Free Merciless by Robin Parrish Page B

Atrum Universitas is one of the oldest and deepest secrets known to the Secretum of Six. And it can only be performed with the deaths of two individuals: the vessel, and a sacrifice. The sister’s blood was drained from her body to give to the Hollow, to feed the birthing process. Only the Bringer could have been the vessel, of course, because he wore the Seal of Dominion. But the sacrifice could have been anyone who doesn’t wear a Ring. It became Grant’s sister purely out of convenience.”
    He stood, satisfied with his work on Alex’s damaged skin. “You should both do your very best to rest. We have a long journey ahead of us, and I believe Oblivion is intent upon walking the entire way. He seems to relish the effect his touch has upon the ground. Exciting days are ahead, very exciting days. And you will both play crucial roles in what’s to come. You are, after all, the deadliest weapons in Oblivion’s army.”

15
    As Ethan told them his tale, Daniel sat and listened, Lisa at his side on the sofa holding his hand in hers. The young man named Trevor lingered alone immersed in the television, constantly flicking through the channels.
    Before losing himself in the terrible images, Trevor offered his own history, explaining that for most of his life he’d been forced to work for the Secretum. The unique power his Ring gave him—to suppress the mental abilities of other Ringwearers—was of particular use to them. He explained how the Secretum had now all but disappeared from London, leaving him on his own for the first time he could ever remember. And he told how he’d tried to help Grant when he was in London, and how he pointed Grant in the direction of the Middle East in his quest to find his sister Julie.
    Ethan took over the story from there, giving them a twenty-minute explanation of his new status. Lisa looked at Ethan, listening to him talk. Daniel stared absently out of the attic window to the streets below, which flickered in the distance with firelight from the rioting mobs.
    As Daniel took all this in, Ethan explained how he’d been freed from a British police station several days before time stopped, and inducted into a secret security task force whose existence was known to only a handful of people around the world. It was this task force that explained Oblivion to him, and that the Secretum’s endgame was to birth this creature into human flesh.
    “Who are they?” Daniel interrupted.
    “What?” Ethan paused.
    “This ‘secret task force’ you mentioned. Who are they and what’s their interest in all this?”
    “Plus, how do you know they’re the good guys?” Lisa added.
    Ethan peered out the window, and Daniel had the impression that the blond man was searching for words. “That last part, you’re just going to have to take my word for. I have my reasons for taking them at their word, not the least of which is that I’m a good judge of character. Always have been. Remember, I believed in Grant when no one else in the FBI did. I was the one to quit so I could stand at his side.”
    Even Lisa had to acknowledge this point; she sat back in her seat but continued listening and watching him. Daniel didn’t move, nor had he, since this conversation began. He sat perfectly straight in his seat, one hand on his cane, which stood beside him, and the other holding Lisa’s hand.
    “Regarding who they are,” Ethan continued, “they call themselves the Appointed. They haven’t been around as long as the Secretum—only about five hundred years or so. But it is—or it was— their mission to stop the prophesies on the Dominion Stone from coming true. They apparently thought I could be of some help to them, though I don’t know why they picked me.”
    “Well, these Appointed—this ‘anti-Secretum’ group— couldn’t have been trying very hard, could they?” Lisa blurted out. “ We’ve been trying to stop the prophesies from coming true for months, and where were they in all that