Page 21 (2/2)

Sweat covered ers desperately tried to find Collin's hand, but only grabbed air Sucking in sharply, I wiped the sweat from my eyes, and pulled my knees into my chest

"That's the third time that I had the same vision," I rasped in a shaky voice

Shannon's hand was onworked its way out of on?"

I nodded, feeling too freaked to talk That was the third time that I'd seen my attempt to save Collin fail And it was the third time that I'd seen my own death

CHAPTER TWO

I pushed back my seat as we soared over the Atlantic Ocean Shannon and I were on our way to the Martis headquarters in Ro and I hadn't seen land out thesince

Soht into the Martis coht I was evil incarnate It was an honest mistake, but it could have deadly consequences While describing me as the Prophecy One was accurate, the evil part was a little out of date I proved that fighting next to Julia, the Regent Dyconisis, and other Martis on Long Island They had regarded me as some sort of hero after that Well, everyone except Julia She still had suspicion plastered all over her face the last ti that it was difficult to expect a Martis to look beyond the color ofshe saas certain destruction and death

The prophecy foretold of a seventeen-year-old as the destructor of the world Everyone believed that I was that seventeen-year-old It was hard to deny since the prophecy was a painting and not just words scratched onto a sheet of paper I could have contested words, but not the painting The resee of mine

But, it was the violet mark on her brow that was irrefutable That intricate mark confirmed that I was the Prophecy One without a doubt, because I was the only one who had it No other Martis had a violet mark Theirs were all the perfect shade of blue Their enemies, the Valefar, had a scar scraped across their forehead that oozed an ugly red No, there was no denying that I was the girl in the painting My mark and hers were one and the same

The Martis were terrified of that mark They were terrified of me I was the embodiment of two enemies that had been at ith each other for hundreds of thousands of years That violet el and deh my veins It showed the delicate and lethal balance of power that rested in the hands of one huirl

Me

The Martis and the Valefar were at a stale, but no one knoill happen now They think I' that my actions would speak loudly and the Martis would knoithout a doubt whose side I was on Being the de the Underworld held no appeal for me And, I had no desire to wipe out the Martis and destroy the world The Valefar could go screw the to help them free Kreturus no matter what that prophecy said So, my only option was to try and derail the prophecy, and hope for a different outco was housed safely in an old church Now the da was in the Underworld with Collinand Kreturus

And it was my fault

Guilt gnawed at me constantly I wondered what I could have done differently, what I could have changed to cause different results, but I didn't know Collin was trying to keep the prophecy froh they were on different sides in the same war The Martis and the Valefar were i that Collin and Eric were fighting for a co on an airplane withthousands of miles from home, to try and save the boy who sacrificed hiuilt that motivated me Maybe I was stupid Maybe I was utterly love-struck Whatever the reason, I was deter Collin home

Julia and Eric left for Ro Island battle to the Martis Way too many Valefar and Martis had invaded my life Back then, I had no idea why Now I knew exactly why - both forces were converging on the point of the final battle It wasn't a coincidence at all It was me, pure and simple The Valefar needed my power to free Kreturus and the Martis wanted me dead Before I had any idea what I was, both sides were hunting me Eric's sole mission for the past two-thousand years was to find and kill me

I heard that the Martis took Eric's testimony and banished him to some remote location for his disobedience Julia was the only one who knew his whereabouts It see for hie that he was involved inwithin e if I thought about it too long I pushed the thought away, and stared out the little ovalThe topsides of fluffy white clouds passed beneath the julass

Shannon spoke to the back ofsince they closed the plane door "The Tribunal wants et there Once I do that, I can help you search the library for the stuff you're looking for"

I nodded, waiting forelse

She pulled her feet up onto her little coach class seat, and wrapped her ar "You wanna talk?"

No I didn't want to talk Instead, I shrugged, and said, "There's nothing to say" I turned back toward theHollowness consumed me I hadn't spoken of Collin or my mother to anyone I couldn't It was too horrible