Stone Heart

by Pauline Creeden

  “You’re not getting this shirt back… ever.”

  He laughed and kissed the top of my head. “It looks better on you anyway.”

  “What happens after we put the stone back in its place?”

  He shrugged. “I guess we return to the mage elders to let them know we accomplished our task. Then, I pack my stuff and we come find a place to build our house.”

  That idea frightened me a little. What if he decided he didn’t really want to leave with me when we got back to the mage elders? I let out a long slow breath. I’d worry about that later. Right now, I just had to trust Kane. It seemed unreal that we’d actually found the stone. “I still feel like this is a dream. I never thought we would actually accomplish our goal. I figured I would be dead by now.”

  His grip tightened around me. “We had a few close calls.”

  I scoffed. “Yeah, I remember.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  We spent the next day gathering our provisions, and then lay down to take a nap to alter our sleeping patterns.

  “Are you sure the deadlands is the right place to go?” I asked Kane for the fourth...or tenth time.

  He sighed. “Honestly? No. But, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Where else would we put the stone? Not anywhere in either of our realms. I haven’t seen anywhere else. And the deadlands are cursed for a reason. Maybe it’s to keep the place from being touched and changed by the hands of people like the pirates. Hopefully, it won’t take us long to find the right spot.”

  I tensed, thinking about all the things that could go wrong. We might run out of resources, and then who knew if we would make it to deliver the stone or not. We were so close to fixing everything, and yet, still so far away. Why? Why did it have to be so complicated? Couldn’t we just thrust the stone up into the sky or down into the ground and have it heal everything?

  “This is such a pain,” I grumbled as I snuggled closer against his side.

  He slipped his arm around my side, pulled me closer, and kissed the top of my head. “We’ll get this finished, Ivy. We are so close to restoring our land. We will do it.”

  We had to. Or, we would die trying. That was something neither of us wanted to say out loud, but it was something we both knew. If I died, he would continue on to place the stone. We had to continue and complete the mission. I wanted to finish this with him. I wanted to be able to return to the naysayers and show them that I had accomplished this. Against all odds, I had found the stone. I was a screw up. I was a troublemaker, but I would do this. I would free our people.

  He smirked. “I won’t let you die, Ivy. You and I will finish this together. Okay?”

  “If I die, you need to finish this yourself. I’m weaker than you. You need to save our people.” I set my hand on his cheek and rubbed my thumb across his stubble. It grew slowly, but it was really thick. What would he look like with a full beard?

  “We need to save our people.” Kane tilted my chin up and stared into my eyes. “You’re not going to die.”

  “I just want you to be alive and happy,” I whispered.

  “How can I be happy, if you aren’t here for me to enjoy it with?”

  “There are lots of other women who would throw themselves at the savior of our realm,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “You would have your choice of women when you returned.”

  “And you would have your choice of men.”

  I scoffed and let my hand drop away from his face. “Right.”

  “You would. You don’t see it, but that’s because you’re a woman. When you return, even if we returned as a couple, men will proposition you. They will offer you things you never even dreamed of.”

  “Will they help me build a house for my monkey friends?” I asked.

  He chuckled. “Well, I’m sure they would, all the while wondering if you had lost your mind on this trip.”

  “I don’t want some man who only wants me because I found and returned the stone. I want a man who will go on adventures with me and save me when a flower bites me,” I told him, resting my head against his chest.

  “That sounds pretty specific,” he whispered and stroked his hand down my hair.

  “Well, there is this one guy that I’ve grown pretty fond of. He can be a total pain in the rear. He’s a bit lazy. And, he doesn’t know when to give up, but...”

  “But?”

  “But, he’s handsome. He’s strong. And, I think the idiot might actually have feelings for me.”

  “He must be insane.”

  “Definitely.” I nodded against his chest.

  “Can I tell you a secret?” he asked in a whisper as he trailed his fingertips up and down my arm.

