A/N: I would like to apologize for being such a negligent fanfic writer! (commences groveling) Once my kids were released from school for the summer, we have been crazy busy. I promise to be more dedicated now! Promise, promise, promise! I believe I have about five chapters to go after this one and I will try to upload them in a timely manner! Again, so sorry!
Chapter 13: Miles to Go Before I Sleep
The room was in chaos. Was that a poem? It could be the start of a poem. It was also possible that my brain had been overloaded by this point and was trying drastically to leave the situation at hand.
"I'm telling you, we should take Rory and run! Now," Callum shouted, his hands curling into fists.
"But you don't even know his plan yet," Freddie argued, and quickly shut her mouth at the death glare aimed at her. I honestly felt a little sorry for her. She was doing this for her brother, after all.
"And I don't think we should wait around to hear it!"
"Callum, there's still Jazza to think about," Stephen put in, quieting Callum for the moment.
It was barely six-thirty in the morning and Sid would walk through that door any minute and we still didn't have a plan of action.
"Stephen's right," I said. "We can't just run. Not when he has Jazza. And his plan might be the only way out of this mess."
But Callum was still shaking his head. "We have the police on our side. We can use them to find Jazza. If Sid's plan fails, Elias will kill you Rory! Or am I the only one who remembers that?!"
"I'm already dying!" There. I'd said it. The one thing no one had wanted to mention since Sid had brought it up.
The room was completely silent now and I felt warm tears build in the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. It was Stephen who finally moved, stepping right in front of me and taking my hands.
"That was Sid's theory. Not a medical opinion," he insisted, but I could see the fear in his eyes.
"You know it's true, Stephen. The Shadow Cabinet knows it's true. It's why they're in such a hurry to kill me now and put the power back into the stone."
"You are not going to die," he stated, his voice rising and his jaw set in a furious line. "Not at the hand of Elias or from a stupid rock! You are not going to die!"
"Then you better come up with a plan b quickly," Thorpe said from the window. His back was rigid as he looked through the glass. "Because Sid just arrived."
And then the room was silent. Stephen pulled me against his side and Callum stepped in front of us, his brow pulled down in a scowl. The tension was so bad I could feel myself shaking… or maybe that was the fear. I heard the closing of a car door and then after several seconds, a soft knock. It was Freddie who finally moved to open the door.
"Anyone fancy helping me with the luggage," Sid inquired by way of greeting. He was in yet another impeccable suit, this one from our era and looking quite expensive, and his hair was styled into an elaborate mess. His piercing eyes were fixed on me.
"Luggage," Freddie questioned.
"I had to pick up a few things and make sure Elias and Sadie follow a false trail. Now, who wants to offer some muscle?"
After exchanging a loaded glance, Thorpe and Callum stepped up, following Sid outside to his car.
"He's not seriously planning on shacking up in this hotel with us, is he," I asked, unnerved by the idea of sleeping so close to the man that had ripped my brain open and dug around in it with a rusty shovel.
Stephen didn't answer, just kept his gaze fixed on the door. I could see ideas chasing themselves in his eyes. He was likely running through every possible scenario in his head and sorting out how to get us out of each of them. Should we all attack Sid at once? Maybe take advantage of this moment and search for a weapon before he comes back into the room? No, Stephen was likely thinking of a much more genius plan than that. Or maybe he was just praying that we didn't all die today.
"Please tell me this is not what I think it is," Callum growled as he struggled back through the door holding a… rug? A very expensive and very heavy rug.
Behind him was Sid with a rug of his own which he flopped down on the floor. Thorpe came last, struggling with his rug and doing an odd crab walk that would have been funny under other circumstances.
"It's exactly what you think it is," Sid answered as Thorpe and Callum sat their loads down in the small room. Sid gave one of the rugs a swift kick and it unrolled across the room, revealing what had been hiding inside.
A body.
Stephen's hold on me was the only thing that kept me from screaming. My eyes closed briefly out of shock, and when I opened them again, I was able to notice a few significant things about the body. It was a male body for starters, with long hair as dark as Stephen's and full lips. He was also wearing very odd, moth-eaten clothing. Instead of pants, he wore breeches and his jacket looked as though it were straight out of every painting I'd ever seen of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
"Allow me to introduce Sir Arthur Kent of His Majesty's army. His Majesty being King George III," Sid explained, smiling devilishly. "You see, in 1765, a group of occultist's stirred unrest in England – at a time when England was already dealing with unrest in the New World. This group was said to be practicing witchcraft and luring vicious wild animals into villages that were attacking women and children. King George sent a small regimen of soldiers to deal with this. Sir Arthur here was the Captain and his friend, Richard Canterbury, accompanied him." At this, Sid pointed to one of the other rugs.
