The Survivors: Point of Origin (book 2)

Soulless, pt. 1

Paradise was short-lived.

Before dawn, Ginny came knocking with the clothes, and as soon as he heard us talking to her, Mark came in. I was still wrapped only towels and blankets, and so I hid behind Everett as we talked.

"Where's Ben?" I asked.

"Trying to breathe," Mark said. "He had a panic attack, not that he knew that's what it was."

"Is he okay?" I asked, alarmed.

"He's fine," he said, scrubbing his hand across his face and then through his hair. "Sadie, he needs to go home," he sighed.

"What do you suggest I do? Put him on a plane?" I asked, feeling stressed and guilty.

"Of course not. If you're okay with it, I'm going to get Adelaide to meet us. She'll take him back," Mark said.

"But he was helpful, and Andrew asked me..." I said.

"He needs to go home," Mark repeated. He had obviously had a conversation with Ben that I had not, so I had to trust him.

"Okay," I said.

"Great. The quickest way for Adelaide to get here from the Survivors is to drive to Seattle, so she is already en route. I got her on a flight into Bucharest via London. It was the best I could do. It's about 1,000 miles from here. She'll be here in twenty-four hours, so we have some time to kill," Mark said.

"Look at Polly, learning to handle logistics," Everett smiled.

"'Bout time," Ginny jeered.

"What about Patrick and Madeline?" I asked.

"They were in Norway. They're following a lead, but then they'll head to Pickering. No magical transportation power yet," he added.

"So what's the plan, boss?" Everett asked.

"I want to go to Ephesus again so I can see it in the daylight.," I said.

"You won't be able to look at the symbols again," Ginny reminded me. "It's a little harder to covertly destroy part of a monument in the daylight with tourists watching."

"I know. I just..." I trailed off hating to again say that it was for reasons I couldn't explain.

Everett seemed to understand. "All right," he said, "everybody out. We need to get dressed."

I knelt over the gladiator graveyard. I had read about gladiators before I'd left my family in a history of the Roman Empire, and I was shocked to learn of what I could best describe as murder for sport. Now that the ethics of murder and the value of life, human and otherwise, was a constant question in my life, I couldn't think of anything more despicable than the gladiator tradition.

So why did I feel this electricity in this place?

"Do you feel it, too?" I asked Ben, who was hovering near me.

"Like lightning in my bones," Ben said. "And..."

"Sadness," I said, feeling what he was feeling.

"Right," he said. I also felt guilt, but Ben did not.

We made it to Bucharest a few hours before Adelaide's flight arrived. We found a café with Wi-Fi and waited there. I pulled out my laptop and searched for anything in Romania that might help us while we were there. The last time I'd been in Romania we'd encountered the nosferatu lynxes in the mountains to the northwest. I wondered if Narcisa, Valentin, and their dwindling coven were still there.

Everett, Mark, and Ginny were starting to lose patience with each other. Their dispositions had changed. The air in Romania was much colder, and it had been days since their last excursion. They needed to feed.

We greeted Adelaide at the airport close to midnight. Their flight back to London left at six in the morning. Adelaide was with her children for two minutes before she lectured them on the dangers of going too long without blood.

"We can't leave Sadie," Everett said.

"But you can't go without your brother and sister. It's for your own protection," Adelaide reminded him, stroking his hair out of his eyes. It was very maternal. I wondered why.

"I'll be fine," I said.

Everett started to protest, but Adelaide stopped him. "She will be fine. You have to go before you get dangerous, and that's that. Now, you three go," she said. None protested. They simply hugged and kissed and went on their way. "Sadie, I'm going to take Ben somewhere where he can rest before our plane ride. You can come with us, or..."

"I have some things I'd like to do," I said.

"Then you do them. And take care," she said, kissing my forehead.

Ben was looking at the ground as it came time for our goodbye. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," he said.

"You were great. You were brave," I said.

He nodded, and then backed away. We had never shown each other affection. Now didn't feel like the time to start.

"I'll keep him safe," Adelaide said, hugging me tight.