by Lola StVil
She sighs. “Fine. But it’s your funeral.”
“It’s not going to be anyone’s funeral if I can help it,” I say.
I start to walk towards the column before she can say anything else. We’re just wasting time here and I just want to grab that thing and get the hell out of here. I walk forward with sure, confident steps this time, no longer bothering to test each step. The floor isn’t the threat. The ceiling is.
I reach the spot where the ceiling began to cave in on us and I swallow hard as I step past it. A few grains of sand float down from the ceiling and coat my hair and face, but it’s not the landslide it was last time and I start to breathe a little easier. I reach the column and I finally let out a long sigh of relief.
As much as I’d like to just grab the box and go, I know I have to be ready for an attack from Aziza. I reach out and open the box. Inside is a wooden spear, just as Nexus described. Its tip is a beautiful pink-colored crystal, and even before I touch it, I can feel the power coming off it in waves.
“What are you doing? Just grab the thing and let’s go,” Aziza says from behind me.
Whether it’s her talking or the Horseman, I know she’s right. I have to grab this spear and end this thing one way or the other. I reach out and grasp the shaft of the spear firmly. My mouth is dry and my heart is racing. This is it. This is the moment I have to take on the Horseman and successfully split his soul from Aziza’s. In my head, the idea sounded simple enough, but now that I actually have to do it, it feels like it’s going to be anything but simple.
I turn fast, expecting Aziza to be right behind me, but she’s not, she’s exactly where I left her. She beckons to me impatiently.
“Come on. Get over here,” she says.
I smile and start to walk towards her slowly.
“Sailor, what’s going on? Why are you stalling?”
Her direct question throws me completely and I find myself lost for words for a moment.
“I… I’m not,” I say.
It comes out so shaky that there’s no way she won’t know it’s a lie. I tense, waiting for her to pounce, but again, she surprises me by laughing.
“Don’t tell me you’re going soft, Sails. You’re afraid to go up there and face the Slip Demons, aren’t you?” she teases me.
“What? No,” I say, surprised she could even think that.
“So tell me what’s going on then,” she says.
She’s still giving me a teasing smile and I know suddenly with absolute certainty that I got it wrong. Aziza isn’t the Horseman. She came down here because she genuinely wanted to have my back. She’s risked her own life to save mine yet again, and I repaid her by thinking she wanted to kill me.
Her teasing smile has faded and she’s looking at me with real concern as I reach her side.
“Sailor? Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on,” she says, serious now.
“I’m not afraid of the Slip Demons,” I start.
“I know. I was joking about that,” Aziza says. “You’re not afraid of anything. I get that much. What I still don’t get is what’s going on here.”
“Nexus told Rye and me that War is a member of the team,” I say.
Aziza’s mouth drops open.
“How could she possibly know that?” she demands.
“I have no idea,” I say. “But I know that once I have the weapon, the Horseman wakes up and will try to kill me. I thought… I thought it was you, Aziza. I wasn’t stalling. I was waiting for you to attack me.”
As I say it, Aziza’s whole body tenses up and her face changes, becoming an angry mask. Before I have time to react, her fist goes up and flies at my face.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: NO SECOND CHANCES
I have a split second to wonder if I made a terrible mistake and Aziza was just lulling me into a false sense of security before she spins away and punches into thin air with a roar. She whirls back to face me and the fight goes out of me as quickly as it went out of her when I see her face. She doesn’t look angry. She looks sad.
“I can’t believe after everything we’ve been through together, Sailor, you would think so little of me. I know I’m not exactly warm and fuzzy, but haven’t I proved my loyalty to you time and time again? Haven’t I risked my life for this mission?” she says, her voice breaking slightly.
“It’s not like that, Az. It’s not personal,” I say.
“It feels personal,” she says.
I nod my head.
“Yes, I imagine it does, but believe me when I say it isn’t. I didn’t think, oh the Horseman must be Aziza because she’s not all hearts and flowers,” I say. “And never for a second have I questioned your loyalty to me, the team, or the mission. The person the Horseman has inhabited wasn’t given a choice. Nexus said because you guys are gods and so powerful it’s not like the humans.”
“What do you mean?” she asks with a cocked eyebrow.
“The humans, being weaker physically and mentally, once inhabited are pushed inside themselves and slowly die off until they are fully controlled, like Jenny. She was small, innocent, and unable to fight him off. But you guys as gods, and the Horseman isn’t stupid. He knew he had to bide his time to infiltrate, so instead of taking over and trying to push your subconscious down, he got in and just watched. He is waiting until I have the weapon—that’s when he will be the most dangerous. Whichever member of the team is possessed may not even realize it. I’m not saying someone has betrayed us. I’m saying someone is being used.”
She gives a soft laugh.
“So why did you think it was me?”
“Well I figured that whoever it was would want to kill me as soon as possible once I had the spear. And that they would be desperate to lead me to it so they could get it over with. You were so adamant about searching the desert and then you wanted to be the one to come down here. And…”
“It’s okay, I’ve heard enough,” Aziza says, raising her hand. “I get it. But I came down here so you could have your best chance of surviving if something attacked us. And I insisted on going with Jinx to scope out the area because he has a habit of going in half-cocked and he would most likely have gotten himself killed if I let him go alone.”
