The Havoc Chronicles (Book II): Unbound (20 page)

Dad’s eyes bulged, and I could see I hit a nerve. “Judge? You think this is about judging you? This is about protecting you from a two-hundred-year-old lecher.” He glared at Rhys. “Go away and don’t ever come back. I forbid you to be with my daughter.”

Forbid? Good luck with that.

And like a switch being thrown, my anger disappeared, replaced by a cold resolution.

“Why don’t you go home, Rhys,” I said. “I think my dad and I need to have a talk.”

“Madison, I can’t leave you to deal with this by yourself. This involves both of us.”

I wanted to reach out and hold him. Embrace him. To unsay all the horrible things Dad had said. But now wasn’t the time. I had to be strong now to ensure that we had a tomorrow together.

“It does involve both of us,” I said. “But right now this isn’t about you.”

“It’s not?” Rhys looked from me to my dad as if seeking clarification.

“Nope, this is about my dad and me and trust.”

After Rhys left I finally let go of Dad.

“I don’t blame you, Madison,” he began.

“You can’t forbid me from seeing Rhys,” I said, interrupting him.

Dad’s eyes narrowed. “Watch me.”

“Correction. You can forbid all you want, but you can’t
stop
me from seeing him. You can’t
stop
me from being with him. You can’t
stop
me from loving him.”

Dad opened his mouth to respond, but I cut him off.

“How old were you when you first met Mom?”

It was extremely satisfying to see the color drain out of Dad’s face. “That’s completely beside the point.”

“What are you talking about? It’s completely the point. Come on. How old were you? Two hundred? Three hundred?”

“Three hundred and seventy nine,” Dad said, his voice hardly a whisper. “But it was a different time, different circumstances.”

“Really? Because it sounds like a double standard to me.”

“You’re too young to understand.”

“I understand perfectly. It was fine when you did it, but now that I’ve found someone who makes me happy, you want to make my life miserable.”

Dad started to speak, then shut his mouth and took a deep breath. “You’re my daughter and you live in my house. I have the right to impose rules, and right now I forbid you from seeing Rhys or going over to his house again.”

There was that word again – forbid. I hate that word.

“And how am I supposed to learn my powers? What about my responsibility as a Berserker and a Binder? Do I just ignore those now, too? Think through what you’re asking me to do. This isn’t about Rhys, or his age, or anything like that. It’s about you not knowing when to let go. You can get all uber-possessive and controlling, but this isn’t about me. It’s about your issues.”

I turned around and walked back into the house.

***

The next morning Rhys didn’t pick me up for school. I kept waiting, hoping that he wouldn’t let what happened scare him off, but finally it was too late for me to stall any more. I pulled out my keys and hopped into Mom’s Jetta, my anger causing me to drive much faster than was probably safe.

But when I got to school, Rhys wasn’t there. I searched the hallways, but he was nowhere to be found. I called the Berserker house, but no one picked up.

I passed through school in a haze, eating lunch alone and hardly speaking to anyone. My mind raced with thoughts of Rhys and what he might be thinking right now. It had been difficult enough to get him to accept his feelings for me, how much harder would it be now for us to have a relationship? I knew he loved me, but I was deathly afraid that Dad’s reaction would make him do something stupid and noble like leaving me alone to get over him.

As soon as school ended, I jumped into Mom’s car and sped to the Berserker house. Rhys might be willing to abide by Dad’s edict of separation, but I wasn’t. I was his daughter, and it was my duty to ignore unreasonable rules and restrictions.

I pressed the doorbell and held my breath, the seconds crawling by. My heart pounded and I wanted to bang on the door, yelling for Rhys to open it up, but that seemed a bit overly dramatic.

To my delight Rhys opened the door. I threw myself at him, knocking him back several steps, and gave him the tightest hug of my life, burying my face in his chest.

“You’re still here,” I said, relief flooding through me.

But I could tell something was wrong.

Usually hugging Rhys was like being wrapped in a warm, soft blanket. This time it felt like I was hugging a block of cement, cold and unyielding. 

I pulled back to look at him. “What’s wrong?” I asked. But even as the question left my lips, I knew the answer.

“We can’t do this,” Rhys said. “You can’t be here. We can’t be together. Your dad was very clear on that point.” He reached a hand up and absently rubbed his jaw where Dad had hit him. His Berserker powers had kept him from being physically hurt, but it was clear that Dad’s punch had done far more damage than I had feared.

“Don’t worry about my dad,” I said. “He’ll come around. It’s just a matter of time.”

“I don’t think so. I’ve known Scottie for a long time and I’ve never seen him blow up like that.”

I shrugged, trying to lighten up the mood. “Well, that’s because you’ve never known him when he had a teenage daughter. These days that kind of reaction is pretty standard. The best thing to do is to ignore his outburst and wait for him to come around. He’ll thank us for ignoring him when it’s over.”

Rhys took a step back, removing himself from my arms. “It’s not that simple.”

Slowly, I let my arms fall to my side now that I had nothing to hold on to.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong,” I said, trying to keep the note of hurt out of my voice. “It’s exactly that simple. This is about you and me – no one else.”

“I’m sorry, Madison, but we can’t be together. Not if it’s going to drive a rift between you and your father. I love you too much to do that.”

