Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 1 (Afterlife saga Book 7) (24 page)

“What are you up to, Keira?” He came right out and asked me, making me sigh. Then a genius reason hit me and I told him,

“Look, it’s part of a surprise I have for you, so please don’t spoil it.” I told him, which was when he finally caved.

“Alright love, you get your way but you will have to take Ragnar with you.” I rolled my eyes wondering how I was going to get out of this one.

“I’d rather not.” I whispered ‘no offense’ behind my hand, making Ragnar smirk down at me.

“Look it’s just to my sister’s and back. That’s it. And besides, do you really think now I have all these powers that anyone is going to get chance to mess with me?” I could tell by his groan he didn’t like it so I added the last guilt trip, that wouldn’t just affect him when I said it.

“You have to trust me sometime, Draven.” And I hated myself once more for saying this. 

“Fine! But come right back here Keira, I mean it.”

“Sir yes Sir.” I joked back knowing that I was really pushing my luck with this one. I could actually hear him shaking his head at me, so I said,

“See you later, baby.”

“It’s the only thing I look forward to, sweetheart,” he replied and then hung up leaving me grinning like a loon down at Ragnar’s phone.

“What are you up to this time
,
Lille øjesten?” Ragnar asked me and I gave him a coy look as I gave him back his phone, saying,

“Nothing. Why, what are you up to, big guy?” He ignored my quip and said,

“Will you at least promise me that it isn’t dangerous?” I gave him a smile, hit him on the arm and said,

“You worry too much my large Viking friend, and besides…when have I ever got myself into trouble?” I asked him as I walked backwards down the hallway. He grunted a laugh and said,

“I don’t know for I would be too old by the time I finished counting,” he replied making me laugh out loud.

“You’re already old!” I shouted back before I waved my goodbye and started jogging the rest of the way. Thankfully Afterlife wasn’t in full swing yet so I easily made it through to the main doors and out to where my car was parked in record time. 

I got behind the wheel of my good old faithful and started her up, stroking the dash and smiling when she started first time.

“That’s my good car.” Then I checked my fuel dial and said,

“Eeek, bad mommy owner, when was the last time I filled you up?” Looking at the gauge I still reckoned I had enough to get me there and back. I could have stopped to fill up but that would mean going back in and trying to find my wallet and at the minute all I had on me was my phone stuffed awkwardly in my jean’s pocket.

I decided to chance it and drive off anyway, heading in the direction of my old college. Obviously I still hadn’t graduated from there due to my little forced field trip to the Amish war camp. I had of course intended to go back, giving it food for thought. Well that was before all the ‘end of the world doom’ which also equated to me getting shafted by the Fates… in the killing sense rather than the baby making, having sex sense.

It was a sad thought really and driving closer to it only made me realise once more how simple my life had been back then. I couldn’t believe how much I had changed in these few years since meeting Draven and how much stronger I had become in myself.  But then again, it wasn’t really that surprising considering all that had happened to me in that time. I mean, there was only so many times a person could get kidnapped before saying ‘look guys, this is getting old now’.

Long gone was the girl who ran away in fear just from seeing demons. Long gone was the girl who didn’t fight back or stand up to those bigger and more powerful than her. I finally decided that the reason had to be that the Supernatural world in which I now lived had rubbed off on me in a big way. But what else could I expect given the numerous bad asses I had been hanging around with. If I had never met Draven or my supernatural family, then I would probably still be that same gloved, shy girl walking around campus trying to find where her next lesson was. Looking back on it all, Pythia was right, everything in my life so far just seemed to be adding to the Fated list labelled ‘Everything happens for a reason’.

On many levels it seemed like such a cruel statement, especially when one person had to endure so much hurt and sacrifice just to get to glimpse the end. Because no-one ever said that statement when good things happened. No, it was only ever used for comfort in the bad times and with most of those times, you never actually got to find out what those reasons were. You just had to hope that blind faith was leading you down the right path, which was precisely what I was doing now.

And where did it lead me exactly,

To where fate was waiting for me…

At the Library  

Chapter 23

The Way I Play

I arrived at the Library, now believing there was a reason I had worked there. Not only did I know what time the first shift started and the last one finished but I also still had a key to the place. Needless to say this had come in handy when trying to figure out the best place to hide Pythia. Although she had hidden quite well at Afterlife, we knew that her time and luck was bound to run out at some point. We also agreed that it was too important to send her too far away in case anything went wrong or the Fates showed her any new information. So we had to hide her somewhere no one would go looking for her as we couldn’t allow any possibility for her to get caught.

Hence, why I thought of the library.

I waited in my truck for the last of the students to come piling out as they usually did around this time.

“Booo,” I hissed at the window and made the sign of the cross with my fingers as my old boss appeared ready to lock up.