  “Sure. Not like I have anyone else here to tell.”

  He chuckled. “I think I’ve fallen in love with this crazy, psychotic, unhinged woman.”

  “You know all of those mean crazy, right?”

  “She’s beautiful. No. Gorgeous. She has this unruly silver hair. And these piercing silver eyes that look into your soul. She also doesn’t know when to give up. I’m pretty sure she likes me, too.”

  “Sounds conceited of you to think such a woman would like you,” I teased.

  “Perhaps it is wishful thinking.”

  “Hm.”

  “So, do you think I should ask her to marry me?”

  I sat up and gaped at him. “What?”

  He smiled. “Do you?”

  “Marry?”

  He nodded, took my hands in his, and stared into my eyes. “Ivy, will you marry me once we return to the mages?”

  “You want to marry me?”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  “Seriously?”

  He frowned now. “If you don’t want to—”

  I laughed. “Yes!”

  He lunged forward, knocking me onto my back as he kissed me. “You’re mine, Ivy. I’m not giving you up. I’m going to keep you safe, and we are going to build a house together. We are going to raise crazy, unruly kids who will disobey all of the stuck-up siren and mage rules. We will have our own land where Hiruko and his ilk will join us. We will be the couple everyone wishes they were. They will love us and hate us at the same time. But we won’t care. Because we have each other and that is all that matters. I love you. I love you more than anything else in the world. I won’t give you up. I will keep you and treasure you like you’re meant to be loved. You’re the greatest gift the world has bestowed upon me.”

  “You sure do know how to talk to a girl,” I whispered, my cheeks red and heart thundering in my chest.

  “All of these words are yours. I’m yours.”

  “Mine?”

  He nodded. “Yours.”

  “I’m yours, too,” I whispered.

  He smiled. “Promise?”

  I nodded. “Promise.”

  His eyes sparkled in the moonlight. “So many people will have broken hearts when we return. I’ll have a few men probably even try to fight me for your hand instead. But I’ll break them all!”

  My smile was so wide, it strained my face muscles. “You’re pretty amazing, Kane.”

  He leaned forward and kissed the tip of my nose. “Right back at you, Ivy.”

  “We should rest, you know. We’ve got a lot of travel ahead of us,” I reminded him.

  He kissed my lips then each of my cheeks, and then my forehead. “You’re right.”

  We lay down, and I stared up at the canopy of leaves above us. Never in my life had I imagined I would find a man who would love me. A man who loved me not for my body, but for who I really was. Kane had seen every dark and twisted side, and he still wanted to marry me anyway. Marriage. Such a dream to me.

  “I love you,” I whispered.

  He turned his head to meet my eyes and smiled. “I love you, too.”

  It took me forever just to get to sleep. How was I supposed to get rest when I was so excited to finish the mission, survive it, and get on with my future life with Kane? I stayed as still as I could, the shade from the canopy
overhead keeping us cool. I listened to the beating of Kane’s heart in his chest, and the songs of the bugs and birds with my eyes closed. I tried to construct things in my head so that I would grow tired as I lay still, but nothing seemed to work as I wanted. Eventually, I nodded off. At sunset, he woke me from my shallow sleep and we started our journey through the deadlands. My body disliked changing our sleeping patterns again. My legs felt heavy, the muscles in them jelly-like and unresponsive. Each step through the sand burned through my calves. The night of walking dragged on for me.

  Kane, on the other hand, looked spry and as happy as a penguin with a fish. He’d been smiling since we woke up, and the smile was still there, hours later.

  “Why are you so happy?” I asked, my eyes narrowed. Was he up to something? A prank?

  He linked our hands together. “You said you’d marry me. You agreed to be mine. So, I’m happy.”

  I shook my head. “You’re definitely insane.”

  “And you love me anyway,” he said in a sing-song voice.

  I chuckled. “Yes, I do.”

