Chapter 25
1845 Words
“Ethan!” I cried, throwing myself on him. “Wake him up, Carmichael! Wake him up!”
“No! We must take precautions first.”
“He told me he was my brother!” I shouted.
Carmichael stood up and stared at me without the slightest surprise in his eyes. He turned and addressed Naomi who was standing outside the hole in the wall, sobs shaking her from every limb.
“Tell Eddy and the Van Durens to get Eric downstairs,” he ordered, “Ethan threw him out the window. Hurry up!”
“Eve! I’ll take care of Thomas, then it’ll be Ethan.”
Carmichael bent over Thomas. He touched his forehead and then lifted him. He led him out of the bedroom. I watched Ethan carefully. Why the hell would he say such a thing and execute the people who hurt me the most if it hadn’t been the truth? But my brother died at birth, along with my poor mother. But could it be the truth? He had the same dark hair as me. His features showed a certain resemblance. But I was no longer objective, now I was convinced that Ethan was my brother. My seventeen-year-old brother who was endowed with the same abilities as me. Faced with this evidence, I was surprised not to have guessed it before.
Carmichael came back about twenty minutes later, I still hadn’t moved or made a sound. He carried Ethan to the north wing and the Pomona room. I followed him without a word. He headed for one of the tower’s recesses and led us down a narrow path to a chamber converted into a prison. The thick bars gave a glimpse of a large bed, a television, a pile of books and a toilet summarily hidden behind a curtain. Carmichael put Ethan on the bed. He took a case out of his pocket and revealed the syringe that was inside. As he was about to insert it into Ethan’s arm, I turned the object around a few millimetres from Carmichael’s neck so that he had to twist himself to avoid having his carotid artery punctured.
“What are you doing to him?”
“It’s just a powerful sedative, if he wakes up with full abilities, we may not be able to control him. Eve, please trust me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted to, at first I even told him about it. But I suspected what would happen and backed off. When he heard you were coming, he started behaving strangely. I wanted to introduce him to you and celebrate your reunion later, but he was the one who asked me to keep quiet and his attitude made me think that it was, ultimately, the best thing to do. We wanted to talk to you about it when we got back, I guess he already knew how he was going to tell you.”
“Did you know he was involved in the murder of Cedric Fabre and Sophia Chang?”
“Sophie and I suspected it. That’s why I took him on trips with me, to keep an eye on him. But before tonight, we had no way to tell.”
“Why is he like this? What did you do to him?”
“Ethan has only lived at Mortain for two years. He spent his entire childhood in London, with the Master Hand.”
“Why?” I said impatiently as footsteps echoed behind me.
“Because the Master Hand thinks you are both the chosen ones of the prophecy!”
“What prophecy?”
“The one that talks about two…”
“Carmichael!” Eric’s voice yelled behind me.
“I’m here!” Carmichael replied, with the needle of the syringe still tickling his skin.
In a microsecond, Eric found himself at the entrance to the jail. Using my abilities, I stopped him dead in his tracks. Concentrating both on the syringe and him, as well as overwhelmed by the mass of information that I had just assimilated, I could no longer think straight and let my guard down for a moment. It was enough for Carmichael to get rid of my grip. Violently, he slammed the syringe into Ethan’s shoulder. Eric engulfed himself in the mesh of my invisible net and surrounded me with his powerful arms.
“They’re here!” he yelled as I struggled, unable to push him away.
Carmichael turned sharply to Eric, his eyes startled. I had never seen this expression before in this man who was always in control. Walking towards us, he put his hand on my forehead. I felt the anger drain out of me like sucked venom. Eric loosened his grip a little. Carmichael watched me.
“You have to run now! Eric, I’ll take care of Thomas, he’s in no condition to move. Take care of her, please.”
“Of course,” Eric whispered, “we’ll use the same method as last time to reach you.”
“Mmm…yes,” Carmichael replied.
“Who’s here?” I asked, a little more lucid.
“Gregory and his henchmen. The Van Durens say there are many.”
“So don’t delay,” Carmichael assured me, not taking his eyes off me.
“I’ll take her to get some things and we’ll leave.”
“What will happen to Ethan?” I managed to say, still numb from Carmichael’s touch.