At her mention of Jinx, we exchange a look and I know she’s thinking the same thing I am. If it’s not her, then it has to be Jinx.
“Do you want me to take him down? He won’t expect anything from me and I can end this before it’s begun,” she says. “I’ll knock him unconscious and you just have to use the spear to finish him off.”
I shake my head quickly and she goes on.
“I can do it if you want me to. I know Jinx and I fight a lot, but deep down, he’s a good guy you know. And if he thought for a second the Horseman could use him to hurt you, he would ask me to do this.”
I debate for a second how much I should reveal, but I’ve told her this much, I might as well tell her it all. And after I’ve just accused her wrongly of being the Horseman, I want her to know why I’m saying no to her offer. I don’t want her to think for even a second that it’s because I don’t trust her.
“Nexus said there’s a way of using the crystal tip of the spear to separate the Horseman’s soul from the team member’s soul. It’s risky, but if I can pull it off, I can save the team member and still banish the Horseman. I have to try it,” I say.
Aziza nods.
“Yeah. You do,” she says. “But don’t think that means I won’t be watching your back like a hawk.”
I smile at her. “Thank you,” I say. “Aziza, I have to ask something of you. Something big.”
“Go on,” she says.
“I need you to keep this conversation between us,” I say.
“Well I’m hardly likely to tell anyone and give whoever the Horseman is a heads-up that you’re onto them, am I?” She laughs.
I shake my head.
“I know you won’t. That’s not what I mean. As I’m sure you can ima
gine, I wasn’t supposed to share this information with anyone. Nexus would be so pissed off. And Rye? Well, I can only imagine how angry Rye will be.”
“Ah you don’t want your crush to be angry with you,” Aziza smirks.
“No, it’s…”
“I’m joking, Sailor. Damn, girl, where’s your sense of humor? Someone would think your life was in danger or something,” she says.
We look at each other and burst into laughter. The tension inside of me starts to leave me a little as I laugh. After a few minutes, Aziza starts to get herself under control and she puts her hand on my shoulder.
“I know what you’re saying, Sailor, and this conversation will stay between us.”
“Thank you,” I say again.
“So what are you going to do now?” Aziza asks. “Confront Jinx?”
I think about it for a moment and then I shake my head.
“No. I’ve made the mistake of accusing the wrong person once. I won’t make that mistake again. While everything is pointing to Jinx, it was only moments ago I thought it was all pointing to you. I need to be sure this time. I’m just going to stay alert, watch the team, and wait for the Horseman to come to me.”
Aziza raises an eyebrow.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Sailor? You have the element of surprise if you take action first.”
“I’ll have it anyway. The Horseman doesn’t know I know he’s a member of the team. He’s going to figure I’ll be easy to get close to and attack, and he won’t be expecting my defenses to be up. But they will be up. I know it’s a risk having War loose, but it’s not going to be for long. He’s not going to be able to resist trying to kill me sooner rather than later.”
“Okay. That makes sense. But you need to make sure you don’t let your guard down for even a second, Sailor. I know you think it’s Jinx, but if you’re wrong, you can’t risk someone else taking you by surprise. Now you have the spear, the Horseman will have fully woken up and taken over whoever he is inside of completely. When he strikes, he’ll mean business and you’ll get no second chances.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN: YOU’RE ACTING WEIRD
Aziza opens a portal and I am relieved when it works. I’d momentarily forgotten my fear that we wouldn’t be able to portal out of the cavern until Aziza raised her hand to open one.
“Be careful. We don’t know if the battle with the Slip Demons is still going on,” Aziza points out, and then she steps through the portal.
I take a moment to take a deep breath and gather my thoughts. I have no real idea what I’m going to be walking into up there, but I’m pretty confident the Horseman won’t attack while the rest of the team is there. Only I can end him, but the others can still wound him, and he won’t want to give me any advantages. He’ll try to get me off alone with him.
I push the spear down the leg of my jeans, leaving the crystal poking out of the top, and I have to admit I quite like the solid feel of it there against my thigh. I reach for it and pull it out to make sure I can access it quickly if I need to. I can and I smile to myself as I push it back in and step through the portal.
The team is all gathered around the medallion shape in the sand, and Mel hands me the medallion, which I push into my pocket as Rye steps closer to me and pulls me into a tight hug. It takes me by surprise, but I hug him back, enjoying the feeling of being in his arms.
“You were gone so long,” he says.
“What? I was seconds behind Aziza,” I say, thinking he means that I hung back for a second.
“No, I mean both of you were gone so long. We were starting to think the cavern had caved in on you both.” He releases me from his embrace. “What took you so long? Did something happen?”
Yes, I accused Aziza of wanting to kill me and then spilled all our secrets about the Horseman.
I shake my head and Aziza jumps in before I try to explain, which I’m pleased about, because I had no idea what I was going to say.
“It took ages for the column to come up. Maybe because it was the second time or something,” she says.
