by Jade Frances
I hoisted myself up before opening my eyes. Big mistake.
“Ow,” I yelped, as my forehead connected with something. A groan matched mine. When I peeled my eyes open, I stared at Cole. Rubbing my head, I growled at him.
“What the hell, are you alright in the head? Why were you so close to me?”
“I... I was just checking you were breathing. And I don’t think it takes a genius to know I’m slightly broken in the head...” he mumbled and averted his eyes. I sighed and shuffled to the edge of the bed next to him.
“I fainted, I didn’t die, and you’re not broken. You’ve been through a lot,” I nudged his shoulder gently.
“So have you, and you’re fine,” he whispered. His tone filled me with sorrow. I had been through a lot, but I had something he didn’t.
“I wouldn’t be, if it wasn’t for the others. Now you have them too,” I said soothingly. He shook his head.
“I don’t have a place here.”
“You have a place with me... now come on let’s get going, how long was I out for?” I beamed down at him as I stood, trying to lighten the tone. Trying to avoid the conversation more like. I still wasn’t sure how to act around Cole, but he was my brother and I had to try. I shook the thoughts out of my head and reached out my hand to him.
“Only an hour, the others are packing up. I had nothing to pack so I said I would watch you,” again he cast his eyes down. I lifted his chin and smiled again.
“You will find your place,” I told him. He attempted a smile and stood, taking my hand as he did. He gave me a slight nod, then took the lead out of the house.
The others were congregating in the centre square and packing up what was remaining. Pearce met my eyes and smiled.
“Back to the land of the living,” he said. I punched his arm lightly.
“Not funny, after what Miles put me through... I don’t think I want to close my eyes again,” I whispered to him.
“Why didn’t you tell them about his test?”
I shrugged; I was doing a lot of that lately.
“They don’t really need to know, I guess,” I replied and threw my backpack over my shoulder. “Do we even know where we are headed? I guess we will be on foot through the mountains.”
“You guess right, I staked out a few entrances and they are far too narrow for the van. We are pretty much winging it from here, I just hope we don’t run into anyone on the way through. The passages are too narrow to fight in.” I noticed the wrinkles around his eyes, the tension in his shoulders. This trip was taking a toll on each of us, and now we all knew it wouldn’t end with just getting the scythe.
“Time to go, we don’t want to be out in the open for too long,” Adam said as he ambled up to us. Pearce gave him a nod and set off to make sure everyone else was ready. Adam stared at me for a moment and opened his mouth to say something. He snapped it shut when Cole walked by.
“What is it, Adam?” I took his hand. Like Pearce, worry was etched all over his face.
“I just want you to know, I’ll be with you through all of this. If we have to walk into the lion’s den and banish Ares, I will be right by your side,” he said. I yanked him into a hug and buried my face in his shoulder.
“Thank you,” I whispered. He gave me hope.
“Let’s go,” Pearce barked, and somewhat reluctantly we all followed.
As we reached the base of the mountain, each of us stopped to look up. This entrance looked man made. The walls that rose either side were carved and etched with patterns that swirled and glistened. It looked like something that belonged in the world between worlds. I ran my finger along one of the carvings in awe.
“What are they?”
“Protection runes, these mountains were once a holy place of residence. Now it’s only Miles that remains.” Quinn answered and touched the walls just as I was. He closed his eyes and held his hand still. “You can feel the energy of ancient magic running through them if you concentrate hard enough.”
I copied his action and instantly felt a small hum of energy in my fingertips.
“Amazing,” I said, “how is it, that we were travelling and not really knowing where we were going... and ended up in the exact place we needed to...”
Quinn’s blue eyes landed on me, unlike the rest of him they sparkled and glowed. A hint of recognition hit me.
“Everyone is destined for something, some greater things, some less. But this... this is your destiny. You have a calling to fulfil,” he whispered, then abruptly turned and began to head into the passage.
“We can’t trust him, you know,” Adam joined me.