  “So, how many rooms will our house be?” His eyes scanned the horizon as we walked in the barren deadlands. Nothing was out here, so I wasn’t sure why he bothered. And it wasn’t as though anyone could sneak up on us.

  “Five,” I answered after a brief pause.

  He glanced at me before returning to scanning. “Five? Why that many?”

  “One for us. One for each of our two kids. One for a guest room, in case we have visitors. And, one for storage. That of course doesn’t count the living room, kitchen, and bathroom.”

  He chuckled. “Of course. Can’t forget those.”

  “Do you think Hiruko will want doors on his house?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I would guess not, but we can ask him. Or, you can. I can’t really figure out how to communicate well with him. You seem to understand him better.”

  “We should put a fence up to mark our borders. Just in case people try to come and encroach on our lands. I want to make sure Hiruko and the others are safe.”

  “We can do that. I’ll just make a low three-foot fence. It will get our point across,” he said, gesturing with his hand how tall it would be.

  The chill of the night caused my sweat to cool quickly. I shivered.

  He lifted an eyebrow at me. “We need to get you an entire wardrobe when we return.”

  “More shirts?” I asked and turned my head, so my hair fell like a curtain between us, so he wouldn’t see my smirk.

  “How about pants?” he grumbled.

  “I like your shirts,” I said, peeking through the veil of my hair at him.

  He scowled, staring ahead. “Not going to lie, I enjoy you wearing my shirt. That one, though, needs to be tossed. You’ve worn it a long time and it has been through a lot.”

  “I’m not getting rid of this shirt,” I growled and faced him fully.

  His eyes were wide. “I don’t think it will wash—”

  “No,” I said, and looked to our right, scanning for any movement, but knowing I would find none.

  “Okay,” he said and chuckled. “We’ll just wash it like seven times.”

  “Then you have to wear it for a day, so it smells like you again,” I said.

  He tossed his head back and laughed.

  His laughter should have made me feel better but hearing it in the silence of the deadlands made the hair on the nape of my neck stand on end. No. It was more than just his laughter. It felt like we were being watched. I frowned and strained my eyes in the dark.

  “What’s wrong?” He scanned around us, found nothing, and looked back at me.

  “I feel like we are being watched.” I shrugged. “I know, that’s stupid.”

  “A malicious feeling or inquisitive?” he asked.

  I looked up at him. He was taking me seriously. “Malicious,” I said and rubbed my neck.

  Kane turned around and looked behind us while walking backwards for a short while. He squinted his eyes at the dark. Eventually, he turned around and shrugged. “I can’t see anything, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were animals living out here, even though we haven’t seen any yet. There are animals living in the deserts usually.”

  “That is not reassuring.” I didn’t want to think about the kinds of bugs that might crawl on me while I slept or the kind of animals that might hunt us. After all, I’d already proven myself to be especially attractive to things that wanted to eat me. A frown tugged at my lips and my grip turned flaccid.

  He squeezed my hand. “You’ll be fine.”

  I wanted to believe him. I did. But I just couldn’t get over the fact I still felt a bit uneasy, and the talk of potential animals didn’t help. I took a deep breath and blew it out, trying to remain calm. Anxiety about everything that could go wrong was bubbling up. “Are you sure we’re headed in the right direction?”

  He nodded.

  He was always so confident, even when I felt like anything could happen. “How can you be sure?”

  “The stone,” he said. “It reacts differently based on the direction we walk.”

  I lifted an eyebrow and nodded. That made sense. He’d been sticking his hand in his pocket periodically to touch the stone. This must have been one of the reasons a mage had to go after the stone. The magic would affect him differently than it would just a siren like me. At least I could lay that fear to rest. The others, I could just keep to myself for the moment. We continued walking, and after a while, the feeling we were being watched lessened, but didn’t quite go away. Regardless, I began watching the horizon like Kane had been doing and didn’t say another word about my fears. The sun began casting gray light across the sky in the east when we decided to stop for the night.