"What they found," he continued, "was Elias Townsend. He was still fruitlessly searching for the key to waking his friends and was quite upset when soldiers came to put a stop to his fun. He killed the lot of them, except for Arthur and Richard. They realized then that what they were dealing with was no ordinary man. They hunted him for three years, until finally they realized that in order to kill him, they would have to be on equal footing with him."
"This is a fascinating history lesson," Boo chimed in. "But do you think you could skip to the point?"
Sid gave a theatrical roll of his eyes. "The point is that their sole purpose is to kill Elias. He killed their friends and they want him dead. They want to kill him so badly that they performed the ritual themselves. The only reason Elias hasn't simply set fire to their bodies is so that he can kill them himself as soon as they wake."
"That accounts for two of the bodies," Stephen noted. "What about the third one?"
In answer, Sid strolled over and carefully unrolled the rug Callum had carried in. Inside lay a boy around my age with shaggy blond hair and a familiar face.
"Kyle," Freddie shrieked, and threw herself down beside the boy.
"Your brother, as promised," Sid said.
"Now that you've introduced everyone, why don't you explain what they're doing here," Thorpe demanded, his face uneasy. His wasn't the only one. I think everyone had pretty much guessed why Sid had snuck these bodies out under Elias' nose.
"Obviously, I want to wake them up."
"Then you've wasted your time bringing them here," Stephen said, his voice quiet but holding a sinister edge that was instantly terrifying. "If you think we'll just hand Rory over to perform your ritual, you are very much mistaken."
"And you're outnumbered here," Callum noted with a smirk. "You might have the advantage in strength, but together, we can take you."
"Relax," Sid laughed, throwing himself down on the nearest bed and stretching out. "I can ensure that she'll live through it. And don't forget that following my orders is in Jazza's best interest."
"Where is she," I demanded, the sick feeling returning – the one that came on whenever I thought of Jazza in danger.
"She's safe with Jack."
"'Safe with Jack?!' You're kidding."
"Let us talk to her," Stephen insisted. "If you want us to listen to the rest of your plan, let us hear that she's safe and unharmed."
With another roll of his eyes, Sid pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, staring at it as though he were still unsure how such a contraption worked. "Incredible devices, these. Wish they would have had them back in my day." After a ridiculous amount of time searching, he finally dialed a number, holding it to his ear and waiting.
"There you are, Jack," he answered. "Our new friends don't seem to trust us. Why don't you put the little girl on the phone?"
He pressed the speaker button… and then I heard the most wonderful sound.
"Rory," Jazza called out, her voice shaking with tears.
"Jazza, it's me," I assured her, moving from Stephen's side to get closer to the phone. "Are you alright? Are you okay? Please tell me Jack isn't hurting you, or I'll–"
"I'm alright. Just… just scared. This man has just been watching me all day and he won't tell me what's going on or why they have me. Rory, what is all this about?"
"That's enough," Sid exclaimed, and abruptly ended the call. I was overcome with the sudden urge to beat him with his phone. "See, safe and sound. And she'll stay that way as long as you do as I say."
"You want me to do the ritual again," I stated simply. Stephen was at my side again, taking my hand in his.
"Exactly. You will wake the soldiers for me and they will help me take down Elias. I brought Freddie's brother as part of her reward, but that one's up to you."
I turned my gaze to Freddie who gave me the saddest pleading look I'd ever seen.
"But you said before that doing the ritual would kill her, yeah," Boo asked, stepping up by my side.
"It would. But I happen to know a way to make this easier on her. Give her extra strength," Sid explained, letting his sentence hang in the silence. The smile on his face was smug; he knew he had us right where he wanted us. Like I could ignore Jazza being in danger.
"How," Stephen demanded.
"By sending someone with her." At our dumbstruck expressions, he continued. "If someone were to perform the ritual with her, they would be linked to her and could lend her their strength. The power she uses would be shared between the two of them. It would be enough to keep it from killing her."
"Or it could backfire and kill us both," I pointed out. "It's not like you care if I survive this or not. You won't need me after this, so how do we know you're telling the truth?"
"Because I will need you after this."
