Michael: The Mark (Airel Saga Book Four)

Chapter IX

WHEN MICHAEL FINALLY GOT back to his room, it was 7 a.m. He was distracted and angry. The Bloodstone was gone, picked right out of his pocket, and he had a good idea who was responsible.

Ellie stood waiting outside his door, back leaned to the wall. "Come with me," she said.

They walked down to the park and sat under the bridge. "We need to talk," she said. "Come up with some kind of coherent strategy."

He was starting to respect Ellie. She was pretty smart. He thought that thousands of years of experience might do that to someone. He still held back a little, as was his nature. If he had learned anything from the Brotherhood, it was never to trust someone completely. The only person he let himself trust with all his heart was Airel. His heart swelled with love and pride for his Airel when he thought of the implications. He might not get to share all of that with her, but he would take what he could get.

"All right. But before you even get started," he said, "I know you took it."

"What of it?" she said.

"That thing is pure evil—very dangerous."

"Trust me, I know that."

"Why did you take it? You don't trust me with it?"

"That's not it at all, rookie. I'm following orders."

"From who?"

She just stared at him with a look on her face that said, "You know the answer to that." Then she said aloud, "I put it back in Kim's duffel."

He was stunned. "What?"

"It has already started to bond with her. We both know that. Trying to keep it from her will only make things worse. Some things are not up to us to decide."

Michael could feel heat in his chest. Part of him wanted to scream at her, take the Bloodstone back for himself. He felt that using Kim, letting her have the stone, was just cruel. "Why give it to anyone at all? Can't we just get rid of it, destroy it somehow?"

"Doesn't work that way, mate. It needs a host; it wants to roam the earth. The Seer is not dead. The spirit, the identity that is the Seer—your father—all of it is in that stone."

Michael searched his memories, thousands of years of them, for some sort of answer. He knew she was right, but the darkness he felt in knowing that Kim had the stone, knowing what it might do to her, made him feel like a traitor all over again. "And it's your place to interfere? Ellie, I had everything under control."

"Oh, yeah? Okay, when did you find out she was hiding it?"

He had no response.

Ellie's face softened. She put her hand on his arm and sighed. "It's not your burden to bear. I don't care what Stanley Alexander tried to pass on to you, mate. It fell to Kim. It fell to her and she accepted responsibility, whether that was done in ignorance or not. She's gotta live with the consequences of it now."

Michael sat back and digested this. How could he allow that to happen? Did El know what He was doing? How could He allow Kim's mind to be cursed? Michael didn't have a whole lot of personal experience, but he had his training—he knew enough about the role of the Seer in the great scheme of things to know that what Kim would have to undergo would not be good. In truth, he didn't like any of it. "I give her a few more days. Tops. Before her mind snaps completely," he said, whispering.

"So be it," Ellie said with a shrug.

"That's cold for an angel of God."

"It's cold for one of your lot, Demon Boy."