“Why do I feel like I’ve met him before? I don’t sense his energy,” I told him. He shrugged and continued watching Quinn as he moved further away.
“Who knows, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on him.”
I squeezed his shoulder lightly, smiled, and started to follow the others. An uneasy feeling of dread started building in my stomach. I could feel eyes on me from beyond the walls. I looked up and was certain I saw a cloak disappear with the wind at the highest ridge. You’re out of the other realm Evvy, get your act together. I jogged to catch up and stopped looking around, better to focus on moving forward. Quinn said this used to be a holy place, but I could sense the darkness that resided here.
The passage was endless, and the light was fading the further into the mountains that we ventured. The group was on edge, the tension everyone was feeling filled the air. I sauntered over to Rose, who was glancing around nervously.
“I have a bad feeling Evvy, I can’t shake it. As soon as we stepped in here, it’s like it’s been following me,” she gripped my hand so tight her knuckles went white.
“I know, I feel it too. Just stay vigilant, we will be fine,” I tried to sound convincing, but from the look on Rose’s face it didn’t work. “Let’s go walk with Sandra,” I said, in the hopes it would calm her down.
Sandra unsurprisingly was walking with Dakota. Their blossoming friendship was beginning to irritate me; however, Rose had a point, and if it was helping with her grief, then who was I to say different.
“Ladies,” Dakota greeted us with a nod and hung back to talk to Adam.
“Do you feel weird in here? Like we are being followed...” Sandra turned to look at us both. I hadn’t seen her look so uncertain before. We both nodded and kept walking. We were all feeling the same, I just wish we could figure out why. It was new grounds, and getting here hadn’t been easy. We were tired and running low on supplies. None of this had been thought through, we had simply fled. I looked at the others, their weary faces, and the way they were dragging their feet.
They’re only here because of you. If anything happens to them, it will be your fault. Aresollo’s voice entered my mind. For a fleeting second, I wondered if I had ever got out of the other realm. But The feel of Rose’s fingers entwined with mine was enough proof that I had. Maybe it was a side effect from the drink. That, or I might have started losing my mind.
A thundering crash behind us pulled me from my thoughts. Rose let go of my hand and spun around faster than I did. One look at her face and I knew it wasn’t good. I looked past the others. The walls were crumbling, large pieces of them fell to the ground. Dust billowed up from the floor, obscuring our view. Pearce turned with a look of horror on his face.
“Run,” he screamed. Instantly, I grabbed Rose and pulled her along. I could hear the other’s footsteps close behind. The crashing was growing louder, the walls either side were shaking and threatening to rain down on us. Looking forward, I could see that the passage wasn’t coming to an end any time soon, only getting darker.
“Why are the walls collapsing?” I screamed to Quinn.
“I don’t know, Miles allowed us passage through!”
That’s right, he did, he surely wouldn’t have allowed it and then changed his mind. And there were other ways to get us to turn back than collapsing the walls around us. It couldn’t have been him.
Unless... we were followed. Whoever it was wouldn’t have permission to enter.
The thundering crashing stopped. Silence surrounded us. I paused and turned.
“Evvy, we need to keep going,” Rose was trying to pull me back.
“Wait,” I told her.
I squinted my eyes and stared at the massive dust cloud that was growing closer. A shape formed in the centre of it. More and more were forming, and they were heading straight for us.
Chapter 14
“Athora,” I growled.
“Evangeline get out of here, carry on going,” Pearce yelled.
“No,” I stated boldly. I called to my fire, but it didn’t appear. I tried again, but it felt like something was blocking me. It was then, that I noticed the runes on the walls that were still left standing; they were glowing brighter. “Pearce, we can’t use magic in here,” I shouted.
“You need to keep going, we will stay and fight,” he pleaded. But I wouldn’t leave them. I watched as one by one the others came to the realisation that we would have to fight without our elements. I had no doubt that the wolves couldn’t change either. But that also meant that Athora and her followers couldn’t. The closer she got, the more that realisation came true. She truly was an ugly pixie; the lack of a nose was her most disturbing feature. How the fairy tales were wrong.
