Page 105 of Echoes of War

It was a powerful wave, intensifying what I already felt. I fought to keep on my feet. Tomoe and Abel stood there, teeth clenched, used to it. That wasn’t like her. I’d never known Reina to not be in control.

“You didn’t see it?” I asked Tomoe.

Foolishly, selfishly, I had hoped she would have seen as much. I didn’t want to have to be the one to tell any of them. It was a fool’s wish. I knew Tomoe didn’t watch for our deaths. It was an active decision, one I respected her for. She knew herself enough to know that if she saw it, she would try to change it, and that could have dire effects on the future.

Tomoe shook her head. “No, I didn’t. What happened?”

I jutted my chin back in the direction of The Compound, signaling for them to follow me. “I’ll explain inside. It’s not safe to stay out here.”

“I have much to tell you too,” she replied ominously.

Reina leaned into Abel’s side, his arm around her shoulder as they walked back toward the gate. “Here,” Reina said, stopping in front of me and handing me a folded letter from her back pocket. “It’s from Amaia.”

I flipped it over in my hand, looking at the unbroken seal. My brows pinched as I glanced back at her. Reina always respected boundaries when asked, but keeping something like this to herself on the journey back was too long for her not to pry.

“I was told it was for your eyes only. And Prescott,” she called over her shoulder.

Tomoe sniffled, grabbing the bag she’d dropped when I’d picked her up earlier. No tears fell from her eyes, just a stare filled with agony. She moved to walk past me, but I grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

“That’s not all,” I said, not knowing how she’d take this. I didn’t want to further her pain. This was too much. Seth gone, Prescott dead, and now she’d have to face something else from her past. “There’s people here for you, said they knew you from years ago. They’re spooked. Put them in your room. Didn’t know where else they’d be comfortable.”

I knew little about Tomoe’s past. She rarely offered up information and we’d never been close enough for me to get more than the passing comment about her family from The Before. Amaia had told me that bad things had happened before she’d made it here, but never clarified. It wasn’t my business to know anyway, only to make sure she didn’t bring any of the drama of it into The Compound.

“What?” Tomoe asked, “I don’t know?—”

Her words trailed off, eyes glazing over briefly, “Oh my fuck … Hal.”

I nodded, and she took off, leaving Reina and Abel facing me, questioning glances thrown my way.

Tomoe

Coming home to my own space was something I already dreaded. Seth and I had shared it in the weeks prior to our departure. The more I thought about it, the more the space became a haunting reminder of my loss. Now it was a haunting reminder of what was stolen from me.

I ran through the corridor of the Scholar Building slowing to a walk only as I passed the Public Library. People were staring, but I didn’t give a shit. That wasn’t what caused me to stop. The more I focused on Laurel and the kids, the more visions flashed into my mind. Visions I could have gone my entire life without seeing.

My friend lay covering Olivia and Mason with her body. They were older than when I’d last seen them. Mason was a toddler now, shrieking as he peered up at the man who loomed over them. Laurel’s blonde hair was mattedwith blood, falling in front of her face as she yelled at someone. Telling them her husband would be back any minute, that it was in their best interest to just leave.

The men in the room laughed, saying it didn’t matter, they’d have to answer all the same. Laurel begged. My Laurel begged and pleaded, something she’d told me time and time again to never do. Never beg a man to spare you, don’t ever give them the satisfaction. Laurel was fierce. In our short time together, her word had become my law in The After. But with her children in the room, all she could do was ask for their mercy.

I pressed my hands along the wall, trying to pull myself out of this. Riley had said Hal and the kids were here. Not Laurel. I knew what this vision was showing me, making me suffer through. Laurel’s death was about to play out in first person before me, and I didn’t have enough energy left to fight it off.

“You’re either with us or you’re with them. Choose wisely bitch,” one ordered.

He was young, younger than me even. The way he waved that ax around the room let me know his time in Covert had molded himbeyond repair. My friend never took lightly to ultimatums. She would not choose, even if it meant the cost of her babies. Laurel enjoyed the freedom of The Expanse. She would never subject them to what they would have to live through if they were forced to reside in Covert Province. If there was a choice she would make, it would be to bring them here. She couldn’t tell them that though. Her heart fluttered, and she glanced out the window, taking in the sun’s position, trying to figure out how much time she needed to buy them until Hal got there.

The other one chuckled, a seven-inch blade slid across her cheek as he crouched low to meet her glare. “Perhaps we can convince you,” a sneer pulled across his light brown skin as he jabbed the knife into her side.

Laurel cried out in pain. It was agonizing, and I endured every second of it. Olivia whimpered underneath her and Laurel bit down on her tongue.

“Be brave, baby, be brave,” Laurel whispered in her ear.

The younger one walked over to them, kicking her where she bled. “Aren’t mothers supposed to protect their kids? I know moms like you, had one myself. Where the pride is too big to do what’s best.” He kicked her again, harder thistime and a crack sounded. Pain shot through her ribcage and Mason wailed, his fingers between the man’s boots and Laurel’s skin.

“I won’t fail my kids. I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure they don’t end up like you,” Laurel snarled.

She was so close to giving up, the pain too great, but she hung in there. Her desire to survive until Hal showed up too great to give in. Thoughts raced through her mind, she was certain if she told them she’d side with Covert they’d take them now. Olivia and Mason would never see their father or sister again. She had to hold out, just a bit longer.

They both laughed at her muffled screams as they began stabbing and hacking into her. Their cuts not going deep enough to oblige her with an instant death; no, they’d draw this out too.

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