The Impossible Future: Complete set by Frank Kennedy (mini ebook reader .txt) 📕

The outcropping of rock twenty yards away looked exactly as he pictured it in his mind. The giant rock jutted from the hill as if carved in place to be a sight-seeing deck for studying the nature below. When he reached the top of the rock, Jamie stood in place for several minutes. He neither said a word nor allowed a disruptive thought to cross his mind. He did not shed a tear; he had no more to give.

He listened to the birds, but mostly, he admired the silence.

“It’s pretty,” he said, raising the pistol with a firm grip.

Jamie no longer sensed the beating of his heart or the rise and fall of his lungs. He felt at peace, allowing his last necessary instinct to do the rest. He placed the pistol against his right temple and closed his eyes. He tasted the sweetness of Sammie’s lips in their final kiss. He saw through the guilt that tortured Ben for so long and knew, at last, that his brother was a good man. He relished the warmth and simple beauty of the last sunrise he’d ever see over Lake Vernon. He knew Michael would be home and safe before day’s end. The last and best friend he ever had. He remembered his last class at school, his final run through Albion late at night, the last sketch he drew sitting in the park. All of it consumed him, and he wanted no more.

“The last everything,” he whispered.

Then Jamie wondered whether he would see a bright light.

“Impossible to say, my dear sweet boy, but you will have to wait a while longer.”

Lydia’s voice cracked the silence; Jamie opened his eyes. He didn’t look to his side, but he knew she was there. He was not going to give her the satisfaction of his anger, so he squeezed the trigger.

Nothing happened. Not even the click of an empty gun.

“I’m sorry, Jamie. I don’t believe your death would serve any purpose at this time.”

He tried again, but his trigger finger trembled and pulled away. Nothing. His nerves twitched, and soon the pistol quivered, scraping against his head. The rage that dissipated along with his tears, regrets, and remorse now exploded. Lydia stared out over the valley, a smug glimmer of a smile.

“No, no, no!” He screamed at Lydia. “You can’t do this to me.”

“I already have, Jamie. Your anger is misplaced and unproductive. You have very little time to live; I suggest you do so with joy.”

“Joy? What do you know about joy? Ever since you came around, there’s been nothing but death and killing everywhere. You better let me do this, Lydia. You let me die my way.”

She didn’t change expression. “So you can disrupt the rebirth?”

“You’re goddamn right.”

“Too late. The Jewel’s re-sequencing is complete. Even if you died now, the Jewel would be reborn intact. It might suffer initial confusion, might even lash out. But it will recover.”

Jamie stepped to the edge of the outcropping. He saw boulders along the creek’s shore.

“You can’t stop me from jumping.”

Jamie threw the pistol at Lydia, and it passed through her, sliding down to the base of the outcropping. Simultaneously, a pair of loud cracks echoed through the forest. Jamie froze. He couldn’t tell the direction where the shots came from, and fear entered his swelling cauldron of emotions. Lydia, however, was unfazed.

“I won’t need to stop you,” she said. “If you jump, Jamie, you will experience pain and suffering, but your heart may not stop beating before the rebirth. You will not choose that course. It is not in you.”

Jamie knew she was right. The wild, confusing emotions, the fury tearing through his soul, also pushed him back from the brink. Concern for Sammie and Michael’s safety crept into his thoughts, followed by an intuition of having overlooked someone or something important. Not all the shadows were dead.

However, he pushed those notions aside once he understood what was going on. Why hadn’t he seen this before?

“You’re not the Mentor,” he said. “Never were. That whole crap about a Mentor program? Lies. You’re the Jewel.”

He thought he saw a twinkle in her eyes.

She walked toward him.

“And you have been a challenging host. Actually, there was a Mentor program, but it was badly designed. It functioned only on occasion. Fortunately, I am impregnable.” She stopped within inches of Jamie. “In eleven minutes, your DNA will be eradicated and Jamie Sheridan will simply drift away into the wind. I can promise you will experience no pain. It will be like a beautiful dream. I, on the other hand, will be reborn, the salvation of the Chancellory. Evolution, my dearest boy, must be served.”

She looked away. “They come for me. I hear them.”

Jamie saw beyond the physical world. Someone else’s words echoed across the forest in a long, measured whisper. He thought he recognized the voice, and he knew the source was growing closer.

His mind’s eye saw feet running across a carpet of rotted leaves, bones aching, and a deep, exhausted voice saying, “A good life. A meaningful life. I took a stand.”

The connection vanished, but not before Jamie understood the true nature of the shadow – and the only option he had left. He stood alone facing Lydia, but even she turned away.

“Goodbye, my sweet child. Our time together is at an end.”

63

B Y ALL RIGHTS, Agatha should not have had the strength to finish this journey. At no point since the explosion did any of the pain subside. All she knew was that her resilience was proof of her destiny. She refused to flinch. Tracking skills first learned during Dacha training decades ago helped her now. Every few yards, she saw leaves kicked up or twigs snapped. The first slope she