Madly & the Jackal by M. Leighton Read Free Book Online

but somehow they found out.  I’m still not sure how.  I’ve done everything I could since then to be cautious, to play my cards close to the vest and so far, we’ve been pretty safe.  But anyway, that day, within a few hours of my return, I got another note.”
    He paused, a silence so long I thought he might not finish.  When he finally spoke, his voice was low and miserable.
    “The note informed me that the lives lost were a consequence of my decision to ignore the rules and that next time there would only be one victim.”
    I felt my heart pound in fear.  “Lives lost?  Who, Daddy?”  Mom!  Where is she?  He hasn’t even mentioned her.
    Emotion clogged my throat as the full weight of what we were about to attempt arose to choke me.  “Daddy, tell me what happened?”
    I watched a far-away look creep over my father’s face as he remembered that day.  I knew it was obvious to all in the room that he was still greatly troubled by it.
    “I was standing in the conservatory, looking out over the Square, just thinking, when I felt the first tremble.  It was so faint, I would’ve missed it had I not been so quiet, so introspective.   The shells in the chandeliers chattered the tiniest bit.  I saw some people on the street pause, as if they’d felt something but couldn’t be sure.  And then came the screaming.”
    “Screaming?”
    My father shook his head slowly, distractedly.
    “I’ll never forget that sound.  It was as if a thousand tortured souls cried out at once, like a siren of death.”
    “What was it?  Who were they?”
    “It was Leviathan.  I was the only one who could hear it.”
    “You?  Why you?”
    My father’s eyes rose to meet mine, the haunting sadness in them enough to make my heart squeeze.
    “Because I brought it on us.  I was the one who left to make contact with Transport.  I was the one who disobeyed.  I was the one who was responsible.”
    “What did it do?  Did you see it?  I mean, what happened next?”
    “Yes, I saw it.”  My father looked like he was about to become physically ill. 
    I waited, my chest burning with the air trapped in my lungs.  “Daddy what?”
    “I saw something…ungodly leaving through the side of the house.”
    My heart stuttered in my chest and my blood buzzed in my ears.  “And?” I whispered, afraid I knew what came next.
    I watched my father struggle to keep from crumbling in front of us.  “It took your mother.”
    His face seemed to age another ten years right before my eyes.  He appeared so weak and haggard, I wondered if he could continue to stand. 
    The relief I had felt at finding him alive and well was replaced with a new fear.  I had known my family needed saving, but it seemed the chances of that happening right away grew less likely by the minute.
    As the latest development worked its way into my consciousness, I felt a desperate panic rise into my throat.  “Have you heard anything since then?  Is- is she alive?  Is she the life lost?”
    I felt tears sting the backs of my eyes.  It was too painful to even consider that she might be dead.  I found that my scrambled mind shunned the possibility of it.
    “No, she is alive.  I feel our tie. I would know it if she’d been…” he trailed off miserably.  His words triggering an instant, nearly-crippling flood of relief in me.  “But four Mer are dead because of my arrogance.  As that…that… thing left with your mother, it floated over them and they just disintegrated.  It’s like they were there one minute and not the next. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
     “But how?  I thought the only way Mer could be killed was—”
    “As did I, Madly.  Whether it’s because it is controlled by the Lore or something else, I don’t know, but that thing has power over the Mer like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
    My father shuddered as he remembered the scene.  I was having difficulty imagining it.  Historically, Mer had few things to