I stand up and go to him. I kiss his lips and stand back and smile.
“We have a lot to tell you all, but the most important thing is that it’s over, Rye. War is dead.”
He opens his mouth, no doubt to fire a series of questions at me, and I put my finger to his lips.
“All in good time,” I say. “Come sit down and we’ll explain everything.”
Rye looks ready to argue, but then he sighs and nods. I take my place back on the couch. Rye perches on the arm beside me. He gratefully accepts the cup of coffee Jinx holds out to him. He blows on the surface and takes a sip.
“Right. Someone better start talking,” he says.
“Should we wait for Nexus?” Sunday asks.
“No,” I say. “She can get the short version later. So as I said, War is gone. He’s in the crystal on the spear.”
“Who was he? How did he get in here? And why didn’t we wake up when you were fighting him?” Mel demands.
“That’s a lot of questions.” I laugh. “So Sunday was War. I think it’s self-explanatory how he got in. And none of you woke up because he drugged you all.”
My blunt answer causes a major stir. The whole team is talking at once. Rye lets it go for a moment and then he holds up his hand.
“Enough. Let her explain,” he says.
He nods to me when the questions stop and I wonder where to begin. I decide to just tell them everything.
“So, Nexus came to me and told me a member of the team was War. She didn’t know who. Obviously I couldn’t tell you guys, because then War would know we were onto him. I knew he would reveal himself sooner rather than later and try to kill me. That happened last night, but I was able to defeat him.”
“So how is Sunday still alive?” Ya-Ya asks.
“The spear was a different weapon to a normal spear. The crystal tip had the power to suck the soul of the Horseman out of Sunday. I was able to stop before Sunday’s soul left his body,” I explain.
“So we were wrong?” Rye says.
I nod.
“So wrong,” I say, giving Jinx a quick smile, which he returns.
“How did you know it was Sunday?” Mel asks.
I debate how much to tell the team, and I decide on total honesty. They’ve all proved their loyalty to me, to the cause, time and time again, and I owe them the same in return.
“I didn’t. At first, I thought it was Aziza,” I say. I smile sheepishly at Aziza, who laughs softly. “She seemed so determined to come into the cavern with me. I was a fool. I thought she wanted to get me alone so she could take me down once I had the weapon. But she didn’t. She just wanted to keep me safe.
“After that, I thought it was Jinx. He had been the first one to go and look for the weapon and then there was other stuff.”
“Like what?” Ya-Ya asks.
“Like how he caused utter chaos at the town council meeting. How did you do that by the way?” I say, turning to Jinx.
“Exactly how I told you I did at the time. Obviously War’s influence took over and it blew up, but I really did start it the way I said.”
I nod my head. It makes sense that a suggestion could get that out of hand with War in the room.
“And then there was the trouble at school. As soon as Jinx got pulled out of the fight, it stopped. Of course Sunday left with him, but by then, I couldn’t see the truth for the lie I had fed myself. Finally, last night, I dreamed of the whole world at war, burning, people killing each other. I woke up from the dream and Jinx was in the room. He told me he heard me screaming and came to check I was okay, which I see now was obviously true, but at the time, I put two and two together and reached about three hundred.”
“I get all of that, Sails. But why did you assume I had drugged you all?” Jinx asks.
“Because you gave us the hot chocolate and you weren’t affected by it,” I say.
“Sunday made it. I just brought it through,” Jinx says. “And it didn’t affect me for the same reason it didn’t affect you. I didn’t drink mine.”
“It’s a good thing you didn’t.” I smile. “There is no doubt in my mind I’d be dead if it weren’t for you.”
I tell the team about me attacking Jinx and how he refused to harm me. And I tell them how he threw me his weapon at the crucial time and gave me what I needed to beat War. The team clap him on the back and cheer and he basks in their praise for a moment. The room falls silent again and I look Jinx in the eye.
“In amongst all of the chaos, I never did apologize. I accused you of something terrible, and I’m so sorry,” I say.
Jinx throws his head back and laughs.
“Seriously, Sails, the way everything went down, my money would have been on it being me,” he says. “You defeated War and saved Sunday. You have nothing to apologize for.”
“But I do,” Sunday says. “I really am sorry for everything I did, and everything I tried to do. I betrayed you all. I am just glad that I was able to fight War long enough to contact Sailor in her dream.”
“So, it was you,” I say
“Yes. If I hadn’t been able to pull you out there wouldn’t have been much of a fight. War would have killed you all. And again, for that I am sorry.”
I open my mouth to tell him none of this is his fault, but Rye starts to talk first. I wince inside. I hope Rye isn’t going to agree with Sunday and tell him he has betrayed us.
“I thought
