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A man in jeans and a dark shirt moves a step closer to Charles. His expression is sinister, and his brown eyes look almost black.
“You should have known you couldn’t get away with this forever, Charles. How could you betray us like this? And in such a despicable way?!” He shakes his head in disgust. “Come with us now. Don’t make this harder than it already is. Things will go better for you if you don’t resist.”
I slowly move away from Charles, putting as much distancebetween us as possible, and try to get closer to Mom, who’s frozen to the spot, staring at the newcomers. Charles just stands there trying to keep his cool. He shudders faintly and then shakes his head vehemently.
“No! No, I can’t. I wouldn’t talk to you anyway. But he’d never believe that.” A grimace spreads across his face that makes him look insane. “I’m finished either way. So I may as well try. Maybe I have a chance, one last chance. And then I’ll set everything straight.”
“Charles,” the man warns him, “don’t do anything stupid.”
“What’s going on?” asks my mother, finally coming out of her trance. Her eyes dart from one man to the other. “What do you want from Charles? Leave him alone!”
She strides decisively toward Charles, trying to come to his defense. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the bright light, but I can’t tell what element it is. My attention is on my mother, who’s gone to stand with Charles, putting herself directly in the line of fire. I open my mouth to scream, because there’s nothing I can do to prevent the worst, the most horrific thing from happening. The light is going to hit my mother. She just stares at it wide-eyed, unable to utter a sound. I scream like I’ve never screamed before and watch as the bright light hits its target.
Tears well up in my eyes, and I can’t breathe. I can scarcely believe my eyes. Charles didn’t hesitate for an instant. At the last possible moment, he threw himself in front of my mother and intercepted the deadly hex with his own body. He’s now holding her in his arms as the blood flows copiously from his right side. Her eyes are closed, and she’s not moving, and I desperately hope that she’s just unconscious.
He looks down at her tenderly, pushes a strand of hair out of her face, and says, “I want you to know that I truly cared for you, far more than I should have. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I’m so sorry. I hope that you can hold on to at leastsome of what you saw in me. I love you.” He kisses her cheek and lays her gently on the ground. She stirs slightly, and a weight is lifted off my heart. Charles turns to face the hunters. “So, here we are. This is the end.”
He spreads his arms, summons his spirit – a small slender hawk that instantly transforms and becomes larger, letting out a menacing screech. It spreads its wings and hurls a gust of wind at the other hunters, but they immediately launch a counterattack.
Four hexes from four different spirits speed toward him. He doesn’t stand a chance against them, and somehow, I have the feeling he’s not really trying. When they strike Charles, I’m blinded by a bright light and can’t see anything for a moment. I hear a short, blood-curdling scream, followed by a silence that’s even more horrifying.
I turn to look at Charles. Smoke rises off him. He’s covered in blood and horribly disfigured. I go to him as if in a trance; I have to convince myself that this really just happened. His skin is ruptured and scorched, his clothes shredded. I slump down beside him and can’t believe what just happened. Behind me, I hear footsteps; the men are approaching. And then Charles stirs. With the last of his strength, he grabs my arm and tries to pull me toward him. The horror I feel is indescribable, but I yield and bend down to hear him rasp, “Watch... out... for him.” He takes a shuddering breath, and with his last exhalation, he whispers two words, “Two trees.”
I don’t know what he means, and I can’t think straight. I simply watch as the hunters approach, gently pull me away from Charles, and lift his dead body.
Chapter 34
I’m sitting at my mother’s bedside in the hospital, holding her hand and trying to give her strength. It’s only hours since Charles died, and she somehow has to come to terms with the knowledge that he’s no longer alive.
“He protected me,” she weeps. “I don’t know what it was... that light. It was so bright. Probably a gunshot or something.” She holds her head, as if in pain, and then shakes it slowly. “He saved me. From those men. Who were they? What did they want from him?”
“I don’t know,” I say quietly. I hate having to lie to her about this. “But I’m sure the police will find out.”
There’s a knock at the door, and we both look up. Two men in uniform enter. They identify themselves as police and want to question my mother about what happened. I met them earlier out in the corridor. They’re actually hunters working undercover in the police force. Apparently, the Tempes have people in every important institution in order to ensure that the world of the key carriers remains secret.
I get up to give my mom the space to tell them her version of events. They’ll give her the sense that they’re doing everything intheir power to solve the case. But that won’t happen. Charles was killed by hunters because he resisted arrest and attacked his own people. It’s all so simple.
As soon as I step out into the corridor, Ayden approaches me, and I realize he’s been waiting for me. My eyes fill with tears.
“Ayden,” I murmur.
Without a word, he comes to me and takes me in his arms. I can’t imagine a more wonderful feeling. This is exactly what I need right now: his warmth, his scent, just being close to him. He makes me feel safe, and for a moment I can pretend that everything is okay.
Ayden hugs me tighter, gently caresses my back, and leans his head against mine. “I’m so glad nothing happened to you. When our call was cut off, I was really scared.”
“I still can’t really get my head around what happened,” I reply. “Everything went so fast, and my mother was there to witness it all.”
I swallow hard, and the tears run down my cheeks as the scene from just a few hours ago flashes through my mind.
“We’re all stunned. A traitor among us – that doesn’t happen often. And then refusing to go quietly and launching an attack...”
“He was scared,” I say. “He was afraid of someone. I think maybe it was Mr. Brian.”
Ayden gives me a puzzled look. “What makes you say that?”
“They were conspiring together.” I quickly tell him what I heard in the restaurant, and Charles’ final words.
“Okay, that’s sounds suspicious. What were they hoping to find in the room?”