“I’ll take care of him, don’t worry. He’ll be treated well, I swear to you.”
Strangely reassured by these words, I let myself be guided by Eric without putting up the slightest resistance. Carmichael raised his voice one last time.
“Eric!”
The two men exchanged a look and then Eric nodded as if he had read Carmichael’s mind. I looked at Carmichael, haggard, then turned to Eric. His sublime face sent me a reassuring smile. He grabbed me in his arms and it only took him a few seconds to reach my bedroom door. Suddenly, a crashing noise vibrated the walls of the castle, an explosion! We whirled around to one of the hallway windows. About twenty caste entered the courtyard-garden through the gaping hole left by the explosion, to the west of the enclosure, all led by Gregory in person who stood proudly in the middle.
“Damn!” Eric cried, “the Van Durens thought we’d have a little more time. Now it will be difficult to escape.”
“We have to get out the window!” I suggested as he closed the door behind us.
“It’s too late, they’re everywhere.”
Outside, footsteps were coming down the stairs. I looked at Eric with dread when an idea came to my mind. The hiding place under the stairs! I took Eric’s hand and led him to the place I had accidentally discovered when I arrived. I activated the door and showed Eric. Shallow, cramped and barely sixty feet in length, we were going to run out of oxygen quickly. We hurried inside. Eric stood behind me, knees bent so he could stand without his head being glued to the ceiling. He closed the heavy door, a thin ray of light coming from the ground saved us from being plunged into complete darkness.
A crashing sound was heard in the room, the front door had just shattered. By the sound of footsteps on the floor, we could guess that three individuals were there. One inspected the upper level, the other two searched the main room.
“You stand in front of the door,” came the voice of a woman present among the three.
“Understood,” said two male voices at the same time as the other.
In the closet, the heat was becoming almost unbearable. Eric fidgeted more and more as the muscles in my thighs began to ache. Eric tried to position himself differently, but the more he tried, the more he rubbed against me and the more he worsened his situation.
“I must leave!” he snapped in a low voice.
“No! They’re right outside the front door of the suite.”
“You don’t understand! I can’t stay here, Eve!”
“Eric, no!”
He moved his hand to free himself and his thumb brushed a breast. The effect was immediate, I felt an electric charge waking up in my lower abdomen as the contact with Eric became more unbearable than ever.
“Eve!” he simply repeated.
I no longer measured the danger looming around us. The waves that Eric was sending me were more powerful than ever, he was going to implode if we didn’t get out as soon as possible. But it was a hornet’s nest waiting for us. Maybe after a little patience, the hostile caste would leave the corridor, I thought. Eric tried to push open the door, but I stopped him with my power, which was more dominant than his strength at that moment.
“Eve… we have to get out,” he whispered, his voice choking.
My thoughts clashed. I was burning up inside and my emotions growing stronger every second, I took Eric’s hands in mine.”
“Eric, you can control it.”
“No!”
“Eric…”
“Not here! Not like this!”
“Eric, please!”
I thought I was breaking down when Eric suddenly stopped. Footsteps came from the bedroom. Eric took his hand from mine and clapped it over my mouth. The situation was becoming more intoxicating than ever and, mixed with the fear of being discovered, it only increased my fever. Blood rushed to my temples, my sweaty body was smouldering.
“Gregory asks us to join him in the yard!” spat the female voice, “they’ll try to locate her mentally.”
Apart from our breaths, silence settled in the room.
I was still feeling the aftershocks provoked by our closeness when Eric suddenly opened the door. He sucked in the air that offered itself to him as if he had held his breath for an unbearable time. He whirled around and looked at my face. What I saw in his eyes immediately horrified me. Guilt.
“Eric…,” I tried to reassure him.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a toneless voice.
He stared at me for a moment, his usually determined expression gone pale. He shook his head.
“No!” I begged him, unable to understand his reaction.
But he had already fled. Despair had descended upon me. I turned back to the mirror, dazed. My face was smeared with dust. The traces of my tears had dug whitish furrows on my inflamed cheeks. I understood then why Eric had reacted in this way: he was convinced that I was crying because of him. But those tears were just the opposite.
I rushed into the hallway looking for him but I hadn’t passed the stairs when I felt something prick my neck. I fell, unconscious.
- Writer