A strange buzzing filled my head, making it hard to think. “You love me too much to be with me? How does that make any sense?” I asked. I could hear frustration starting to rise in my voice.

“It’s that–”

But I never did find out what his reasoning was. His words were cut off as a horrific shriek pierced the air. We ran up stairs to find Kara thrashing about on her bed, sweat beading her face. Her eyes were glazed and distant.

“What’s going on?” I asked. “Is she sick?”

“I don’t know,” Rhys said, reaching down to touch her forehead. “She’s not hot, so no fever.”

Kara let out another piercing shriek. “No!” she screamed. “No! I didn’t mean to! Couldn’t control.”

“What’s going on?” Mallika asked. She strode across the room, breathing heavily, her expression dark and serious. She took one look at Kara and the color drained from her face.

Instantly, she sat beside Kara and wrapped her arms around her. “Shhhh, child. It will be all right.”

But Kara wouldn’t stay still. She thrashed around, growing more violent, screaming out sentences completely disconnected from reality.

Her convulsions grew more violent. One wildly swinging fist hit Mallika in the face, giving her a bloody nose.

“No!” she screamed. “No, Eric. Don’t do it!”

Despite her bloody nose, Mallika grabbed Kara by the shoulders and shook her.

“Kara!” she yelled. “Kara, what is Eric doing?”

Kara’s eyes rolled up into her head. “Killing the people. Hundreds of them. Can’t stop the rage!”

My heart seemed to die in my chest. “Is this now?” I asked. I couldn’t believe he would kill people. Not after what he had been through in the army.

Mallika took a deep breath. “I don’t know,” she said. “Has he killed people in the past?”

I nodded. “Back before he understood what it meant to be a Berserker, he was soldier and used his powers to kill thousands of enemy troops.”

Rhys looked stricken. “How do you know that?” 

“Eric told me,” I said. “You and my dad found him and convinced him to not kill with his powers, but he was afraid to tell you how many people he had already killed. He would never come out and say it, but I can tell it haunts him to this day.”

“He never told us,” Rhys said. He looked like he was going to be sick. “He kept it to himself all these years.”

Kara sat bolt upright, her eyes focused on me. She reached out and tenderly took my hand. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so, so sorry. I love you.”

My first instinct was to pull my hand away, but Kara held it tightly, and I didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was, so I left it there.

Without warning, Kara shuddered and flopped back down, convulsing wildly. Then the convulsions stopped. Kara blinked several times as if trying to clear her vision, and when she finished, she seemed to be herself again, her eyes now bright and clear.

“He’s gone,” she said, in a voice so low it was almost a whisper. “Eric’s gone feral.”

Then she passed out.

***

The next hour flew by in a flurry of panicked preparation. If Eric had gone feral, he would have to be stopped – at any cost. The problem was, no one knew where he had gone. As his Binder, Kara was psychically bonded to him, but she remained unconscious except for a few brief spells of incoherent screaming.

When I asked how we would ever find him, Rhys said: “Don’t worry, if she’s right, we’ll know soon enough.” He turned on the TV to the local NBC channel.

Less than an hour later the programming was interrupted by a breaking-news story about a tragedy in Brookings-Harbor. Someone – or some animal – the reports weren’t clear, had attacked and killed dozens of people during a festival at the local marina.

It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.

Mallika went pale and put a hand to her mouth.

“Oh, Eric,” she said.

“We leave in ten minutes,” Rhys said, and he and the other Berserkers began making final preparations.

***

I watched the Berserkers leave with dread and worry gnawing at my insides. How could Eric have killed all those people? Would Rhys and the other Berserkers be able to stop him?

It frustrated me that I was being left behind. I had begged, argued, cajoled, and pleaded for them to let me go, but the consensus from the other Berserkers was clear – it was too dangerous. I was too new and hadn’t been trained for the possibility of fighting a feral Berserker.

“Isn’t it dangerous to be left alone if someone is really out to kill me?” I asked.

Rhys blinked in surprise.

“She makes a good point,” said Aata.

“No,” said Mallika. “Putting you into certain danger to avoid the possibility of danger doesn’t make sense.” She looked over at me and gave me a sad smile. “And given the circumstances, I’m afraid your presence may just push Eric farther over the edge.”

There wasn’t much I could do in the face of a unanimous decision. If Eric had been there, I knew he would have let me go, but since he was the source of the problem, he wasn’t exactly there to back me up.

As I watched the story unfold on the news, I felt dead inside. I should have been horrified by Eric’s rampage, but instead I was numb. Looking at the destruction, all I could think was: How could this have happened? They had told me that Berserkers sometimes went feral, but everyone said it hadn’t happened for hundreds of years.

Now I come along and it happens within a few months. Was it my fault, then? Did this happen because Eric saw me kissing Rhys? I could still see the look of betrayal and hurt in his eyes before he ran off.

I doubted I would ever forget it.

***

For two days I fumbled through my routine, my mind completely preoccupied. What was happening with Eric? Was he still alive? Were he and Rhys battling for their lives while I was stuck in school struggling to care about Physics? What if my presence might have been the tipping point between success and failure?

I spent the majority of my afternoons at the Berserker house helping Mallika care for Kara, despite my dad’s orders to never go there again. I didn’t care – this was bigger than his dislike of Rhys.