Keys to the Demon Prison (Fablehaven #5)(112)

"He's stubborn," Tux warned in a singsong tone.


"Stay out of this," Mark spat.


"And touchy," Tux added.


Mark kicked at the cat. Tux scampered back to a safer distance.


"We have a dragon with us," Bracken said. "A little one. He can fly you to Wyrmroost. He can take a circuitous route, alter his heading a lot. It's your best chance."


Mark put his hands in his pockets. "What's your name, stranger?"


"Bracken."


"I'm Marcus. Mark to most people. How about the girl?"


"Kendra."


"Is she a person?" Mark asked. "A human?"


"Yes." Bracken said. "You're not."


"I'm a unicorn."


Mark chuckled. "Perfect," he muttered, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. "How am I supposed to know whether I'm insane? My only friend is a talking cat, and here I've got a unicorn dressed like a Viking who wants me to come live with the dragons?"


"You're not insane," Bracken said evenly. "Take my hand."


Mark stepped away. "No, no. So sorry. All I have left is my free will."


"I wasn't--"


"Don't try to convince me you don't want to manipulate my emotions," Mark said. "I know what you're after. Same thing the cat wants. You want me to pay for my mistake forever."


"What mistake?" Kendra asked.


"The mistake of agreeing to become a lock!" Mark snarled. He closed his eyes and took a breath, regaining his composure. "It was for a good cause, I know. You two have honorable intentions. I take no issue with the cause. Nobody lied to me. I simply didn't understand the cost. Not really, not fully. The exacting toll of existing, and existing, and existing, long after you want to stop, long after all meaning has died. That price is much too high. My intentions were pure. I remember why I volunteered. I simply lacked the vision to see myself ending up this way. I'm just not cut out for this much living. Becoming an Eternal was a mistake, and nobody will let me off the hook."



"I can sympathize with you," Bracken said. "Life can wear a man down. Especially a long life on the run. Still, mistake or not, you have to fulfill your duty. The stakes are too high. This is not the time to let your existential crisis come to a head."


"This is exactly the time," Mark argued, eyes intense. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for this? I've toyed with death, sure, mostly to sample the illusion of an end. To pretend I had some control over my fate. But I've never sought out a dragon or a phoenix to conclude my life prematurely. If I had put my mind to it, I could have. Now a natural end is coming. Not suicide. Just the inevitable finally catching up. After all of these centuries, I have a right to stop fighting."


"You don't have that right," Bracken said. "If this was just you, I'd agree. But you can't let the rest of the world pay for your mistake. This became about more than just yourself the day you agreed to help keep Zzyzx closed."


Mark clapped his hands over his ears. "You need that to be true. I get it. Here's the problem. I am still a person. Like it or not, I have a will. All the guilt and all the accusations and all the compulsion in the universe can't fully take that away. Is it wrong of me to have accepted this responsibility and then not follow through? Yes. Tux tells me, my heart tells me, a few others like you have told me. Wrong or not, it remains my promise to break. I'm not the one trying to end the world. If you want to blame somebody, blame them. I'm just a guy trying to finally move beyond a mistake I made centuries ago. You can try to force me to live. But since we're talking about vows, let me make a new vow. First oath I've taken in a long time. If you drag me to a dragon sanctuary by force, I will immediately and without hesitation seek out a dragon to end my life. You'll be putting me in a place with limitless opportunities. I'll probably last longer if you leave me be."


"Please," Kendra said. "Think of all the lives that will be destroyed."


"I have," Mark said. "Believe me, darling, I grasp all aspects of this, I really do. But how much has the public I'm protecting worried about me? My sanity, my happiness, my right to find peace?"


"They made no promises," Bracken said. "They are not preventing the end of the world. Those who know about your sacrifice appreciate you immeasurably. Your life may not be fair, but it is absolutely necessary."


"Leave me alone," Mark growled. "I don't need to justify myself to you. This conversation is over. Trust me, I have no feelings left to manipulate. You'd have better luck tickling a corpse. At least there's one other Eternal. Hopefully somebody as tough as you, Mr. Unicorn. Take the other sucker, I mean hero, to your sanctuary. Leave me be."


Mark turned and ran. Bracken and Kendra watched him in silence. "Raxtus is following him," Bracken said. He crouched beside the cat. "What do you make of this?"


"I'm unsurprised," Tux said wearily. "This was the most likely response, but I quietly hoped the confrontation might go differently. I'm so familiar to Mark, like a nagging sibling; I hoped he might put on a bolder face for noble strangers. I was also hoping the prospect of actual impending death might shake him up. After this display, I'm convinced that