“Who are those people you were with?” Phillip took a step closer. “They do not seem to be aligned with any Order. Why travel with them?”
He was coming too close to the truth and I felt like a bucking horse trying to shy away from it. “People who I have been able to garner a ride from.”
Regina clucked her tongue. “My dear son, the Order of Luxis may have taught you many a thing, but not how to lie.”
It was a partial truth, but even I heard the weak delivery I made of it.
She cocked her head to the side. “Are they the cause of the imbalance? If the darkness is crossing over, it must mean one of them is…” her mouth slackened as her eyes widened with realization.
No. NO.I cried internally, willing her to bypass the realization she had stumbled upon.
“Phillip,” she jumped off the counter to stand next to her husband, coming at least a foot shy of him. Her voice hurried. “The Prophecy.The darkness shall cross the threshold to harken the Propheros is near. And with it, the dawning of a new age,” she quoted a text I had heard my Masters speak of. She turned to me next, anxiety written over her features. “You must tell us where the Propheros is.”
My lips tightened in an obvious rebellion of silence.
“You don’t understand,” she pleaded, coming closer. “The Order of Luxis is not what you think. If you deliver the Propheros to them, evil will befall us all from their terrible deeds.”
I stuck my chin up. “The Order of Luxis’s sole purpose is to protect the Light.”
Phillip crossed his arms. “Which they do so by wielding deceit and subterfuge. As Chevalier, you could not possibly know what they are capable of. They are more interested in helping themselves, than they are concerned with the fate of this world.”
Regina came to kneel by my side, her cerulean eyes earnestly searching mine. I tried to ignore their likeness to my own. “They have brainwashed you, my son. They will order you to assist in the greatest trespass of all. You cannot trust them. They are using you.”
The greatest trespass of all? What could she mean?
I stared at her coldly. “And I should believe your lies?” I wished I was with Emma. Their words made me uneasy. Though I was clear and true to my Masters, I did not like having my beliefs challenged. It was an insult.
A sad smile pulled at her lips. “We are the Order of Veritas.” Her fingers softly touched my leg. “The Order of Truth. We interpret differently than your Order, as we do not use deceit in our methods. For that, they think us weak and despise our agency.”
I sighed. “Then I suppose I should tell you the truth.”
Regina’s shoulders straightened but stayed kneeling before me. Behind her, Phillip uncrossed his arms.
My freed hands came up to either side of me. “Your ropes could not hold me.”
Before they could properly react, I head-butted Regina, sending her careening backward to the floor. Phillip lunged at me, which I anticipated. Instead of fighting his advance, my hand slipped to his belt, pulling out a small switch blade he’d thought was well hidden against his person. With a glint, the blade released and cut through the restraints at my ankles. I used my forward motion to smash into his gut with my shoulder in one fluid movement causing him to let out ahrmphas he was knocked backward.As I slammed Phillip to the ground, I kicked off the ropes and pushed the chair away from my legs. When he was down, I threw a punch that cracked Phillip’s head soundly to the side.
I didn’t wait for them to recover. I scrambled overPhillip’s body and up the stairs, grabbing my jacket along the way. My hand quickly found the knob unlocked, but footsteps clattered behind me. I threw open the door then turned to see both Regina and Phillip racing up the stairs after me. I slammed the door closed and found a sturdy lock on my side. I turned the deadbolt over with a resounding click just as the door handle shook and pounding emanated from the other side. The door would hold.
It all happened so fast, I barely had breath in me, and hadn’t yet observed if I’d walked into a bigger trap. But as I glanced around at a modest kitchen attached to a living room covered in family photos and various household items and toys, I knew I was alone, and this was neither Phillip nor Regina’s house. A note on the kitchen counter instructing someone named Todd on how to water the houseplants told me the resident family was away on vacation. I stepped out the front door into the cold night air on a suburban cul-de-sac. It smelled like rain but slushy snow gathered in the corners of people’s lawns and along the street gutters. I didn’t know where I was, but I knew I had to find Travis and Emma. Now that the Order of Veritas knew the Propheros had arrived and that he was traveling with me, it was more important than ever I get Travis to the Temple. I had to get to them fast, so using the stars for guidance I started walking northeast, in the direction we’d been traveling to the safe house.
For almost an hour, I trudged north along the darkened streets, slick with sleet. My head throbbed dully with aftereffects from the drug which made my mind foggy. I had left one suburban neighborhood behind only to enter another. I wished to stop at a fueling station for directions, but they were all closed this time of night. The nearly identical houses were dark and quiet through and through, save the occasional blue light from a TV left on. Ice cold rain dripped from the sky onto my neck. I crossed my arms over my chest in attempts to warm myself. Even with my coat, it was difficult to keep my core temperature up.
As I considered the real possibility I would need to seek some kind of warm shelter, I heard the wet slaps of fast approaching footsteps.
I would have thought it was Regina and Phillip in pursuit, but these footsteps came from up the road. Maybe it was a late-night runner? Before I could further speculate or duck out of sight, I heard a familiar voice call out, “Calan.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Emma?” I called back as I saw her form come into view in the middle of the road. The street lights cast their glow over her like they were throwing a halo on an angel. I picked up my speed to meet her. “How did you find me?”
Anxiety had tightened her face. Worry filled her large eyes and she was biting her lip as she ran at me. When she got to me, Emma threw her arms around me and held on for dear life. “Oh thank god, I was so scared.”
I held her tightly, burying my face in her neck. I breathed in the ambrosial scent I’d come to associate with her. “What are you doing here?”
Emma pulled back to look me in the eye, morning frost clinging to the ends of her eyelashes. She wasn’t wearing a warm enough jacket to be out here either. Her muscles quaked underneath my hold in attempts to generate warmth.
She gave me a wry, lopsided smile. “I was coming to save you?” she offered, uncertainly.
