Don't Let Go (Third Book to the Other Side)

Chapter Thirteen

I was hardly aware of my surroundings as Hercules grabbed hold of me and Lafayette, transformed us into light, and teleported us far away. All I saw was the emptiness in Thomas's eyes as he turned away from Eliza's body. He gazed straight at me, a warning. As if to say I was next. And after he had looked at me with such hatred, I had frozen. I didn't cry, I didn't pick up my dagger and hurtle it in whichever direction that cruel monster we called a king was standing, I didn't do anything at all. Instead, I stood. And I watched. And the last thing I saw was his gray gaze boring into mine without any feeling besides hatred.

And then, as if I had never left it in the first place, we were piled into the center of Washington's sitting room. It only then occurred to me that I was trembling. Hercules let go of my arm, and I pushed myself away.

"There you guys are," Aaron said, looking up from a document he was writing to greet us. "Done already?" A frown tainted his face when he saw the condition all three of us were in. "What happened to you? Where's Angelica? Where's—"

"Where's Eliza?" A soft voice murmured from behind me. I turned to see Peggy standing in the doorway, her eyes wide and desperate. She knew already, didn't she? "Where is my sister?" she pressed, her voice rising, but she already knew the answer we couldn't hope to supply.

Hercules stood, the only of us three who had the courage to stay calm. "Peggy..." Even his voice was trembling. Even he was less than sure of himself. He stuttered, searching for words, but nothing coherent came out.

Lafayette shook his head, before burying it in his hands. I heard him muttering something faintly in Aspis, and though my French was better than average, his voice was too hushed for me to make out words. But it sounded faintly like a prayer. I doubt he wanted to make another statue.

"Alexander," said James in the doorway, behind a shaking Peggy. I saw Philip standing just beside them, and my heart shattered even more than it already had. How was I going to explain this to him? "What happened?"

And that's when the tears came. "I t-tried. I really did," I whimpered, realizing just how pathetic I was. "I w-wanted to s-stop him, but he killed her. He killed her!" Saying the words out loud brought me nothing but more pain, more misery. It made the reality all the more true.

Peggy screamed, an overwhelming thing. Its pure power grabbed hold of me and shoved me backwards into the wall. Pain erupted through my body like an earthquake, seeping past my bones and into my very being. I tried to fight against it, but it was no use. There was no possible way to win against the agony she forced us all to feel.

"Peggy! Stop it!" cried General Washington, just strong enough to force out the three words.

Her scream melted away into sobs, and she fell to the floor, defeated, like a wilted flower. It was next to impossible to make out what she was saying between the crying, but I swear I heard her begging. I had never heard Peggy beg before.

Washington's face was unreadable, just as it always was. He stepped over to Peggy and fell to his knees, placing a hand on her back. She wrapped her arms around him and continued to cry into his shoulder. "What happened?" he asked slowly, turning to me. I couldn't bring myself to say anything. I looked down at the floor, hoping to hide my tears, and I wished suddenly that a hole would open up and take me far away from here.

Thankfully, Hercules stepped forward again, taking the fall for me. "He killed Eliza," he said, then swallowed hard, as if the words left a bitter taste in his mouth that he couldn't wash away. He couldn't say his name. Neither could I.

"We'll make him pay," promised James, his voice dark. "The King won't get away with this."

"No," Hercules said, his voice shaking. And the words left his lips. Those damning, horrible words that made no sense. "Thomas killed Eliza."