Gage gives a hard look to Wes, but doesn’t say a word.
“I’m not here to discuss it. We’ll talk about this later.”
Wes pulls Gage in by the shirt so fast I quickly create a barrier with my arms to protect both Skyla and Laken.
“Hey,” Coop barks as he plucks the warring brothers apart. “Enough. Not tonight.” He coughs into his shoulder and about ten different people move to the other side of the lawn.
“What’s a matter, Coop?” Wes gives Gage a healthy shove away from him. “Got a touch of the Kingdome Virus? You can thank this guy right here for it.”
“What?” Coop and Laken chime in unison.
“No.” Laken shakes her head in disbelief at the boy I grew up with. “Gage, you’re not responsible for this carnage, are you?”
Skyla and I didn’t want to spread rumors just yet, so we didn’t exactly spread the news about the vision I was privy to the night Candace told us about the baby. But Wes is right. Gage is one hundred percent responsible for what’s shaping up to be the deadliest virus in our lifetime.
Gage doesn’t say a word. His silence speaks volumes.
“My God.” The words come from Coop weak. “I knew you were desperate. I guess I underestimated exactly how dangerous you could be.” His jaw stiffens. “All of those deaths? They’re on my shoulders, too.”
Laken pulls him back. “Stop it.”
“It’s true.” Coop shakes his head. “We’d be running a different course if I would have fessed up what I knew a year ago.”
“Don’t blame yourself for the work of the wicked, Coop.” Skyla gives a hard sniff. “Gage, wake up. Demetri is using you to destroy this world and everyone on it. Entire countries are on lockdown. They say the death toll could be in the millions. If you have any ability to stop it, I command you do it right now. Andthatis an order.”
In some way I do believe Skyla’s words still hold weight with him. But I don’t think Gage Oliver is taking orders from anyone anymore. Perhaps not even Demetri.
Before Gage can answer, not sure that he would have, Emily Morgan staggers into our midst, holding her stomach, retching as she latches onto Gage.
Skyla jumps out of the way just as Em swipes her hand over Gage’s face and leaves a bloody claw mark in her wake.
Em lets out a horrific groan as Ellis runs up with a cup in his hand.
“Dude, here’s the water you asked for.”
Em quickly knocks it out of his hand as she staggers like a zombie over to the pool. She falls to her knees before jutting her head over the water and vomits a stream of lava right into the deep end.
“Oh, Em.” Skyla darts over and the rest of us follow suit just as the ground beneath our feet begins to shake. The water in the pool sloshes side to side, and if my eyes don’t deceive me, it’s beginning to boil.
“Skyla.” I pull her away from the edge as the water takes on an eerie tangerine glow. “Shit.” I hand her to Coop as I try to help Em, but the ground bounces ten times harder and the water percolates as if it were sitting over an open flame.
A bright orange glow appears at the bottom of the pool. A circle of what looks to be fire burns bright and builds as a fountain of water shoots ten feet into the sky and then as quickly as it came, it stops.
The lights go out in the pool before blinking back to life the same ethereal blue they were just before this madness began.
I help Emily to her feet as she wipes down her face.
She nods to Gage. “This prophecy is for you.”
“Prophecy?” Laken’s eyes widen in horror. “Aren’t your prophecies a little more artful in nature? As in you draw them out with pen and paper?”
“Or paint them in blood,” Bree adds as a crowd begins to form.
Em coughs and heaves as the swimming pool gives a simmering sizzle. A plume of smoke blows away from the surface of the water and a large dark stain appears at the bottom of the pool.
“And there’s our image,” Skyla says as we collectively move to the edge toward the water.
Ellis groans. “My dad is going to shit when he sees this.”
