Hope (Based on Call of Duty Ghosts) (Final Book of the Faith Trilogy)

Chapter 31- After Her

Logan's POV: 

I stared after the hoof prints of Illusion, nothing but little clouds of dust now. Whenever I expanded my hearing, I could sense the sound of the beats still moving away, but they were faint. That meant everything I'd just experienced hadn't been a dream and that Hailey was actually mad. 

"What the hell just happened?" Kick demanded, looking between all of us- Jason, Merrick, Hesh, Keegan and I. 

"Hailey, I-I don't know," Keegan was lost for words. 

Jason mumbled something about eyes and a word still only slightly unknown to me: Sephtis. 

"What are you mumbling?" I turned on him a little too harshly, gaining the defensive attention of Merrick. 

Jason met my blue gaze steadily. "I think you heard me perfectly clear, Logan Walker." 

"I didn't actually." 

"Can someone please explain what's going on?" Kick chipped in. 

Jason sighed. "Most of you have probably heard of Sephtis, a highly poisonous plant to not only humans, but people like Hailey, like Alec and even Logan." 

"What's it do?" Kick kept his arms crossed. 

"Well, instantly it kills a normal person, shutting down every bit of the nervous system and organs. For people like Hailey, Wakanda people, the power of Sephtis digs to the core of their own powers. Within ten minutes, the plant slowly destroys every power once wielded, that is unless the wielder is stabbed by Sephtis- after that it's sooner. After the powers of the Wakanda are gone, they turn into a normal human being and die from the leftovers of Sephtis." 

The Ghosts around Jason were silent. I moved my gaze over to the colorful flower by where Hailey and I had been training not a day ago. 

"So what does this have to do with Hailey going crazy?" Hesh wondered. 

"When Sephtis enters the system of any power-holding human, it flips everything they know. They become crazed and even lose memories temporarily. Their powers become unusually flared and, eventually, their eyes turn a light grey- signaling the power of Sephtis within them." 

"So you think Hailey has been injected with Sephtis?" Keegan sounded defensive. 

Jason blinked calmly. "I'm not saying that at all. Her eyes, though, when she had her 'episode' they were glowing a grey." 

I found my eyes widening disbelief. If Hailey somehow had Sephtis inside her, did that mean she would eventually die? Of course it did, no one survived Sephtis according to Jason. Hailey wouldn't be spared. 

"Logan," Jason looked firmly to me, "she started acting weird during your training. What happened?" 

"I don't remember anything dangerous," I tried to recall what had happened. "We did a lot of hand-to-hand. I ended up tripping her and her head fell nearby one of your flower beds."

Jason's eyes widened. "And did she say a certain part of her body hurt?" 

Everyone's gazes were on me, making me swallow. "She rubbed her eyes shortly after." 

"Fuck," Keegan muttered. 

At the same time, Jason turned to look at the flower bed I was talking about. He crouched near one of the colorful-petaled flower and tilted his head. 

"One of the flowers is lighter colored which means its power was lifted." 

"What does that mean?" Keegan's voice was a snap. 

"It means Hailey has Sephtis in her system," Jason got up from his kneel and looked to all of us. "It means this war that you've all been fighting is going to end quite soon." 

If I had shot Keegan twice in the chest, it wouldn't have compared to the amount he flinched to Jason's words. Keegan doubled over, leaning backwards shakily against a raised stone flower pot, and focused his blue gaze to the ground. I couldn't find any relation to his pain, yet I could find a piece of it deep inside my own chest. 

"Logan," Merrick looked to me. "You need to-" 

"Find Hailey," Jason stopped Merrick. "Find her and bring her back here." 

I nodded multiple times. 

"I'm going with," Keegan stepped forwards. 

"You'll only slow him down," Kick held his shoulder. 

Keegan glared sideways at him and then moved his cold blue orbs to me; I met them with my own. His gaze glanced to the gates and then back to me. 

"Take care of my wife." 

~~~

I followed the hoof-shaped prints deep into the forest in the direction of a small town. As I neared the town, buildings appearing through the thinning trees, the prints became fainter. Sooner, rather than later, Illusion's path disappeared. 

"Where the hell are you?" I muttered. 

My eyes traveled down a short, yet rather steep, hill and set upon a small home. A greenhouse was connected to the right of the two-story building and a door sat in front of it, open to the inside of the house. I shot down the hill and to the door in seconds. 

"Hailey?" I stepped through the door, crooked on its hinges. 

When there wasn't an answer, I pushed through even more. The library was empty, dusty books and ancient objects scattered about as if a hurricane had swept through without notice. My eyes studied every book. 

I walked to the check out area, glass cases holding more ancient objects acting as the counter. My fingers traced over a picture frame and I found myself flipping it over. 

Family. Forever.

A picture sat inside the frame below the cursive words. It showed off three people, a younger Jason and two babies, well eight-year-olds. I traced my finger over the faces, a small smile coming to my face. 

Somehow I remembered that day. Hesh and I had actually had a full day with our father, Elias. The picture showed us with large smiles in front of a playground, an ice cream cone in each of our hands. Jason, our uncle, had taken the joyful picture.

That'd been our last day with Elias.

He'd left shortly after to go to war. 

I carefully took the picture out, shoving it in my back pocket. My eyes snapped to where a breeze blew open a second door. It led out to the greenhouse. 

"Hailey?" 

I moved around the counter, putting a hand on the door frame as I stepped through. Plants of many kinds, both regular and magical, grew happily in the fresh soil, their leaves stretching up towards the sunlight. 

My blue gaze brightened when it crossed a wooden desk with trinkets Jason had built and experimented with. I stepped up to the desk and picked up a knife, the blade the brightest silver I'd ever seen. There were two more on the wooden wall, hanging pleasantly. 

"Sephtis," I read the sign labeled above the knives aloud as if to comfort myself. 

I looked from the reflective knife in my hand to the board once more. There were places for four- one I held in my hand and two others hung. I widened my gaze and gaped my mouth to the empty slot.

Missing. 

Hailey had gotten to Jason's place far earlier than I had which meant she had grabbed weapons for herself. One of those weapons was a knife crafted with the deadly plant Sephtis. 

Why, I wondered, would she want such a knife?

The answer was clearer than water.