Chapter 24

M aking our way out of the cave, we headed for my old house. There were fires burning all over the place as we walked through town. This wasn’t the Rockport I remembered; the dark secrets in this town had finally consumed it.

Entering the home one by one, everyone made their way down the basement stairs. I paused for a moment as everyone passed me. I walked into the living room where we had spent time as a family when I was younger, the kitchen where we made and ate breakfast every morning. I walked over to the counter and grabbed a knife my father had kept in the drawer.

I looked at the pictures hanging on the wall, the memories of those pictures stained with the truth. My parents had kept me close to use my powers when I was older. Feeling the rage inside, a crack came over the glass of the pictures.

“So, this is where you grew up,” Logan said, walking up next to me.

“Yes, just a big lie,” I answered, walking past him, noticing a jacket Jason had left here on the floor.

Upstairs, I walked toward Charles’ room. I opened the door and the first thing I noticed was his heap of dirty clothes still in a pile on the ground. Football jerseys and pictures of half-naked girls were pinned up on his walls. A single framed picture sat on his dresser, one of me and him, playing in the yard as kids. Maybe he didn’t know of the family secrets.

A creaking behind me made me jump as Cheryl walked into the room.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

I walked past her and entered my room. I was stunned by what I saw. I had only been gone a few months and they had already packed it all up. My stuff was no longer here; they had transformed my room into a workout space.

“You’ve been through a lot, Mark, I’m so sorry for that,” Cheryl said, sitting next to me on the floor. “But we’ve come so far, and you’re finally ready to lead us.”

“It’s just a lot to take in, you know? I lived my whole life here. Then to find that not only are my family members bloodthirsty demonic inbred worshippers, but they aren’t even my real family.”

“Well, when you put it like that,” she laughed. “When this is all over, I want you to know that you’ll always have a place with me and my dad.”

A pain shot through me as I just couldn’t lie to her anymore; I had to tell her the truth.

“Cheryl, I have to come clean about something…something about your dad.”

“I saw it in your eyes, I knew something happened,” she cried, leaning into me. Her voice faltered, yet I hadn’t even said a word.

“He saved us, me and Autumn; we would have been killed if he hadn’t sacrificed himself.”

“He always put other people before himself, he had a heart of a lion.” The tears welled and overflowed, cascading down her red cheeks. She looked exhausted and drained but was smiling.

I smiled to myself, too, thinking how that was true in more ways than one.

“This is where I really found myself, Cheryl. I had several visions of Aurora up here, sleepless nights. Jason kept telling me to leave it alone, to stop trying to find the killer. Maybe I should have listened to him, you know?”

“If you would have listened to Jason, you probably would have followed your own dark path. You would be working with the Syreni. You finding the truth, putting your faith in Richards and Taylor is what led you to the light.”

“You guys coming?” Autumn asked from the doorway.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” I said as Cheryl hugged me.

I walked behind them down the hallway. Logan stood at the top of the stairs as the girls passed by.

“Hey, Mark,” Logan whispered. “I know we have the fight of our lives and Laila hasn’t been gone that long, but would you be okay if I was interested in Cheryl? You know we need positivity after we defeat the Syreni.”

I laughed and shoved him hard on the arm. His positivity was exactly what I needed.

Down in the basement, there was a hole that had been revealed by Dexter. Following the rest of the group in, we began our trek through the tunnels. The dark, musty corridors brought back memories of being down here.

The creature had taken Patrick, killed him before he could learn the truth. Finding the secret library, and finally learning what the Syreni was all about, I couldn’t help but wonder whatever had happened to Lexi? She’d been against me all along.

Torches lit up the way as the group continued through the murky waters. Dexter led as we all remained silent, preparing for the fight to come.

“Wait,” I called out, realizing we were close to the trap door.

Everyone stopped as I made my way to the front of the group.

“The door is down there,” I pointed as the group turned toward the wall.

Approaching the trap, I felt around it, finding the loose brick that activated it .

“Bring back memories, Cheryl?” I asked her as everyone filled the room.

She nodded and we all paused there.

“Up these stairs, there is the entrance to Mermaid Cliff. We need to stick together,” I uttered before walking up the stairs.

That walk up seemed to take forever, much longer than I remembered. Each step I took, the more nervous I got. The last time I’d been on the cliff, Jason had been murdered. Mermaid Cliff, where it all began, Aurora the first sacrifice, then Veronica, the one that had forced me to search for the truth. Mermaid Cliff was also where it would all end, where the creature would finally be defeated, the Syreni stopped.

We reached the top as the dim light of the setting sun forced its way through the crack in the door. Reaching for the doorknob, I paused; taking a deep breath, I opened it. A breeze pushed in through the slit in the door. I walked out into the chilled air and the light in the sky was almost gone. I could just make out a full moon rising.

“Let’s go, guys, be on alert,” I whispered into the group as they joined me outside.

Everyone regrouped outside the burnt house, and I could see fires in the distance.

“Stay behind us, Mark, and when you can, strike with the dagger,” Dexter said as he and Silverclaw led the way through the woods.

Passing through the trees, I could see Mermaid Cliff. A feeling came over me that I couldn’t explain. I had only ever dreamed of coming back here, avenging the deaths of those I cared about, defeating the corruption in this town.

We passed through the tree line to see a row of hooded men and women at the other side of the cliff; the rock face was lit by torches, lined along the perimeter. We all stopped a few feet outside the trees. We stared at the group, and they stared back. We were all wielding blades and other weapons, ready for a fight. One of them moved toward the middle of the cliff as I inched forward .

“Mark, stay back,” Dexter whispered as I pushed past him.

We stopped a few feet from the edge of the cliff as they removed their hoods.

“Mark, it’s time you listened to your mother,” Daisy said with a smile on her face.

“You’re not my mother,” I said back to her.

“I see you’ve learned some stuff while you were gone.”

“I learned that you are a horrible person and must be stopped.”

“I may not be your biological mother, but I raised you as my own. Your powers are mine, son. I raised the Nephion, no one else did that.”

“That’s not true. My sister is a Nephion too; she showed me what it’s like to truly care about someone.”

“It’s not too late, Mark, you can still join us. The dead will rise, and we will avenge our ancestors and reclaim this world. I have foreseen it myself; this earth will become a wasteland.”

“Why didn’t you tell me I was a Nephion?”

“We wanted to protect you from the Order. Their ways have ruined great people. Look at what happened to your grandfather and your uncle. At least your father and McGinty were smart enough to come back to the Syreni.”

“Protect me?” I argued. “You wanted to use my powers; you people kill the innocent to get exactly what you want. You know a part of me hoped that I would come back here and find it was all a dream, that you weren’t this evil person I thought you were. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to follow through with this, but sometimes, the unthinkable must be done to protect the innocent.”

I pulled out a knife I had picked up from the kitchen and stabbed her in the stomach. She fell to her knees in shock as I stepped back .

The Order pushed past me as the Syreni charged for us. A battle broke out, blood began falling as bodies tumbled. I stared down at my mother as the battle filled the area around us. Silence filled my mind.

I looked down at my mother as she looked up at me. “You did it, Mark. I’m so proud of you.”

Her blood filled the grass around me, spilling over the edge of the cliff. I fell back into the grass, the world around me growing silent. I could see Logan, Devin, Dexter, swinging their swords. Autumn stood firing arrows into the horde.

My mother’s lifeless body lay in front of me - I had killed her. I had done what I thought wasn’t possible. Her reign as leader of the Syreni had come to an end at my own hands, something I must live with for the rest of my life.