"Probably as much use as Surage was."
Sebastian shrunk at that and took a step away from Rakel, lowering his head. Sarah smiled inwardly, loving the precious few moments she got to see Sebastian weak and scared. Despite her many quarrels with Surage, losing him had been hard, especially since they were growing short on seasoned fighters.
"Can you imagine how difficult it is to come back from months of recruitment just to find one of our most valuable soldiers dead?" Rakel asked. His voice was calm, but Sarah knew better. It didn't take much to send Rakel over the edge. One minute he could be calm, and the next he would be breaking all the bones in your body, smiling the whole time. A man who could make Sebastian shiver was a dangerous man indeed.
"The girl caught them by surprise," Sebastian tried to explain. "If Surage had done his fieldwork properly, he would have known what he was going up against."
"See, that's what I always hated about you, Sebastian," Rakel moved in closer. "Always shifting blame instead of looking for solutions, or avoiding problems altogether."
Sebastian was about to say something when Rakel raised a hand to silence him. "Now, Sarah, be a doll and go check on our new recruits. Sebastian and I have some things to discuss."
"And the girl?" Sarah asked.
"Yes, the girl," Rakel whispered. He kept his eyes on Sebastian, but the other man didn't return the gaze. "What's her name?"
"Alicia."
"Alicia." Rakel let the name roll over his tongue. He smiled. "Maybe Silk can have a little talk with her. She's been a convincing girl so far."
Sarah lowered her head in response and quickly left the room. Whatever the two men had to talk about, she didn't want to be around when it happened.
#
The fires scorched his skin.
Or at least Ethan believed it was skin. He was standing in the same position he had stood in for countless dreams, watching the huts in front of him burning, the flames rising high into the sky as if trying to reach the stars. There were screams, shouts of urgency, and in the pandemonium that surrounded him he could see people desperately try to help each other escape. The surf was crashing hard behind him, and as he tried to turn his eye caught the figure of a man standing at the edge of the beach, hands outstretched and face contorted in concentration. Ethan looked at the sea behind him, waves rising and falling into each other. He wanted to call out to the man, but the words that left his mouth were foreign to him, a language he knew only in his dreams.
Someone grabbed his arm and forced him around, a young woman screaming in his face, her arms sizzling with burns, her words as incomprehensible as everything else surrounding him. She was pointing at the huts and pulling him along, but he couldn't move. She tried again, then gave up and left him behind. Ethan watched the chaos around him, and was suddenly very scared. He closed his eyes and prayed for release. He wanted to wake up. He needed to wake up now.
When he opened his eyes, he was still standing in the midst of the fiery carnage, his legs cemented in place. From the corner of his eye he saw someone emerge from the flames, a woman. She was walking towards him, slowly, fire rising from her hands as she approached. He watched in horror as she neared him and raised her arms, releasing the flames in threads towards him, and in the back of his mind he heard himself scream.
#
Nadia was almost asleep when Ethan woke up.
She had been sitting at a table near his bed, head resting on her arms as she watched him sleep. She had spent most of the evening trying to calm herself down. The fight at the motel had shaken her to the core, and she had Eric drive them here, unable to control her emotions, let alone a moving vehicle. All in all, she was grateful that Rick had asked her to stay with Ethan instead of join him on his quest for answers. She had never been good with confrontations.
Ethan woke with a start, thrashing at the covers and clawing at his chest, trying to rip off his shirt. His sudden arousal startled her for only a second before she ran to his side, grabbed his arms and shook him awake. He struggled a little, Nadia having to use all her strength to keep him from lashing out at her, and only when she called out his name did his eyes fly open. He looked around the room, confused and out of place, his breathing slowing down as he started to realize he wasn't burning. Nadia let go of his arms slowly, backing away as she let him regain control.
"You don't sleep very well," she said, grabbing the water bottle next to the bed and handing it to him. Ethan closed and opened his eyes, trying to focus on his surroundings. He took a sip from the bottle, wetting his lips with its freshness, and then downed its contents.
"Where are we?"
"Safe house," Nadia said, taking the empty bottle from him and throwing it in the bin. "You were out for a few hours."
"That seems to be happening a lot lately," Ethan's voice broke. He pushed himself up and threw his legs over the side of the bed, burying his face in his hands. He massaged his temples, feeling a headache coming on.
"Where's everyone else?" he asked after a while.
"They're all here," Nadia replied. "Keeping their distance for now."
Ethan looked up at her, confused only until he remembered the incident at the motel. "What happened back there?"
Nadia shook her head. "Rick's trying to get some answers, but honestly, I've never seen anything like it."
"You and me both."
Nadia sat back down and crossed her legs. "Nightmares?"
"What?"
"Were you having a nightmare?" she asked again.
Ethan shook his head slowly and ran a hand through his hair, looking about the room. "It's been the same one for a while. Burning village, and I'm just standing there watching it all go to hell."
"My mother used to say that a man plagued with nightmares usually has something profound to hide."
