*****
Alexander had finally managed to ditch his date. She’d proven a great deal more clingy than he’d expected, so it had taken a bit of work, but luckily, Cleo seemed to have done the same thing to Henry, so Alexander had left her with him. He made his way into the library, where thankfully, no one else had ventured, and helped himself to a shimmering crystal glass full of Austin’s brandy. He sat down heavily in a chair by the open doors onto the balcony and contemplated the night’s events so far.
Firstly there was the conversation he’d overheard two of Austin’s security guards having just before the procession. They’d been talking about Austin’s hit list, and it was clear from what he’d overheard that Anita was at the top of it. Austin was always scouring for powerful people, to either recruit or get rid of, but this search seemed to be more frenzied than ever before. Alexander assumed it must have something to do with the bloodline; was Anita the girl Christiana had wanted to find? Austin obviously knew more about why Christiana had wanted to come to Empire than Alexander did, but Alexander couldn’t think of a way to tap him for information. His trip to the Archives had left him with nothing to work with, so he’d had to put his investigation on hold until he could come up with another place to look.
Then there was his conversation at dinner with Helena. She’d pretty much tried to recruit him into the Institution; a bold move under any circumstances, but downright dangerous under Austin’s roof and right under his nose. Austin hated the Institution and would no doubt hate them even more at the moment, with the controversy around the prophecy. And then there was Anita. Her energy was extraordinary, like nothing he had ever felt before. It had such a strong mix of Body and Spirit that it would be strange for her to be a Body Descendant, not that there was any guarantee that was who Christiana had been looking for. He recalled the tingle he’d felt when they’d touched, something he had never personally felt before; it was extremely rare. He’d heard others talk about a tingling sensation, or a jolt, but had never known anyone that had experienced them and no one knew what caused them.
Anita fascinated him, and although he was trying to keep it firmly hidden, he found himself drawn to her. She was reckless. The way she’d won the Chase, exposing her reader abilities to everyone, and the way she’d danced around the floor earlier, were both incredible, but would only serve to enrage Austin, and she was already in an extremely dangerous position. Alexander was relying on Marcus to keep her out of harm’s way, but with stunts like this evening, that would be increasingly difficult. Austin hadn’t even tried to hide his fury.
Alexander’s thoughts were interrupted by voices on the balcony moving in his direction. ‘I’m looking for Alexander, have you seen him?’ came a whiny female voice that Alexander recognised as his date’s. In one swift movement, Alexander got up from the worn leather chair and silently made his way to the library’s side door. He ducked through just as the voices reached the window, and headed for the stairs. Only Descendants and a handful of the senior Councillors would dare to go upstairs in Austin’s castle without permission, so he reasoned he should be safe up there. Alexander took the steps two at a time and turned left when he reached the top. He headed out onto a large internal balcony that wrapped its way around the four sides of a courtyard below.
This was his favourite part of Austin’s castle. The courtyard was exposed to the night sky, however the balcony was covered, with pillars all the way around holding up the roof. The pillars had climbing plants crawling all over them, with wispy braches covered in flowers falling down onto the stone benches below. This was the creation of Marcus’ mother, Amelia, and in Alexander’s opinion was a perfect demonstration of why Austin and Amelia now lived separate lives. Whereas Austin was transactional and controlling, Amelia was kind with far-reaching openness, just like the plants she grew. Alexander walked round to the far side of the balcony and lay down on one of the stone benches there, placing the brandy glass, that he had luckily had the foresight to pick up during his escape, on the floor. Hopefully nobody would find him up here. He found it wearing being around other people for too long, with all their energy waves bouncing around. It was a relief to be on his own, where he could think without the interruption of the energy of others.
However, he’d been lying there for only a few minutes, listening to the silence, with the occasional muffled screech from downstairs, when he heard the courtyard door below creek open, and what sounded like two sets of cautious footsteps make their way though. Alexander easily picked up their energy, one anxious and the other angry.
‘What is it?’ questioned a fierce voice, that Alexander recognised as Alistair’s. ‘I thought we agreed never to talk about this again.’
The anxious person didn’t immediately reply, pacing around the courtyard to make sure there was no one else there. They couldn’t see Alexander from the courtyard and as there didn’t appear to be anyone else present, the second person replied. ‘That was before Austin went on his most recent vendetta.’ Alexander was surprised to hear Peter’s thin voice and his interest piqued. What could shy, pathetic, Peter possibly be wrapped up in?
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ asked Alistair edgily, surprise clear in his voice.
‘It means that Austin has put together a hit list of powerful girls of between about twenty-three and twenty-seven years of age. He’s trying to track her down to finish off the prophecy for good.’ Alexander could not believe his ears. What could Peter possibly know about what Austin was looking for? Had Christiana told him? But at least it confirmed their being here did have something to do with the prophecy and therefore the bloodline.
‘But how does he know?’ Alistair spat.
‘Well he obviously knew she got away, but he always assumed she would never resurface. When Christiana told him why she wanted to come to Empire, Austin went crazy. He ordered Amber to double her ‘researchers’ and gave her until we leave Empire to track the missing girl down.’
‘And?’ said Alistair. ‘He doesn’t know?’ The concern in his voice palpable.
‘No. Not for sure, but she’s at the top of his hit list. Just her winning the Chase would have been enough to keep her there, but her reader stunt has wound him into a frenzy, and he wasn’t exactly hiding his feelings about the display earlier. She’s signing her own death warrant. You’ve got to do something.’
Alexander could not believe his ears. How did Alistair and Peter know anything about this? And more importantly, why was it Alistair’s responsibility to do something about it?
‘And what exactly do you suggest I do?’
‘Take her into the Wild Lands and keep her there.’
Alistair laughed. ‘Aside from the obvious difficulty of kidnapping someone as adept as Anita, how do you suggest I keep here there? Lock her up? Stay there and supervise her myself?’
‘Persuade her to go with you. Say you’re going on a trip to record the energy or something.’
‘That would never fool her, or my son. And even if it did work, there’s the obvious problem that Marcus seems totally besotted with her. You think he would just let her go? Never forget that he is Austin’s son, regardless of how much of Amelia he has in him. He’ll turn out to be just as ruthless and just as possessive. You can see that just in the way he looks at her.’
‘Well, you have got to do something, otherwise, she’s going to wind up dead.’
Alistair turned angry. ‘We should never have got involved in the first place, and anything we do now to try and save her will be the final nail in her coffin, exposing us along with her. Listen to me very carefully Peter. Do nothing. Absolutely nothing, you hear me? Do not so much as mention her name to anyone. Do not try and contact anyone who knows about this. And never, I repeat, never, talk to me about this ever again, unless you want to wind up dead as well.’ A silent chill filled the courtyard as the enormity of Alistair’s words sunk in. Alistair turned sharply and left, fur
ious. Peter, now beside himself with worry, hung around for a few minutes pacing up and down, getting his emotions under control before following him out. Alexander lay there in shock; he couldn’t quite believe what he’d just heard. Anita was a Descendant? That was the only thing they could have meant, unless there was some other way to fulfil the prophecy, and everyone knew there was only one way; the Descendants had to send back the relic. Either way, Anita was in serious trouble.