Fated

My stomach twisted as I remembered what was about to happen. I didn’t want to watch this. Another step—

The living room with the four of us again, but this time the cooperation was gone. Tobruk and I were arguing, Shireen chipping in. Tobruk’s dark eyes flashed as he talked over me, and Rachel watched doubtfully, looking between us. The door opened, cutting us all off, and—

The visions came faster, blending into each other. Dissent and suspicion. Shireen and Rachel shifting step by step. Shireen angrier, Rachel desperate. My encounters with Lyle and the Council. Richard above it all, seemingly oblivious. Plots in the darkness. Deception, fear. Discovery.

And then, suddenly, everything was steady. A younger me, maybe a year older than the first time, was standing in a corridor of dry, cold stone. Next to me was a girl, thin and barely able to stand, leaning on me with bloodstains on her tattered clothes. Both of us were staring at Richard, who was standing just a little way ahead, Shireen, Rachel and Tobruk behind. ‘You knew?’ I was saying, and I sounded stunned.

‘Oh, Alex,’ Richard said. ‘Don’t confuse not knowing with not caring. I was willing to let you lie to me right up to the point where you disobeyed a direct order.’

I saw my younger self lick his lips. ‘You don’t need her. There’s a way—’

‘It’s not about her. It’s about you.’ Richard held out his hand and beckoned. ‘Give her to me.’

The girl looked from Richard to me, eyes wide in fright. I hesitated.

Richard sighed. ‘That, unfortunately, was your last chance.’ He shook his head. ‘I warned you not all of you would make it. Tobruk?’

Tobruk stepped forward with a grin. ‘Hey, Alex. Guess you’re not top of the class any longer.’ He snapped his fingers and black fire ignited, leaping forward—

I came down with a gasp. I was back in the study, but I’d crossed the floor. The door was in front of me, within touching distance. One more step and I’d be through.

A voice spoke from my left. ‘Long time no see.’

I knew who it was before I looked. Tobruk was leaning back in Richard’s chair, his feet propped up on the desk. He looked exactly as he’d been when I’d last seen him, a good-looking teenager with dark skin and a mobile, mischievous face. His mouth was smiling, like always. His eyes weren’t.

‘That’s not your seat,’ I said at last.

Tobruk grinned. ‘Richard’s through that door. Don’t worry; you’ll find him. All you have to do is step through.’

I looked back for a second, then nodded. ‘Okay.’ I started forward.

‘Oh look, what have we got here?’ Tobruk pulled his feet off the table and reached down to drag a girl up by her hair. It was Shireen. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing shallowly, cuts and scratches criss-crossed her face. Tobruk held her up long enough for me to see her, his fingers tangled in her hair, then he tossed her forward to slump across the desk, her head hitting the wood with a thunk. ‘So what do you think I should do with her?’

I stood still. ‘What if I burn some of her fingers off?’ Tobruk asked. He shook his head. ‘Nah, that’d be a waste. I think I should screw her first. She always was a good lay.’

‘Stop it,’ I said, my mouth dry.

Tobruk grinned. He settled back into his chair and spread his arms wide, inviting. ‘Make me.’

I wanted to dive for him. Instead I took a deep breath and fought the anger, controlling it. When I spoke at last, my voice was steady. ‘The only place I’m going is through this door.’

‘You think I care?’ Tobruk shrugged. ‘You’re coming back sooner or later. Matter of fact, I kind of want you to run into Richard again.’ He grinned again. ‘Course, if you want to speed things up …’

I looked down at Shireen’s unconscious body. ‘What did she do to you?’ I asked.

‘She didn’t do anything.’ The grin vanished from Tobruk’s face and he leant forward over the desk at me, his eyes suddenly filled with hate. ‘I was going to be Richard’s Chosen. Two years of clawing to be better than the rest of you, and all for what? So you could stab me in the back like a coward. My whole life was a waste because of you! My whole life!’ Suddenly Tobruk flashed into flame, becoming a skeleton wreathed in dark fire. It only lasted a second, then he was human again. Smoke curled from the chair. Where his hands had been splayed on the desk, charred handprints were burnt into the wood.

The two of us stared at each other. ‘I did a lot of things I shouldn’t have while I was here,’ I said at last. ‘A lot of them I don’t like to think about. But you know what?’ I held Tobruk’s gaze, dropping my mask, letting him see I was telling the truth. ‘Killing you was the only thing I ever did from that time that I don’t regret at all.’

Tobruk glared at me a second longer, then snorted and dropped back into the chair. ‘Yeah, whatever.’

I turned to leave.

‘Oh, Alex?’

I paused for a moment, then looked back.

‘Richard’s going to find you,’ Tobruk said. He was smiling again. ‘When he wakes up he’s going to go looking for you. Then he’s going to find you and then he’s going to hurt you and then you’re going to die. And when you do, I’ll be waiting for you. Make sure you stay alive till then, Alex. I’ll be really disappointed if you let any of those guys kill you instead. I want to see your face when you meet him.’ He gave a mocking wave. ‘Be seeing you.’ He turned towards Shireen.

I didn’t wait to see what he was going to do with her. I stepped through the door, pushing it open. There was a moment of blinding, unbearable light, then—

My eyes snapped open into darkness. It was warm, and I was back on the bed in the room in Morden’s mansion. I looked quickly through the futures just to make sure that I was really back, then I got up. The lights in the room had gone out, and the fire was cold. Outside, starlight glinted off the leaves. I stood by the window for a