“How could I remain the same decade after decade, never growing older? Never dying?” she asked. “Not once have I changed in this form, and no one has asked how that could be. Do you have any idea why?”
He stepped back, not wanting to know or to consider what Isabel really was. That what he kept seeing—or at least thought he had—was her actual appearance and this might be true. When he and his clan had played the holograms left by the Others, they’d spoken English as flawlessly as he did and looked as human as anyone else on this planet. Not even close to this…thing…that seemed to be Isabel.
She went around the table, following him. “I removed or changed the memories the others had of me so no one would question my continued presence. Through the centuries, I’ve always been known as Isabel, or its equivalent, the best friend of the woman who bore the clan’s leader.”
Zeke’s voice shook. “Why are you telling me this?”
“You gave me no choice. No matter what Carreon and his men do, even his latest threat, you insist on that woman being here, on helping his people rather than your own.”
He snapped, “Do you expect me to let another woman die no matter whose clan she belongs to? Do you actually believe I wouldn’t protect Liz? I love her, dammit. I won’t let her go back to Carreon. She’d never survive. She hasn’t harmed anyone here. She’ll be able to help us.”
Isabel regarded him with sadness rather than anger. “You know what you have to do for your clan, and I can make it less painful.”
Was she joking? Isabel wanted him to deny his future with Liz, and she was somehow going to make that all right? “I don’t want to hear it.”
She continued, “As each new generation takes the place of the last, I’ve made them forget that I was there during the time of their grandparents and great grandparents. I’ll do the same with you when it comes to that woman. You won’t hurt anymore if you can no longer remember—”
“No.” Zeke trembled with fear and fury. “You can’t take Liz away from me. No matter what you try to do, I’ll always know something’s missing…I’ll always be searching for her.” He put more distance between them. “I’ll leave with Liz, her father and Jacob immediately. Somehow, Jacob and I will fight Carreon without the rest of the clan’s help. You and your kind can have the damn land, this place and all of your stupid gifts. I don’t want them. I never asked for any of this.”
“Your people need you here with them. Your ability to see the future, your enemies’ plans, protects them from Carreon and his men.”
Zeke tightened his fists. “My visions have always taunted more than they’ve helped. Most of the time they’re impossible to understand.”
“Because you’ve always fought them,” she argued. “Submit to your heritage. Accept it as you should.”
“Accept it?” Disgust laced his words. “It’s your kind—the Others—that started this mess. You’re one of them, not us. You have an obligation to my people to secure their future since your kind has jeopardized it from the start.”
“I haven’t the power to prophesize,” she said. “None of my kind do. It happened only because we mated with your people. A gift none of us expected or planned. I’m no more than a guardian.”
“With the ability to wipe a loved one from someone’s mind. To rip that from them. Do you hate me so much that you’re willing to destroy the only thing that’s made me want to go on?”
Her pity from a moment before turned to shock. She spoke more quietly than she had previously. “I love you as if you were my own son, Zeke. I feel the same about your people, as though they truly are my family. It’s not an emotion my kind knows, but I’ve learned it over the centuries…a gift I received from your clan. That’s why I revealed what I am to you, something I’ve never done with anyone else. Something I wasn’t supposed to do. I’m giving you the chance to let me help you to forget Liz and her father. I’m giving you the choice, rather than forcing it upon you.”
He stepped back again, wary that she would touch him and that would take Liz from him forever. “I’ve already told you, I don’t want it. I’ll never agree to such a thing. If I can’t be with Liz, if she’s not a part of my past, present and future, I’d rather be dead.”
“Don’t say that.”
Zeke’s shoulders bunched. His muscles tensed. “Losing Gabrielle nearly destroyed me. You know that. You saw. You talk of love as though you understand it, but you don’t. If you had even the remotest clue about its power, you wouldn’t be telling me these things, threatening me because I won’t—”
“I’m not threatening you,” she insisted. “I’m simply asking you to do what you were born to do.”
“And what’s that? Protect territory for your kind? A piece of dirt? Why? So they can prove they won against Carreon’s clan and the Unknowns, then return like kings? Or was this all done in their hope to colonize a new planet in case they had to flee theirs? Is that it? They’re going to rule Earth after my people, my ancestors, the ones I’ve loved have died or been traumatized for their ends?”
“If you don’t honor them, they will return. What will happen to your people and Liz then?”
Zeke wanted to cry out his frustration and despair at the thought of anyone…anything…harming them. He spoke without thinking. “I’ll fight them too, as I have Carreon. I won’t stop until they’re gone or I’m dead. No one’s going to hurt Liz or my people.”
“You can’t fight my kind,” Isabel whispered.
Maybe not with weapons, but there were other ways, weren’t there? “You say you love me as a son, prove it now.”
She frowned. “I’ve proven it every day since you’ve brought Liz here. I’ve made no move to stop that other than trying to reason with you.”
“Give me time to make this right.”
“There is no more time, Zeke. Every moment she’s here makes it worse for your people and hers. I overheard the men talking about Carreon’s transmission, his threats. I know what he plans to do.”
“We’ll find him before anything happens,” Zeke said. “We’ll destroy him.”
“You’ll put your clan at risk again.”
“I’ll do it alone, then.”
“No. You’re the leader. Your people need you.”
“I’ll work this out,” Zeke argued. “Carreon’s offered twelve hours. Can’t you promise me the same amount of time? Is that so much to ask?”
She regarded him cautiously. “If I were to grant that, what happens then?”
He was afraid to consider it. This time there was no way he could fail.
Kele stared at her computer monitor with one thought running through her mind. You can’t give up now. You have to do this.
There was simply no other option.
Hours earlier, after having watched Carreon’s transmission, Zeke had left the meeting room with Liz and Jacob. Isabel’s voice had sounded in the hall, stopping Zeke. From what he’d said, he’d gone somewhere with the older woman only to return to this room a short time later, his face ashen with worry.
“What’s wrong?” Paul had asked him.
“Has anyone shown the tape to the prisoners as I wanted?”
“We’re headed that way now.”
Zeke grabbed the laptop before Paul could. The man followed Zeke out of the room.
“Hey,” Diaz said when Kele went to join them. “Where are you going?”
“I’ll be back in a minute. Keep working on our plan.”
She caught up with Zeke and Paul. Zeke didn’t seem to notice her presence. Paul frowned. Kele ignored his disapproval, wanting to hear what the prisoners said.