CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR


"You're asking me a lot right now." Jace continued.


Doron stood right behind him, brown robe and his chocolate eyes that saw
everything.


I watched, frozen, as Jace turned around and stared right through Doron.


Doron moved around him and spoke in a monotone voice, "There is another
battle here. You cannot see it, but some are able. He cannot see me and this
message is for you. I am not just a messenger, but I am here to tell you that
there is another child. She is weakening and she needs your touch."


"Why me?"


Jace turned around, "What?"


"I…"


Doron continued, "This is the man that you love. This is the man that you are
supposed to love. Decisions must be made, but there is still light. I promise
you that."


"I…" I met Jace's eyes and murmured, stricken, "I'm sorry."


"For what?"


I already knew what Doron was going to say. I think that I had always
known.


"Your nephew is protected. He is always protected, but this other child is
not. You must choose to stay here or to go to her."


"Her?" I already knew.


Jace turned to face me squarely. Concerned and confused, he asked
tentatively, "Maya, what are you talking about? You're talking nonsense right
now."


"She is his daughter." Doron glided to the side and pointed to Jace, his arm
stretched wide. "She is the lie that was spoken to him and to her young mother.
He never had a son and soon, he may not have a daughter. You must tell him this
and you must tell him that you need to go to save her. You must make him trust
you."


"She has blonde hair and grey eyes, doesn't she?" I asked hoarsely.


"What?" Jace whipped out.


I looked at Doron. "I've seen her. I've dreamt about her."


"No." Doron shook his head. "She has dreamt about you. She is a very special
child, but she will die soon. You must get to her. You are the only one."


And it was then that I knew where she was. I knew why I was the only one.


Doron saw this sudden understanding and he nodded. He vanished, just like
that, and it was just me with Jace.


"Jace." I took a deep breath.


"What the hell just happened? What were you talking about?"


I moved closer and whispered, urgently, "You told me that I have to have
faith. I have to believe in something more than us. I do. I do…now, but…I have
to go. I have to save your daughter."


"My daughter?" The words were spoken awkwardly, as if in a different
language.


"You have a daughter, not a son. She's here and I have to go. He said that
only I could go."


Jace fell quiet. He studied me intently and I held my breath.


"I can't explain it. I can't even…I can only tell you that I'm the one who
has to go. I was given a choice and I—I have to go to her."


Jace shifted closer.


A gunshot splattered more rocks above us.


They fell, unnoticed, and turned into sand as they rained over us.


Jace was right. Something else was there with us. Something was out
there.


"I have to go." I whispered.


Jace reached up and cradled the side of my face in his hand. His thumb rubbed
over my cheek.


"I don't know what you're talking about, but I do trust you."


Those words had taken forever. They had exhausted a long fought battle, but
they graced his lips so easily.


I reached up and lightly traced his lips.


Jace smiled under the touch. He rested his forehead against mine.


"I love you. I love you…so goddamn much and I hate…" I choked off.


Jace kissed me tenderly. He drew me to him and slid a hand around to the
small of my back.


Gunfire was shared behind us.


More rocks were turned into sand as they fell onto us.


"When I saw you at Brian's grave, I could've killed you." Jace pulled away
and whispered. "I thought—I really thought you were sent by Marcus. And I hated
that you found me through my brother. I really hated that, but…it wasn't true.
And all those damn tests that we both put each other through, there's one person
that's gotten the drop on me."


He kissed me again. He kissed my cheek. He kissed my forehead.


And he rested his forehead against mine with his eyes closed.


He breathed out and said, "You're the one, Maya."


I heard his words and even as I heard them, I knew this wasn't about us. None
of it was about us.


I took his hand and whispered, "Thank you."


Jace kissed my forehead


"Thank you." I repeated and closed my eyes. Jace pulled me to his chest and
we stood there a moment. We were sheltered, for a moment.