“Well it looks like ol
d
Jabba flappy tongue still works here then,” I said out loud to myself, referring of course to Mr Cox, who should actually be named ‘Mr Cock’ due to the one he usually had attached to his head. I reminisced back to when Draven had turned up at my work, even though we weren’t back together at that point. I had been so excited when Draven had put Cox in his place that I had been bouncing with happiness. It was also when Draven asked me to have pity on him for I was being too cute at the time for Draven to control himself. I was definitely thinking that Draven had a thing for cuteness as he proved last night after my drunken dance to Al Green.

These sweet thoughts of Draven lasted me until the walking penis was in his car and out of sight. I did have to snigger though when his car door got stuck and then bashed into him when he finally got up enough strength to open it.

“And that’s what you call Karma, matey.” I said as I got out of my car and locked the door. The Library was next to Wakewood Hall and I was just glad that at this time of day there were enough places to park as I knew I wouldn’t have much time here. Thankfully it wasn’t exam time so there weren’t a lot of people still milling around the entrance steps. I hung back a bit as two friends made plans for drinks later and as soon as they left I walked up to the double doors and unlocked it. Stepping quietly inside I found it to be a bit eerie without the sight of bodies hunched over the large desks.

“Hello?” I whispered making myself known and walking further inside to where she would hopefully hear me. I had told her that as long as she kept out of the way, back with the encyclopaedias of insurance, taxation and tax policy, then she should never be found as that place gathered as much dust as under Draven’s bed.

I walked towards that section, only barely remembering where it was.

“Pythia?” Again I called out and finally I saw her emerge from the back with a book in her hand. I almost laughed when I read the title and asked her,

“Research?” nodding to the copy of ‘The Time Machine’ by H. G. Wells.

“I thought it couldn’t hurt,” she said, placing it back down on the shelf, no doubt for later.

“Did you know that I’d come here?” I asked and she nodded.

“I wasn’t sure when but I foresaw our conversation.” I looked around the corner to see that she had her makeshift bed already set up for the night, which was simply a sleeping bag and a small pillow.

“I know it doesn’t look very comfy as you have to hide it every morning but is it...”

“It’s fine, quite a bit more comfortable than an empty cell in the Temple, I can assure you.” When she said this I realised just how rough Pythia had been living, at least for the last few weeks.

“And your food supply, do you need any more?” She smiled at me and said,

“Ranka continues to look out for me. Now I know you are not here to talk to me about comfort, so why don’t you ask me what you really came here for…ask me about Ari.” I took a deep breath and just came out and asked it,

“Who is she…really?” Pythia released a sigh and motioned with her hand for us to take a seat at one of the tables.

“You’re asking the wrong question, Electus,” she informed me and I couldn’t help but frown at her.

“Think back to how she came to be in your life…where you and she started.” I did as she said and gave it some thought, knowing she wanted me to start at the beginning…
the beginning of us.

“Why did they need her?” I asked instead and Pythia’s eyes grew wide and she slapped her hand down on the table, saying,

“Now that’s the question isn’t it?”

“But I don’t understand why they would…”

“No but now you’re thinking about it and you should be.” At this point I wanted to scream in frustration. Pythia put her slim, henna painted hand on my arm, no doubt to try and calm me.

“Remember, there are some things I can’t say.” I released a pent up sigh and said,

“I know, I’m sorry, it’s just I came here for answers but all it looks like I am going to leave with is more questions.”

“It will all come to light in time.”

“Unfortunately time is something I don’t have Pythia, you know that.” She gave me a small regretful smile that in some way eased my weary mind, for at least she was telling me with one look that she understood.

“Will she at least be back in time for when we have to leave, we know now that we have to use the…” She held up her hand to stop me before I finished my sentence.

“You cannot tell me what you have planned, Keira.”

“Why not?”

“Because it might then alter what I am allowed to tell you and in this case knowledge isn’t power, it is simply another hurdle to jump over.” Well, there wasn’t much I could say to that, other than to shrug my shoulders in defeat and say,

“Well that’s a bit shit.” She laughed once and said,

“Yeah, very.”

“Well on that disappointing note, I will leave you to your book, may you have better luck with it than I did.” She gave me a confused look and I elaborated,

“I read it once, it wasn’t one of my favourites.”

After this I said goodbye and she told me that her thoughts would be with me on my quest. I walked out of there feeling deflated, knowing it had been an utter waste of time. I had to wonder if Ari had seen her would it have ended up being just as frustrating for her as it had been for me. All this time she had been on a journey to discover herself and it looked as though she was only going to come back knowing as little as she did when she left.

I slammed my truck door and let my head fall back to the headrest as I replayed our brief conversation. At one point it seemed as if she was getting excited, as if I was close to cracking her code. I understood there were things she couldn’t tell me and as she said, not all knowledge was power. So for some reason, because the Fates decreed it necessary, I had to figure it out on my own.

So why Ari? Why had the Cult of the Hexad needed her? I knew in some way it was to keep me under their control and without me t
o
fulfil their plan they had used Ari instead, but what if that was it? What if she was always meant to be a backup plan? No, there had to be more to it than that!