Rye nods, accepting it as the truth. Why wouldn’t he? He doesn’t expect me to lie to him. I feel bad for a moment, but it’s not like I’m lying about us or about anything important. I made the choice to trust Aziza, that’s all, and I’m only lying about it because I really don’t want to argue with Rye about something I can’t change now even if I wanted to. And I don’t want to.
“I’m just glad to see you both up here alive. Did you get the spear?”
I nod my head and lift my shirt up a little, showing them the crystal.
“What happened with the Slip Demons?”
“We made short work of them,” Sunday says. “No demon is going to get in our way now.”
“Let’s get out of here before a new pack arrives to call Sunday’s bluff,” Ya-Ya says.
She doesn’t wait for us to agree with her, she just opens a portal and steps through it. We all follow her through and arrive back in the cabin, where Nexus is sitting waiting for us.
“Did you get it?” she asks me as soon as I step through.
I nod my head and grin at her. She grins back for a moment and then her smile fades.
“And now the hard work starts. But I think you guys deserve at least a short break first. There’s pizza and beer in the kitchen.”
This gets a cheer and the team heads for the kitchen, but Nexus puts her hand on my arm and stops me.
“We need to talk, Sailor,” she says.
I nod my head. “Okay,” I say.
“Save me some pizza,” I shout after the team.
I don’t think they’ve heard me, but Nexus laughs.
“There’s enough pizza out there to feed about thirty people. You’ll be fine. Come on. Let’s go for a walk.”
We leave the cabin and I follow Nexus into the woods. At first she doesn’t talk, we just walk through the woods enjoying the last of the sun. We don’t go too deep, but I understand what Nexus is doing. We do go deep enough that birds chirping and leaves rustling are the only sounds. If anyone had followed us out here, it would be almost impossible for them to stay quiet enough to not give themselves away.
I open my mouth to ask Nexus why we’re out here when I think we’ve gone far enough, but I know Nexus. She’ll talk when she’s ready and not a moment before, so I bite my tongue, wondering what she’s pulled me out here alone for.
She stops going deeper into the trees and turns right. After a couple of minutes, we come to a little clearing and Nexus finally stops walking. She sits on the ground and indicates I should do the same. I sit down across from her and she smiles at me.
“You did well getting the Spear of Alveron, and I don’t think you need me to remind you of the power of the weapon or of how dangerous it could be if it fell into the wrong hands,” she says.
I shake my head.
“No. I understand,” I say.
“Good, because you can’t let that thing out of your sight for even a second. Whenever you go, it needs to be with you. When you sleep, it needs to be under your pillow.”
“I get it, but Nexus, this isn’t like the dagger. How am I supposed to take a spear to school?” I ask.
Nexus smiles. “Like this.”
She holds her hand out, and I pull out the spear and give it to her. She takes it and marvels at it for a moment and then she pulls a small pouch out of her pocket. She sprinkles some light purple dust over the spear and it instantly shortens. I watch, my mouth open, as the spear shrinks down until it’s no longer than the palm of my hand.
Nexus laughs softly at my shocked face and hands back the tiny spear.
“When you need to use it, grip it firmly in one hand and touch your tattoo with the other,” Nexus says. “As soon as you touch the tattoo while holding the spear, it will become its normal size again. To shrink it back down again, just repeat the process.”
I get to my feet and put the spear in my jeans
’ pocket. I reach in and pull it back out, running the fingers of my other hand over the tattoo on my chest. I smile as the spear pops instantly back to its full size. Growing it won’t even slow me down. By the time I hold it out in front of me, ready to use, it’s full size again. I touch my tattoo again and it shrinks back down, just like Nexus said it would.
“Thank you,” I say. “That’s going to make the logistics of this a whole lot easier.”
“But not the actual act. Have you given any more thought to what you will do when the Horseman makes himself known?”
I nod slowly. I know Nexus will try to talk me out of this, but I don’t want to lie to her.
“I’m not losing another team member, Nexus. I’m going to save them. I know it’s a big risk, but it’s one I have to take,” I say.
Nexus surprises me once more by smiling at me.
“I knew you would make the right decision, Sailor,” she says.
“But you told me I would be crazy to try it.” I frown.
“Oh I know. And part of me still thinks you are. I wanted to make you aware of the risks, and I had to let you decide for yourself if you were willing to risk the consequences, but I was always hopeful that you’d choose hope over death. And you did.”
“It was a test?”
“No. Just a genuine choice that I didn’t want to push you into making,” Nexus corrects me. “Now, do you have any theories on who the Horseman is?”
Jinx’s face flashes through my mind, but I don’t say his name. I don’t want to get this wrong again.
“I thought I knew who it was, but I was wrong,” I say.
“Obviously now you have the weapon, the Horseman is very much aware of you, and he won’t hold off for long. He’ll make a move and try to kill you, but I think you’ll find it easier to be ready for that if you already know in your own mind where the attack will come from. There are some signs to watch out for.”
“Wait,” I say, starting to get to my feet. “Shouldn’t Rye be here for this?”
Nexus shakes her head, her expression unreadable.
“You don’t… you don’t think it might be Rye, do you?” I stutter.