"This isn't…" I took another deep breath. "All my life, I felt something. It
was like a sense of insistence. It was like…I wasn't allowed to be normal. It
wasn't self-preservation, Jace. I just knew that I couldn't do things, not like
how others can do things. I can't even explain it, but…there's always been
something inside of me. I was meant to do something, I just didn't know what it
was. Now I do. Now I know what I'm supposed to do. It's about now, right now.
It's about…I don't even know what I'm supposed to do or what the outcome is
going to be, but I know that it's important. I know that it's going to change
someone's life, somewhere, maybe millions of lives. That's what I know."


Jace nodded and kissed me. "Go." He said.


I backed away, holding his gaze.


I didn't know if I would see Jace again. I didn't know if I was the one that
would die, if it would be Jace that died. I didn't know any of that, but I knew
Doron had spoken to me for a reason. And I knew there was a reason why he hadn't
spoken to Jace.


The decision was in my hands, but there was no decision.


A life for a child's.


That was no decision at all.


I turned, a tear slid down my face, and I walked out from our hidden
cave.


I was at the tip of a building, a rope around my waist, and I just had one
inch further to go. I needed to trust and fall or I needed to stay with what was
known and never leap.


I leapt.


I walked out into that valley and immediately a calmness descended over me.
Wind picked up around me and seemed to swirl only around me. There were shouts,
but they were in the distance. The gunfure was still shared, but all of that was
in the distance.


I knew, as Doron had foretold, that I was being shielded by something I
couldn't see.


I felt them, though. They were there.


"Come this way." A voice spoke in my ear. It wasn't Doron. I knew that.


I followed and turned. The wind moved with me. I was in a tunnel of air, I
walked forward where that tunnel led me. I circled around the cliff's edge and
up through some rocky terrain. I kept going.


The wind moved with me. And then, as I kept climbing, the wind suddenly fell
aside and I stood on the cliff's top. It was bare rock. Three men were ahead of
me, their backs turned to me, and beyond them stood Marcus with another man.


Marcus was holding the shoulders of a little girl in front of him. They were
near the edge of the cliff.


They were mere shadows ahead of me, but I knew who they were.


And then, still unnoticed, a sudden silence overcame the gunfire and I
watched, frozen, as the little girl turned and looked at me.


She knew I was there.


Her blonde hair fell over her shoulders, they framed her heart-shaped face
with Jace's grey eyes.


Recognition didn't appear. It was already there. She knew I was coming.


Doron was right. She had dreamt of me. I had not dreamt of her. She had sent
those dreams to me.


And like Gray, she wasn't scared.


There was a sense of knowledge in her eyes. Like she knew what was to
come.


She smiled. That's what got to me. She smiled joyfully.


I choked back a sob. The three guards whirled and immediately swung their
handguns to point at me.


Marcus turned, saw me, and held up a hand, "Stop!"


They waited.


Marcus beckoned, "Come, Maya."


I walked past the three executioners, tentatively, and held the little girl's
gaze.


As I approached and stood at their side, Marcus cradled the side of my face.
He said something, but I still watched Jace's daughter.


She reached out, but Marcus jerked her away. He held her on his other
side.


"My name is Ambrea." She whispered. She was strong, confident.


I knelt down and smiled with tears in my eyes, "My name is Maya."


"I know." She smiled again. "I'm going to show you later."


"Show me?"


"Enough!" Marcus interrupted us. He grabbed my elbow and held me at a
distance. "The next to talk will fall to their death." He kicked at some rocks
in front of them and they fell over the cliff's edge, as if to warn us where we
would fall.


Jace was beneath us.


And no one knew.


If Marcus had known, he would've already sent someone down to the cave's
opening.


"What's the plan, Marcus?" I asked.


I needed to warn Jace. I needed to let him know where we were and I needed
him to know that it was from me.


"We wait and kill your boyfriend." Marcus grated out. "And when this is all
done, you and I are on a plane across the world. Just you and me."


"And Lily? Where is she in all of this?" I reached inside my pocket.


"My sister? My self-absorbed ruthless sister that only looks out for herself?
You mean that one?"


"And here I thought you were so close." I taunted.


I held my breath as I felt something in my pocket. It was Abagail's gift.


"You were supposed to be different, Maya. You were supposed to be—"


"Yours?" I interrupted coldly.