"Wise woman," Ethan said with a hint of sarcasm. "If you call her any time soon, tell her she might be wrong about that one."
"My mother's dead," Nadia said solemnly.
Ethan immediately regretted saying anything at all, wishing that sometimes he would just think about what he was going to say before blurting it out. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
Nadia shrugged. "It was a long time ago."
'If it makes you feel better, I lost both my parents when I was fifteen," Ethan said, trying to ease the sudden awkwardness in the room.
"Why would that make me feel better?"
Ethan almost slapped himself. "Never mind."
"I can see why Eric likes you so much," she said, a smile on her face. "The two of you are pretty much the same."
Ethan stood up and stretched his legs, feeling bouts of pain race through his muscles. He felt like he could sleep for a few more days. If the nightmares would let him.
"We didn't really hit it off very well," Ethan admitted.
"Yeah, I got that from the way he bumped your head around when he helped carry you in here."
Ethan almost smiled. He pulled out the chair in front of Nadia and slumped down, grabbing for another bottle of water. Nadia watched him drink, quietly studying him. She was about to say something when the door to the room opened and Patricia stuck her head in.
"Good, you're awake," she said when she saw Ethan. "Get ready. You're ride is here."
"Ride?"
"This is as far as we take you, I'm afraid."
Nadia got up, confused. "What about us?"
"A new assignment," Patricia answered.
Ethan watched Nadia frown and shake her head. She grabbed her coat off her chair and brushed past Patricia.
"She's obviously happy."
"We've been on the road for months," Patricia sighed. "It's hard on all of us."
"And me?"
"I guess this is good bye."
Ethan was about to reply when Patricia closed the door.
#
Leah ignored the knocking on her door. She had locked herself in the minute they had arrived, crawling into bed in a fetus position as she cried. She had
held the tears back as long as she could, and had avoided everyone as soon as they had arrived at the safe house. The memories of the motel had been too much, and her entire body was still shaking when the knocking started.
"Leah," she heard her brother call from the other side. "It's me, open up."
Leah jumped out of bed, quickly rushing across the room. She threw herself in Steven's arms the minute she opened the door, crying freely as he held her tight in his arms. He pushed her closer and placed a hand on her head as she wept, rocking her slowly as he tried to calm her down. She could feel her body shake like a leaf, her face buried in the crook of his shoulders as her tears stained his shirt.
"There's my little sister," Steven cooed, stroking her hair. "Easy now, easy."
Her arms wrapped around his neck and she cried harder, squeezing her brother. She had always been the tough one in their family, taking the beatings her father had delivered like a champion, always coming out strong. Even after having run away, she had never been good with letting her emotions show. Not to Steven, not to anyone. The ice queen whose fire never thawed the hard shell she had built around herself.
Now, though, she needed this more than anything. She needed to let go.
"You're starting to scare me a bit," Steven said.
Leah pulled back and wiped her eyes quickly, sniffing as she pulled herself together and threw her shoulders back. She gave her brother a smirk and a salute, and then laughed when he stuck his tongue out at her.
"That's a little more like it," Steven smiled as he closed the door behind him and reached for a chair. "They tell me you've been in here for almost five hours."
"I just couldn't," Leah said, waving at everything around her. "I needed space."
Steven nodded as he sat down and crossed one leg over the other. Leah slumped down onto the bed and smiled at her brother. She hadn't seen him for almost a year, their last encounter when they had been allowed to visit home. Since then she had been on numerous assignments, their contact limited to quick phone calls.
"How's the Keep?" she asked him.
Steven shrugged. "You know, big, dark and gloomy. I always expect Dracula to walk up from the cellars and laugh his way down the halls. It's creepy, but it's home now."
"Home," Leah sighed. "My home is my bike, a bunch of cheap motels and a safe house here and there."
"That last one is getting smaller and smaller, if what I'm hearing is correct," Steven said. "I heard we lost three in the last month."
Leah felt a shudder run through her. She had been in one of the safe houses when it had been attacked. They had been taken completely by surprise, barely escaping the firing squad that had been sent to take them out. If it hadn't been for Patricia, they would have all died in there.
"Chicago was a disaster," Leah commented, the memory still fresh in her head.
"Rick's girl is pretty good on her feet," Steven smiled. "Imagine if she could do what we can."
"That's a scary thought," Leah laughed.
Steven looked at her hard, the smile on his face slowly fading. "Rick told me what happened at the motel. You ok?"
Leah sniffed and shook her head. She had tried to come to terms with what had happened, but she could still feel the fire inside. The energy that had run through her, the control that she had lost, almost as if she had been on autopilot.
"The boy?"
"A Fifth," Leah confirmed, hugging herself to stop the shaking that had started again. "Our Fifth by the looks of it."
Steven nodded slowly, but she could see he wasn't too happy about it. "Does he know?" he asked.