“Think Keira!” I scolded myself, hitting my palm on the steering wheel. It was like looking through a telescope with the wrong lens so all I got was a blurry picture of the truth. Then my thoughts turned to why she was needed on my own journey to the past and as soon as I tried to connect the two, I suddenly had my answer!

“Holy shit…that’s it!” I said out loud and before I knew it I was out of the car and racing back to the Library. I quickly realised that she hadn’t yet locked the doors behind me so I just ran straight in.

“I know what it is!” I shouted running down the centre of the two long rows of tables.

“Pythia, I have it, I know why they needed Ari!” I stopped running as soon as Pythia didn’t come back out, instantly knowing something was wrong.

“There’s always a reason.”
I whispered to myself suddenly piecing together why Pythia had to let me figure it out on my own, giving me enough clues so that I would figure it out in time…

In time to run back in here.

A shiver snaked through my body as dread filled my blood with ice. Something was wrong.

“Pythia?” I uttered her name walking slowly forward until a figure emerged and I stopped moving.

“Stay where you are, we have only come for the girl.” A man’s voice spoke and it wasn’t one that I recognised. He stepped further from the shadows, showing me he was easily double my size and one word came to mind…
henchman.

He was quickly followed by another man, even bigger this time and over his shoulder he had a tied Pythia who couldn’t speak due to the duct tape over her mouth. Her panicked eyes looked towards the door, no doubt telling me to run. But this was something I was no longer programed to do. I knew why Katie had needed to come into my life, right there and then, I knew. I felt it coming, like a current of anger coursing through me in the form of electricity. I started to get that familiar tingling in my fingers and I knew it was coming.

And now thanks to Katie, I welcomed it.

When Katie had unleashed these powers within me I knew it was like knocking down the last wall that I myself had spent a lifetime building. I didn’t even realise all that time ago, back when I tried to keep the monsters out, that I had been guarding myself and creating protective barriers. Only the difference now was that I fully understood that it wasn’t against the monsters as I first thought…

It had been against myself.

But as Katie, I had been free to explore my new powers without fear or doubt. The simple reason being, there was no need to ask as Katie, because as far as she was concerned, she had no walls of protection.

And now, neither did I.

Katie had freed me and now these thugs were going to pay for it.

Pythia recognised the signs before the two lackeys did as she started twisting and murmuring, probably for me to stop or, who knows, even to warn them of the immediate danger coming their way.

“Just deal with her.” The one holding Pythia said, nodding to me. I grinned at them both for I knew what they didn’t. I knew the level of power I felt pulsating off of me like my heart had doubled in size. It was pumped around my body until I looked down at my hands and saw it for myself. It reminded me of being a kid and putting a torch behind your fingers to try and see the bones. That red glow of your blood and the veins you saw there, it had been fascinating, just as it was to me now.

I lifted up my hand and that same current I felt started to flicker into little sparks before forking out into bigger ones, like tiny lightning bolts were travelling around my flesh, growing bigger and extending outwards. For a small moment in time everything stopped around me and it seemed as though I was the only one moving in real time. I was stuck between a place of wonder and amazement but also real anger that they thought they could just come in here and take her. As soon as my thoughts shifted over to my rage it started to spark and crackle as if building up power.

Then everything seemed to happen at once. I turned my head just as the thug was reaching out to grab me and the second he saw the power I held, was the second he also knew it was too late. All I needed to do was to extend my fingers and whoosh, the current of power shot from my hand in an explosion of light.

“By the Gods!” The other man screamed at the sight of his friend being catapulted backwards as though he had been standing next to a bomb when it went off.

“Oh the Gods can’t save you now…
let’s play.”
  I said in a voice that didn’t belong to me, but it was still my choice to speak the words. Then I raised both hands, holding them apart until they started to vibrate as the power built. I then slapped them together, creating a thundering shockwave to ripple from my joined fingertips and travel towards the other man. It tore up the floor as though it had been made from paper, splintering wood and arching it backwards as though heavy machinery had just ran a line through it.

“Oh shit.” This was all the man had time to say when he and Pythia were split apart, with the thug flying one way and the Oracle travelling the other. The difference was I caught Pythia so that she wasn’t hurt.

I suddenly had hold of her in what was acting like an extension to my fist and I lowered her down gently, seeing that she was unconscious. I was so preoccupied by watching the Oracle that I didn’t realise what was happening to the side of me. Not until I heard the tables burst upwards into the air and come flying my way. I turned my head in anger and snarled at the glowing Angel who was trying to hurt me and my friend. But I was too late, the tables crashed into me, smashing my body backwards and catapulting me into the checkout desk, destroying it as though I had been a human wrecking ball.

I shook my head asking myself why I wasn’t dead from the impact when I noticed the electric ball that surrounded me. I looked as though I was inside one of Draven’s orbs of power and I reached out to the surface seeing it react to me in a sort of communicating purr. It wanted the comfort that I was alright and I had no clue how I knew that, as it was just a feeling.