“Evangeline, what a coincidence to see you here,” her wailing voice reached my ears.
“No coincidence, Athora, I suggest you turn around,” my voice quivered slightly. The passages are too narrow to fight in, Pearce’s earlier words entered my mind. I already knew Athora wouldn’t leave though, we were all here for the same thing. Just on opposite sides of the war. I couldn’t let her get past us, but I also didn’t want anyone harmed. Cole had appeared by my left side, and he looked angry. I reached out and touched his arm, but he brushed me off. Pearce, Barak and Egan had moved to the front, and Adam to my right. Which left me, Sandra, Rose, Dakota and Quinn at the back.
“No can do, let’s not waste any more time,” Athora said and raised her arms. Her minions rushed toward us, with more forming behind them. They just kept coming. Our guardians ran to meet them halfway, colliding in the centre of what was left of the passage. Pearce was in beast mode, taking down one after the other. Egan and Barak weren’t as fast, they had depended on their elements too much and weren’t as skilled in hand-to-hand fights. But still, they were a force to be reckoned with. It’s situations like this, that made it so important for Pearce to train me in combat. I took a step forward and looked directly at Athora. She was glaring straight back at me, with a look of venom in her eyes. Adam placed a hand on my arm and gently tugged me back.
“I need to get to her,” I growled without taking my eyes from hers. I yanked my arm from his hold.
“I can’t stop you, but I can make it a little easier,” he sighed.
“So can I,” Cole butted in. My eyes flitted to him quickly, can he even fight? I really needed to spend more time getting to know him. I had no time to worry about that, though. I had to take out Athora, then her henchmen would follow.
“Ok, let’s go.” I barely gave them a chance to acknowledge what I had said before I charged forward. There was an opening between Barak and Egan, I took it. It landed me right in the middle of the action. Without much thought, I punched and kicked my way through the oncoming pixies. They were vicious creatures; their nails were sharp and their teeth even sharper. I felt them clawing and scraping at every inch of my skin as I tried to fight my way through. I could hear the fighting behind me, but I couldn’t risk a look back. There were only a few rows between me and Athora now, and Pearce was in the middle. One pixie took a swipe at his legs and he crashed to the ground.
“Pearce,” I screamed, just as one latched onto my arm with its teeth. My fist flew into its nose and connected with a satisfying crunch. Pearce was still hunched down. Athora was standing a few feet behind him on raised rubble. Cole and Adam had caught up now and were clearing the surrounding pixies. I took off at a run. Moments before I reached Pearce, I leaped into the air and used his back as a steppingstone to propel me further. I landed with a thud on one knee in front of Athora. She was no longer grinning. All of her pixies were too busy fighting the others, I had her alone.
“I told you to turn around,” I growled at her. She took a step back and looked around her for help. She may have been strong enough, and fast enough to take me before, but in here, with no magic, she was nothing. And she knew it. I pulled my arm back and swung my fist full pelt into her stomach. She cried out and doubled over. I roundhouse kicked her in the ribs, and she fell to the ground.
“Evangeline, you don’t understand...” she raised one arm up as if to halt my attack.
“I don’t need to understand you,” I yelled and kicked her again. She curled into a ball, with her arms raised over her head. She looked weak, pathetic even.
“Please, just give me a moment to explain,” she cried.
“Like you did for me and my friends when you kidnapped us, and chained us up? Where was your explanation then?” I shouted back. Darkness was swirling in my mind and growing stronger the more her voice grated on me. I stomped my foot down on her ribs again, and she yelped in pain.
“There is a reason you can’t be permitted to obtain the scythe,” her voice was barely a whisper now.
“Because you follow Ares’s bidding, because you know the God you follow can be defeated...” I dragged her from the floor and pinned her to the wall. Blood dripped from her mouth, which oddly didn’t faze me.