  Kane fixed our covering for the night, and exhausted, I fell asleep the moment my head hit the sand this time. Although the sand tended to chafe a bit when I moved, it provided a good amount of cushion and was somewhat pleasant to sleep on. All too soon, though, Kane was shaking me awake again. The sun was low in the west but hadn’t quite set yet.

  I sat up and he offered me the canteen. I took a long pull of water and then a deep breath. The air was still hot in the deadlands, but the sun wouldn’t cook us the moment we stepped out from the shade. I peered around us and saw nothing but sand. Nothing was around us that could be watching us. No animals to hunt me down.

  “Here.” Kane handed me a fruit. “Only take a few bites to stave off hunger. We need to conserve.”

  I nodded and did as he said.

  Before the sun even fully set, Kane took down our shelter and we began our trek again. Out here in the deadlands, I could almost hear my heart beating and each breath I took seemed loud. There were no bugs, no frogs, no birds--none of the night song I’d grown used to in the forests. Because I grew up underwater, where things were almost silent all the time, I’d have thought I’d prefer the quiet. But I didn’t. I guess it was one of the reasons I wanted to stay on land... and next to Kane. He matched his pace to mine. I knew he could go faster, but he kept his stride reserved to stay next to me. I peered over at him. He made me feel safe and made me feel dainty with his muscled mass.

  “Stop checking me out,” Kane said with a smirk.

  I turned away, heat rushing to my cheeks. “I wasn’t.”

  “You totally were.”

  “Whatever.”

  “I know I’m handsome, but if you keep getting distracted, you might miss an enemy, and—”

  He stopped talking, jerked me down to the ground, and covered most of my body with his. My heart leapt to my throat, and my ears began to ring. I was prepared for an explosion or something loud, but nothing happened. Just silence. Nothing moved. Nothing attacked us. Sweat beaded on Kane’s brow as he held his body over me and continued to stare in the direction we’d been heading. I trusted him and his instincts. I knew enough that I shouldn’t say anything, but my curiosity was getting the better of me. I really needed to know what he’d se
en or sensed. I didn’t want to use an actual word or anything that could attract attention, so I barely mumbled, “Hmm?”

  His body remained tense over mine. He leaned closer to my ear, his breath warm on my skin. “Monsters,” he whispered. “A ton of monsters.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “What are they doing here?” I kept my voice low, barely whispering the words so only Kane could hear me. My heart raced in my chest and my stomach twisted in knots. This was not good news. What were we going to do?

  He pulled the stone from his pocket. The deep blue shined with a bright glow the magic within swirled at a faster rate than before. My eyes grew wide, and Kane covered the stone with his fist before it could be spotted by others. He hissed. “We’re close.”

  “They’re protecting the spot we need to take it, aren’t they?” I swallowed thickly, dreading what this meant for us.

  “I think so.” He shoved the stone back in his pocket and squinted as he looked toward them. “It’s too dark for me to see how many of them there are. We should back up, wait for daylight, and see if they are still there when there is light.”

  I craned my neck to see the direction he was looking, but only saw shadows undulating against the star light. “You think they’re nocturnal?”

  “I’m hoping,” he mumbled, slowly crawling off me.

  I hoped so, too.

  He crouched low and reached out a hand toward me to help me to my feet. We both ran, bent over in the hopes we stayed low, Kane’s hand staying fixed on mine. Though neither of us looked back, I kept an ear in tune with any possible noise we were being pursued. After backtracking about two miles, we’d finally gone far enough that Kane stood to his full height. “We’ll make camp here. I can’t see anything, so I don’t think we were followed.”

  I nodded, and Kane constructed our makeshift shelter. We both lay beneath it in the sand. My heart wouldn’t settle. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, and I couldn’t strain my ears to listen for any danger that might be coming. After a long while of just lying there, Kane cleared his throat. “I don’t think I can sleep.”