Marcus grimaced. "Yes and then you went to him."


"You knew I was going to him. You told me that I was supposed to stay with
him."


"Yes." Marcus nodded. His brown hair whipped around his face and framed him.
He had the face of an angel, but I knew there was nothing pure about him. "I
did, but I hated to do that. It had to be done. You needed to get all the books.
I needed her to know that you got all the books."


Her?


"Lily." I spoke.


"My sister is not who she seems to be. She is not the friend that you thought
you had saved so many years ago. She is—she has—"


"She's the Smokescreen."


Marcus was shocked. "Yes. How did you…Lanser. Of course. Lanser would know.
Lanser would tell you."


"You underestimate him, Marcus."


"On the contrary, I haven't underestimated him at all. I knew he would find
us. I knew he would send your brother to us. I knew that he would use you."


"You hoped that he would use me. You hoped that he would discard me and that
I would see through him."


"Yes." Marcus confessed, like his ego had been wounded. "I thought you would
see what he is truly about, but I didn't realize your power. You changed him.
You made him fall in love with you. You were mine, but I never thought that
someone else had the power to take you from me. I never doubted it. You were
mine, you were always to be mine, and then I saw the two of you together." Hate
spewed from him. "You worked as a team. You worked…I saw the lust and the
exhiliration…you wanted him."


Jace's daughter listened quietly. She just stood there, steady.


"You were my Second Coming. You were my holy gift. You brought me the seven
gifts. You brought me wisdom, faith, love, joy, all of them. It was because of
you, how I learned to see, that I realized what was truly before me. I saw that
Lily knew something I didn't. I saw it plainly like she had just spoken the
truth to me. You gave me that sight."


"What truth? What is Lily doing?"


"Lily." He turned away and narrowed his eyes. Anger emanated from him. "She
seeks to kill someone that could be dealt with in a different way. That's why I
wanted you to have the books and why I needed you to be with him. I needed Lily
to know that you were there, that you would read those books. We both know, Lily
and I, that you are the one who can piece it all together. I wanted her to know
that because I knew she would hate that. I knew it would panic her and she
wouldn't think as clearly."


And somehow, I didn't think it had turned out that way. I doubted that Lily
had clouded eyesight. I rather thought that it only made her see all the more
clear.


Ambrea reached out for me.


I saw that Marcus didn't notice.


Her hand stretched around him, her fingers spread as far as they could
go.


I held my breath. I wondered what would happen.


And I brought Abagail's gift out of my pocket.


It was used for the time of clear sight. That's what Oscar had told me. It
was what Doron had repeated. I was to open it when I needed clear sight.


Ambrea's steady eyes h eld mine. It was as if she knew what I was
thinking.


"I loved you." Marcus continued, broken. "I loved you so much, but you loved
him. I know that you love him. You didn't come to me for me. You came to me for
him. You came because you knew who was here."


He patted Ambrea's shoulders. The little girl flinched.


"I have his daughter. I knew that I'd need her if I wanted to get out of here
alive, so you see, I havce never underestimated Jace Lanser. I have his daughter
with me."


"He doesn't know."


I heard a whisper in the wind, but I knew it was Ambrea's voice. She had
spoken to me, but somehow she had spoken to me without voice and without
hearing.


I had heard her, silently.


"He doesn't know that I already know. He doesn't know what is going on."


I thought, 'What is going on?'


And I was shocked when I heard, "They're here. They're fighting. They want
something—something that they can't have."


'What?' I thought.


"They want Gray. They want him dead."


Her unspoken words froze in place. Doron had told me that Gray was protected.
He said that Gray was always protected and I had believed him. He told me that I
needed to go to Ambrea. I was supposed to choose a life for hers.


'And what of you? What do they want of you' I asked in my head.


"Nothing." Ambrea replied solemnly. "I am not of their awareness. It is
almost my time. I know this. It is through you that I have learned a different
life. I have met someone who loves my father. I needed and wished for this
meeting in my life before my time."


'But…' Doron had told me to choose. He had told me…He told me to choose. He
said that I would need to decide. He said that I was to go to her, that she
needed my touch. That's what he said to me.