"He doesn't know anything," Leah said. "He's being patient about it, although I have no idea why. I wouldn't have put up with half of what he's been through without answers."
"So it's true?" Steven asked. "What they say about a full Quintet."
Leah stared at him for a moment, then looked away. "We'd be dead if he hadn't been with us."
"You don't seem too happy about it."
"I'm not." Leah stood up and paced the room. "What's going to happen to us when he knows the truth?"
Steven shrugged. "You're not the first full Quintet, Leah," Steven said, trying to sound calm. "We've seen them happen before."
"And a war's happened each time one popped up."
"Are you actually comparing yourself to those maniacs?"
"Come on, Steven, be a little more realistic."
"I am," her brother said, leaning forward. "Lam was a monster, Leah, and Rakel isn't any better."
Leah sighed and leant against the wall, scratching her forehead as she tried to wrap her head around what was happening. "We don't know anything about him."
Steven stood up and crossed the room to his sister. He held her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. "I know you," he whispered, "and I know the rest of you. You're going to be just fine."
Leah smiled. "You're a disgusting optimist."
"One of us has to be," Steven smiled back. "Besides, I'm taking Ethan home with me. Calliope is separating you guys until we sort this out."
Leah was only momentarily shocked, then nodded agreement. It was probably for the best. She had no idea what else would happen if Ethan were to stick with them. For now, she felt she needed to be as far away from him as possible.
"Promise me you're going to be ok," Steven said, hugging his sister.
"I always am," Leah replied.
"Not good enough," Steven said, breaking the hug and looking his sister in the eyes. "I don't know how they got the jump on you guys, but you have to be more careful now. I want you to promise me you'll be more careful."
"Fine," Leah said, pushing her brother away.
Steven kept his gaze, then nodded and playfully punched his sister's chin. "I heard your next assignment is close to home. Pass by mom and make sure she's ok."
Leah nodded. She hugged her brother again and watched in silence as he opened the door and left.
#
Ali Hassan was a careful man.
He considered his talents something he had genetically inherited from his father, a man with many talents with a strong devotion to caution. For most of his childhood, Ali had watched his father build an empire from the ground up. Coming from a large family of ambitious men, it had been astonishing to watch his father succeed where his cousins failed.
He had grown up a single child, his mother often blaming the "business" for his lack of siblings. Still, Ali had learned to make use of the advantage. Prestigious schools, a degree in civil engineering, and postgraduate studies abroad had prepared him well to take over once his father had seen it fit to hand over the keys to the castle.
Now, after having had expanded his family's riches ten-folds, Ali realized that caution was his greatest advantage. That and an incredible amount of patience. Being at the head of a multi-million dollar real-estate business came with many responsibilities, pressures, and stress. Still, he was able to handle it all with a finesse he believed many lacked.
However, things were starting to change, and he felt a sudden urgency that was unsettling. He sat quietly in his office overlooking the Nile and strummed his hands on a massive ledger of ancient Egyptian history. That was another thing he had his father to thank for, a library like none other, rich with knowledge of the past. The secrets within the many volumes of books he had at his disposal were priceless, his family's business a mere speck of dust in comparison.
Ali had inherited more than just a business. He had inherited a responsibility, a secret his family had hidden for generations.
He contemplated his next move carefully, weighing his options, then took out his cell phone and dialled. He waited and almost hung up after the seventh ring.
"It's three in the morning," a gruff voice finally answered. Ali could hear the man's irritation and winced at the need to plough through it.
"We have a problem," he said, waiting for the man on the other line to wake up.
"I'm listening," came the reply.
/> "We need to start building, or we'll lose the land."
Ali could hear the other man groan as he sat up. "If you can elaborate I would greatly appreciate it."
"I have government officials breathing down my neck," Ali said. "If we don't start building soon, we'll lose the land and it will be sold to the highest bidder."
"I was told that couldn't happen."
"A few years ago, I would have agreed with you, but after the revolution, everything's changed." Ali sighed as he shifted his phone from one ear to the other. "The land is in a booming area, and the fact that we haven't built yet is starting to make people suspicious."
"Which people?"
"The right people," Ali said. He waited for a reply, and when he didn't get one, almost hung up with irritation. Taking a deep breath, he counted to ten and calmed down.
"We have a lot hanging on this," the man finally said. "If we build, then we'll dig. If we dig, they're bound to find the village. Then we'll have the entire archaeological world flying down there."
"I understand," Ali said, "but I would like to point out that if we build, at least we will be the ones controlling that process." Ali paused for effect. "I am sure that is better than someone else unearthing what we don't want unearthed."
He could hear the other man breathing, thinking, and finally saying, "You can build around the site? There won't be any surprises?"
Ali almost laughed. "You insult me, my friend."
"Very well," the man gave in. "Do what you must. And the key?"
"Well hidden," Ali said. "I'll start work on the site by the end of the week."
Across the Atlantic, William Fern hung up the phone and lay back in bed, his mind racing. It took him an hour to fall asleep again.
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