sighed, my resolve faltering a little. “At least, I did when you were alive. Why is it always you?” I asked. “How come the crone never stops by for a visit?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Wendy waved her hand at me. “The crone is dead.”

“So are you,” I balked.

“There are many different ways to die, Owen Lightfoot. The Dragon should know that.”

“The Dragon doesn’t know much of anything these days,” I answered.

“That will change more abruptly than you would like, I’m afraid,” she said in her spooky nonsensical voice.

“What am I doing here, Wendy?” I asked, shaking my head. “Is this because of Luca? He said for me to tell you something. He said this made you even, that he was done with you.”

“Luca is an also ran, and not nearly vital enough to spend this time on. You should be more concerned with him.”

Wendy pointed behind me. I turned back toward the little boy. He was still there, sitting cross-legged in the desolate earth. But this time, something else was there too. A giant snake, hissing with a forked tongue and bared fangs, slithered around him, coiling him up in its tail.

“Fate’s hand!” I exclaimed and started to run toward the poor kid. But I couldn’t move. My body wasn’t working. My feet wouldn’t cooperate.

“You and she are more alike than you know. It’s quite infuriating if you’re omnipresent,” Wendy sighed.

“That boy!” I yelled, trying and failing to break free of whatever force was holding me in place. “He’s going to die!”

“Yes, he is,” she answered solemnly. “But not from this. The Serpent is not your concern Owen Lightfoot. The Constants move on their own. They abide a different master. Look past it. Look at the rest.”

“Wendy, I know you mean well, but I can’t let someone die. Now let me go! I said, watching the snake circling the child and rear its massive head into the air. It was going to eat the boy. It was going to swallow him whole.

“But isn’t that what you’ve been doing?” She asked, looking back at me. “With every day that passes, more people are sacrificed at the altar of what you believe to be true and just.”

“Not you too,” I said. “Don’t tell me that you want me to-”

“I am without desire. I do not ‘want’ anything. I serve only Fate, as was always the case.” She walked toward the boy and the snake, almost floating as she moved. “It is not the Serpent that threatens the livelihood of this boy, of this place. In fact, without the Bloodmoon the Serpent would be resting and free of its horrible duty.”

“Cresta did this?” I asked, not wanting to believe it.

“This village is home to an abundance of natural resources. Decades ago, an anchor was put into place that clouded the minds of any of wished to denigrate the beauty and sacred nature of this land. But the Bloodmoon has rendered this anchor, along with so many others, void. As such, the protection is gone. What you’re seeing is a reaction to what the Bloodmoon did, to what she’s still doing, and to what is to come. The anchors first, and the world follows.”

My eyes drug reluctantly across this place. This barren wasteland, was it possible that it had once been vibrant? That it had once been safe?

“Even if that is true, she didn’t know. She didn’t realize what she was doing,” I said, still stuck in place.

“And does the wave harbor ill will toward the mountain? Either way, it breaks it down. Centuries pass, and the mountain is reduced to nothing. Such is the Bloodmoon. Such is the world.”

“I don’t believe you,” I answered quickly.

“Yes you do. Of course you do.” Wendy’s voice was unaffected. She was a seer. She knew what was coming. “And you do not lack strength, Dragon. But you do lack the perspective necessary to do what you must.”

“I won’t kill her Wendy! I’ll never kill her!”

“You’ll do what you must,
because
you must. It is why you’re here; to see and hear that which you were always meant to see and hear.”

“It won’t matter,” I said through clenched teeth. “This is horrible, but it isn’t enough.” The still sat there, ready to strike. “I’ll get to her. I’ll convince her to undo it.”

“One can easier cut a star from the sky than change a fixed point.” I had heard that a thousand times, most notably from the Council members who told my mother that nothing could save me. Still, it sounded different coming from this girl.