Ambrea already knew. She said, somber, "My time has come. Doron and I are
both aware of this, but you're right. He did want you to choose, but it wasn't
really me that he wanted you to choose. He wanted to know that you'd choose the
right path over what you hold dearest to your heart."


'You are not a mere child.' I whispered.


"What?" Marcus frowned fiercely.


I quieted and looked away. The dawn was nearing. It would be upon us shortly.
It would ligth our path, light where we stood upon.


Ambrea whispered in my head, softly, "My time has come. He wanted you to
choose, but the sacrifice has never really been about me. My father is near. I
have met someone who loves my father and who my father loves. That is enough for
me. I will meet him, one day, if not sooner than that. But for now…my gift is
for you."


'What?'


She reached out again, straining.


Marcus turned and noticed the outstretched hand. He tucked it close to his
side and turned to me, "She is eager to hold your hand. I wonder why. She never
had the want to touch the others. She kept to herself."


"Like your nephew." Ambrea's voice told me in my head.


"Like my nephew." I said bravely, outloud.


Marcus was shocked. "What?"


"How did Munsinger die? I found the house. I found the rings. I found
everything else. But how did he die? I cared for him as family, Marcus. I loved
him as a brother."


Marcus was shocked, speechless. He turned away, unable to tell me.


I met Ambrea's eyes. She told me, silently, "You should ask your nephew,
Gray. He knows. He will tell you…when the time is right."


She was right. The time was not right.


I nodded, choked and unable to speak. Emotion clogged my throat.


"Maya…" Marcus reached for my hand.


I wrenched away from him. "What do you want, Marcus? You are nothing. You
took my nephew. You took someone I considered a brother and killed him. You
took…what else do you want to take?"


"Please. Maya. Don't do this." Marcus pleaded. "It's not like that. You don't
know what is going on. You don't know what else is there."


But I did. I knew more than him.


"I do know, Marcus." I said coldly. "I know more that you want me to know. I
know more than you can fathom to know."


"Do you know that Lily wants to kill a child? That this is all about one
child? She needs to know who that child is and now that you have the books—she
is terrified that you will find her. Did you know that? This is all because my
sister is a cold-blooded murderer?"


And then, without warning, Ambrea surged forward and her hand clamped over
mine.


I shook at the touch.


Abagail's gift, which was in my hands, fell free. I didn't know this, but it
fell onto the ground and I stepped forward, blindly, and the little bag fell
over the cliff's edge as I kicked it. It would fall below and it would warn Jace
of our location.


And I didn't know this, but Jace would take one look and immediately know
what it meant. He took both his guns out and darted out from the cave, around to
the back, and was heading to where we stood. He knew to save us.


"That gift was for clear sight." Ambrea said.


Marcus frowned, but he couldn't break our hold. He tried. He tried to wrench
both of our hands free, but they held. They were cemented together.


Ambrea continued, her eyes knowing more than they should, "Abagail gave that
to you. It was supposed to show you the clear sight when you needed it, but you
don't need it. Not now. I will give you that sight."


And I didn't have time to question her before a sudden burst of light blinded
my eyes.


I reared back, frightened and blinded, and after Ambrea said softly, "Look."
I looked.


And I was amazed.


She was right.


.A light shone over the woods, right where we stood, but I knew that no one
else could see it. It was there, for Ambrea and Gray to see, like Doron was only
visible to me and not to Jace.


I saw Rafe. I saw where she hid. I saw the others behind her. There they
were. They were the unspoken agents. They had come to circle and ensure Jace's
safety. I saw Oscar. I saw Scottie. I saw my brother. They all laid shoulder to
shoulder with their weapons in hand.


They fought together, but there was more.


I saw where Marcus' men were.


I saw where the children were. I saw them spread out amongst the trees and
running for cover. I saw where some huddled together, to wait out the
gunfire.


I saw that some were still crying and others were paralyzed in fear.


I saw it all.


But I saw more than that.


I saw what Doron had spoken about.


There indeed was another battle.