"Why," Callum inquired with a wry expression. "Have any other comatose friends to wake up?"
"That part of the plan can wait," Sid explained with a wave of his hand. "Right now I need to know if you're willing to wake them."
"Rory, you don't have to do this. We can get Jazza another way," Stephen assured me, bending down to whisper in my ear. And I knew he meant it. I could say the word right now and everyone would attack Sid and if we were extremely lucky to survive that, we could run. Run and run and run forever and hope the cops found Jazza.
Or I could do what I had to in order to save my friends.
"I'll do it." I'd tried to make my voice loud and clear, but it came out shaky and quiet. Sid's smile lit up his face and for just a moment, he seemed like a normal handsome guy.
"Right then," he exclaimed, jumping up from the bed. "We have some things to get in order. And you and Stephen will need to prepare."
"Me and Stephen?" I shot an incredulous look at Stephen, expecting him to be equally confused, but he was merely resigned.
"Of course I'm the one going with you," he said. "I'm not letting you do this alone."
Sid nodded along. "And the link you two already share will make it easier."
My head was spinning more than ever before now and it took a moment for my words to come back to me. I'd assumed that when Sid said someone had to accompany me he'd meant that someone to be him. I didn't think I'd be risking Stephen's life. Stephen, who had already died once! No, I couldn't lose him again. I wouldn't!
"No," I proclaimed, shaking my head and turning to stare into Stephen's serious eyes. "If this doesn't work, we both die. I'm not letting you do this."
"I am doing this." His voice was firm, determined. I knew that voice. There was no arguing with that voice. "I know the risk, but if I don't go with you, you die. That will not happen."
"Of course," Sid broke in, "after all this is over, you'll still need a way to remove the power of Isis from her or it will kill her anyway."
There was laughter in his voice and I saw Stephen's hand tighten into a fist. It was going to be a long day.
~SoL~
It was déjà vu. Bathing in the disgusting river water, again. Dressing in a skimpy dress that didn't nearly hide my assets, again. Only this time, Stephen was along for the ride with me. He'd had to bathe in the Thames water after me and was dressed in a white button down shirt with white dress pants, provided by Sid. I couldn't help but wonder… why white?
Stepping out of the bathroom, I saw that all the furniture had been pushed against the walls and the three bodies were aligned with their feet touching, much like Stephen, Sid, and Sadie had been. Only now there was no Oswulf stone. Instead, a small black stone that was instantly familiar to me was laid down between their feet.
"The souls of all three are contained in this stone, along with those of several others," Sid explained. "You have to make sure that these three are the only ones that make it back. If any of the others wake up back in the basement, Elias will obviously know we're up to something."
"But he somehow didn't notice you taking these three," Boo asked. She, Callum, Thorpe, and Freddie were sitting on one of the beds against the wall.
"These three he doesn't care about and the basement holds hundreds. He shouldn't notice they're missing for a while. Now, are you both ready?"
I turned my head to look to Stephen. His dark hair was striking against all the white and staring into his eyes, I couldn't help but think of last night. Kissing him and holding him and being so close we were nearly one person. I knew I was blushing and his lips turned up in the smallest of smiles. He was thinking of last night too.
"We're ready," I said, taking Stephen's hand and stepping up to the three unconscious people on the floor.
Sid approached me, holding out a knife. "I believe you know this tune."
Taking a deep breath, I held out my arm and Sid cut me, just as before. The blood dripped down onto the black stone and spattered onto Arthur's shoes. It seemed to hurt more this time and I noticed that there was more blood. My mind raced back to the night I'd nearly bled to death at the table, to Stephen carrying me out of the flat and rushing me to the hospital.
"Now, hold out your hands," Sid instructed. This was the only thing so far that had deviated from the original ritual. I extended my right hand and Stephen his left. Sid tied them both together with a gold cord. This, he'd explained, was to keep us linked. If we lost physical contact with each other in the real world, Stephen would be ripped from me and I'd be alone, with all that magic running through me. I was too weak to survive the ritual a second time. I would die.
"And now drink of the kykeon," Sid ordered, handing me a bowl of the drugged barley/honey mixture.
It was hard to lift a bowl to your mouth while tied to another person, but I managed to drink my share and then hand it to Stephen who had an equally difficult time lifting it to his lips. The effects were immediate and I felt my head swimming.
"See you on the other side," I whispered to Stephen, attempting a goofy smirk, but my eyes were already falling closed.
And then the world fell away. It was just me and Stephen.
