“So you going all John Wick tonight, that’s normal?” Ava asked, a slight air of excitement to her tone.
“This isn’t a game,” Jess snapped.
“I know,” Ava snapped back. “But we both know that Avalon and their rhetoric is bullshit, Jess. We both know that they’re only after power for themselves. Granddad told us not to trust them.”
“Yes, but Nate still killed a dozen people tonight,” Jess said.
“I did,” I said without emotion. “If I hadn’t, we’d all be dead right now, and your son would be in the hands of Robert Saunders and his Avalon and Nazi friends.”
“And you don’t mind?” Brooke asked.
I shrugged. “It’s them or us. No, I don’t mind. I learned a long time ago that sometimes removing people from this planet is doing the rest of the world a favor. I rarely think twice about it.”
“That’s scary,” Brooke said.
“I guess so,” I said.
“So what happens now?” Jess asked. “My son is in danger here.”
“Is he Robert’s?” I asked. “I know you said he wasn’t, but I need to know a hundred percent one way or the other.”
“No,” Jess said. “It’s physically impossible for him to be the father.”
“So what’s his game?” I asked. “This is really just about getting back at you for leaving him?”
Jess nodded.
“He’s using the backing of the KOA and Avalon just to piss you off,” I said with a slight shake of my head. “That’s some deep-seated hate.”
“During the trial he had his lawyer give me a letter,” Jess said. “It just said that when he saw me again, he would make sure that I didn’t forget him. I thought we’d be safe here, especially after so long. I’m not on any mailing lists, I don’t have a credit card, and my driver’s license is in my nan’s maiden name. There’s no link to me here.”
“Except your grandparents,” I said.
“Robert never met them; he never had any indication that they lived here.”
“He must have done some digging,” I said. “Maybe now that he’s working for the KOA, he had to wait until they were back this way before he could really start screwing around with people’s lives.”
Everyone was silent for several seconds, but the stillness was broken eventually by Ava. “So you’re really over a thousand years old?” she asked.
I nodded. “Well over.”
“You were in World War Two?”
I nodded again. “Some of it. I was in Germany after the Nazis took control. It wasn’t a fun time.”
“And the American Revolution?” Ava continued.
“After it happened, yes,” I said. “I’ve met a few leaders of a few countries over the centuries, and I’ve been in a few places when huge events took place.”
“Jack the Ripper?” Ava asked.
“Stop it,” Jess said.
“He’s dead,” I said.
“Did you kill him?” Ava asked, ignoring the glare from Jess.
“I did. There were three of them, but the one in charge was called Enfield. They killed people to collect souls for Merlin. That was the reason I ended up leaving Merlin’s employ. It wasn’t until after that I discovered that he was doing it because Arthur had addled his brain into doing his bidding.”
“So Merlin isn’t really a bad guy?” Ava asked.
“Once, I’d have said no. But not now. There’s no coming back from the things he’s done. The lives he’s destroyed all to keep Arthur in power. Whatever was left of the man I’d known growing up is dead. Now, he’s just a monster in the service of a bigger monster.”
Jess and Brooke both went to bed soon after, and Ava stayed up to keep me company, asking me questions about my life and various historical figures before she fell asleep on the sofa. I put a blanket on her and left her to sleep as I continued to look out the window at the dark. Tomorrow, I was going to have to get everyone to safety. Hopefully with Chris’s help. Robert wasn’t going to stop with one botched mission, and with Orestes dead, someone in Avalon was going to start to wonder how a sorcerer had been killed by a small, normal human family. Eventually, my identity would be discovered, and if I was still in Clockwork when that happened, it was going to be turned into a war zone.
It took me another hour to go to sleep, and my dreams were of fire and lightning. Of death. Of everything I used to be and hopefully would soon be again.
Chapter Twelve
NATE GARRETT
The sun was out when I woke up, although it had made little difference to the overall temperature. Ava was still asleep on the sofa, so I went into the kitchen to make a large pot of coffee and have something to eat. I’d only had four hours of sleep, but it would have to do.
Daniel was the first person to enter the kitchen once the coffee was done. He took a cup and sat in the chair opposite me at the table.
“So my family finally knows the truth,” Daniel said.
I nodded. “I never wanted this to happen, Daniel,” I told him. “I stayed quiet and hidden for two years.”
“I know,” he said solemnly. “The longer you were here, the more likely it was that you would be discovered. There’s nothing to be done to change that now.”
“Donna knew, didn’t she?”
“Not everything, but most, yes. When you were married, did you keep secrets from your wife?”
I shook my head. “Not that I can remember. It was centuries ago, though.”
“I learned long ago that Donna is too smart to hide things from. Even things that would put her in danger. Besides, she’s much better at keeping secrets than I ever was.”
“Jess’s ex involved you out of spite and anger,” I said. “At least that’s what it sounds like.”
“To me too,” Daniel said. “I knew that sooner or later he might turn up. He was a possessive, violent man who would not allow Jessica to talk to her family. He tried to distance her from everyone she knew, and when he was deployed, she realized there was more to life than the house she lived in. She met someone else, and she finally escaped Robert’s grasp. Unfortunately, Robert discovered her affair and attacked the young man, but that got him put in jail and gave Jessica time to vanish.”
“And the young soldier Robert attacked?”
“Chris helped with that. He kept an eye on him and made sure he was nice and safe. Paid off to keep quiet by Robert’s family, and last I heard, he now lives in Toronto with his wife and children.”
“Is Simon his? The other soldier’s, I mean?”
Daniel nodded.
“Does he know?” I asked.
Daniel nodded again. “Once he was out of the hospital, Jess went to see him. Neither wanted a relationship, and the father was . . . concerned about Robert reappearing. They agreed that it would be best for Simon if he wasn’t involved.”
“Any chance that Robert tracked him down and got Jess’s location that way?”
Daniel shook his head. “The father knew that we lived here, but that’s as far as it went.” Daniel stared at me for several seconds. “You think that’s how Robert knew to look here? He came here looking for Donna and me and wound up finding Jess and Simon?”