The Second (The Immortal Prophecies: Book I)

XXIV. Lincoln

My knees almost gave out once we made it out of Camelot, and it wasn't the distance I had to run that tuckered me out--that was a walk in the park--or the fact that I fought the same four guys who enticed my training, but the fact that Gwen's legs were cutting off circulation to the lower half of my body with how tight she stuck them into my sides. If that was how police clubs felt, this was enough. Once I let go, she jumped right off, giving me some sort of breather. Gathering myself, I looked at her, finding arms crossed, annoyance in her face and the biggest regret of my life.

At least one of them.

"I might've shortened the explanation that day without intention. And I'm paying the price for it." She sighed, slipping off the prophecies from her waist and running a hand through her hair.

"We are--those blokes weren't easy. Lincoln, I just want to know who those men were, and how you know them. It's enough going back today, but having to fight without the slightest clue is the drop that brimmed the cup over." The table was really tempting to bang my head against, multiple times, but I did the more logical thing for once and told her to sit down, plopping down myself, with the help of the weight of my world coming back from the cemetery I dug it into. I'd think of it as karma for the times I asked too many questions in class.

"Look, it's a long story, one that's not easy to share in storytime--brings the worst of memories. Those guys back there are another group of 'Pillars' that are Morgana's posse--she calls them the Vultures, I guess to sound terrorizing." Even though annoying could qualify as the same definition. "Point is, they can do what we can, they're just on opposite end of the field. And before I knew I belonged here, I sort of found myself with them."

"You were a part of them," she clarified, objectively.

"Yeah, well I wasn't proud to be, alright? They found me after I saw Símon on my second time, and they had what I needed, so sue me." Leaning forward, I let out a deep sigh to calm my anger. "Having no one, I jumped in with them to gain some control of my life--they're the ones who stole the last mirror, Morgana's failed army." She took this into consideration.

"So what happened?" My neck almost twitched as a reaction. Being a part of them was one thing, but the things that caused me to open my eyes, that was another. That file was classified for no one, and even if she didn't ask exactly what went on that day, I couldn't help but relive it in my head, almost wanting to explain what kind of Frankenstein they almost built.

Staring at the floor was useful. "When they began mentioning Morgana and their scriptures--a version of our prophecies--I thought they lost a few screws. Wasn't until I forced my way out and read Símon's journals that it made more sense to me. Then we found this place and managed to get things under control. Until now, that is." Norwich wasn't the ideal place, that we now knew for sure, and it took us another painful month until we found this place and shimmied our way inside. A month that had me in paranoid misery, wondering if they'd sniff me out, forcing my inner fighter out. "They're in England, but not so much as our next door neighbors. Disappeared for about four years now, so I thought they forgot about me and the connection with the Pillars that they knew from Morgana's part. Which is also why Dimitri had my alias as the Eagle with my middle name, Beau." Look how well that turned out, too.

When I saw how sharp her eyes stared me down, I almost coiled up into a ball, from the outside, because I felt like a book and she was the reader. Keeping to herself, she stood up and got rid of the cloak around her, grabbing one of the scrolls. "You know them more than I do--how dangerous are they?" Lyam must've said something to her when he slipped past me, giving her uncertainty.

"They can fight, pretty well if I'm honest. Sometimes they're a bit more bark than bite, though."

"Then I want to ask you--all aware of how mental it sounds--if you...can teach me." An eyebrow popped up to my hairline. "Will you show me how to fight like you?" The other joined it right away.