“No, because it will either kill you or...”
A flurry of air breezed past my ear, it stung. I dropped her and raised a hand to feel it. When I pulled it back, there was the smallest droplet of blood on my fingers. What the hell? Something had nicked my ear.
I looked down at Athora, who had a silver dagger protruding from her skull. Her eyes were glassy and wide open. Her mouth still forming unspoken words.
“No,” I screamed and spun around to see who had thrown it. I watched as pixies dropped all around us. Pearce rose from the ground and looked around, stunned. In the center of them all was Quinn. He was grinning at me, that same mad smile that ran through his family. I jumped down from the rubble and stormed toward him.
“You,” I snarled at him, “why did you do that?”
He held his arms up in surrender and stepped back, but the crazed grin was still on his face.
“It didn’t look like you were going to do it, and in case you didn’t notice... while you were busy talking, we were outnumbered here. So I made a calculated shot.”
I stalked up to him until my nose was inches from his.
“That wasn’t your shot to make.”
Arms encased me from either side. Adam and Pearce were dragging me back.
“Leave him Evangeline, he made the right decision. We can move on now,” Pearce told me. I looked at him and the state he was in. Like me, he had scratches and marks all over him.
“She was going to tell me something, Pearce.”
I slowed my breathing and steadied my hands. The darkness was still swirling in my mind, I had to control it before I lashed out. I pulled away from Pearce and looked at Adam. I locked my eyes onto his and welcomed the feeling of getting lost in his green eyes. He took one of my hands, and straight away a wave of calm ran through me. I sighed with relief.
Evvy, Sandra’s hurt, Rose sent through our bond. I looked around to see where they were. In my haste to get to Athora, I hadn’t given much thought to how they would fare against the pixies.
“I won’t forgive you for this,” I growled at Quinn.
“You won’t forgive me for a lot,” I thought I heard him whisper as I walked away.
Sandra was lying on the floor with her head in Dakota’s lap. Rose was by her side; she had her hands on top of each other and pushing down on her stomach.
“Sandra,” I gasped, “let me see.”
She peeled her hands away. H
er shirt was soaked in blood. I pulled it up to take a look at the wound. The bleeding seemed to be slowing, but the puncture was deep.
“We need to get her out of here, I need my magic to burn and seal the wound,” I told Rose and Dakota, who both nodded. Dakota shuffled from underneath Sandra. Both of them hoisted her up and supported her weight. Egan ran over and took over from Rose.
“Let’s get out of here,” Pearce commanded. As always, everyone followed and started gathering their backpacks. I glanced back at Athora’s lifeless body lying amidst the rubble. So much death. Too much. For a war I didn’t even understand. What had she been trying to tell me...?
We broke out of the passage no more than half an hour later. Sandra had passed out after only a few steps and was being carried by Egan. I looked around at the ridges that surrounded us. We weren’t travelling around the mountains; we were travelling through them, right in the centre. Cave entrances were situated on every ridge that was big enough to go through. I threw my backpack to the ground and sat on it. With my head on my knees, I massaged my temples. What were we supposed to do now? What direction would we go in? I was starting to feel overthrown with emotions. The idea of running and hiding forever seemed much more appealing than this. Why me?
“Er, Evvy... could you help Sandra? Barak said it’s best while she’s out cold...” Rose sounded uncertain. I lifted my head to look at her. Then I looked past her to where they had laid Sandra down. Quinn had hung back a bit, thankfully.
“Sure, sorry... just needed a moment.” I rose from the ground and walked over. Everyone moved out of my mouth as I knelt down and lifted her top. I called my fire into one of my palms and placed it over her open wound. I hope this works. Sandra shot up; her mouth opened, letting out an ear-splitting scream.
“Son of a...”
“Sandra,” it was quite funny that Rose would still scold her at a time like this. Though I didn’t dare laugh. “I think we should set up here for a while, have a rest and recoup,” Rose suggested. No one argued, instead they chose to unload and start a fire.
