by Jade Frances
I ducked around two more trees and poked my head around the side of one. I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped my mouth when I saw who it was. The person froze just ahead of me and turned slowly to look in my direction. I flattened myself to the tree, hoping that I hadn’t been seen. I could see the mist lingering in the air, making its way back toward the academy. Bringing with it an icy chill that was creating puffs of vapor from my breath. When the footsteps continued, I followed silently. Doing my best to avoid piles of leaves that had fallen from the trees. When I reached the last of the trees before a clearing, I stayed back and peeked around again. Energy shimmered in the air. I recognised the energy and what it was about to create. Jumping out from behind the tree, I ran into the clearing.
“Ava stop!” I reached her just in time before the portal opened. Grabbing her arm, I yanked her back to me. She fought and writhed in my arms. “Ava stop it. What are you doing?”
“I don’t belong here, Evangeline, let me go.” She writhed some more like a caged animal, but I strengthened my hold on her. Suddenly, she swung her head back, cracking it into my nose. Pain shot through my face and I loosened my grip on her. She took that moment to escape. Throwing myself at her, I pulled her back again. She kicked me in the stomach, and I fell to the floor. Grabbing her ankle, I pulled her down with me.
“What is wrong with you?” I yelled. She was going to attract skin walkers, and I didn’t know if I could defend us both.
“With me? What is wrong with you, Evangeline? Look around. What are you fighting for?” She spat at me. I reared my head back in shock.
“The academy, Ava, the place that you call home,” I replied.
“This is no home of mine. Never was and it never will be. I am hated here, all because of you,” she glared at me. I realised then that the earlier attack that had happened was The Veil. And it was Ava that had helped them portal through the wards.
“Why would you do this, Ava?” I whispered, my heart breaking over her betrayal.
“I can have a family and be respected Evangeline. I turn eighteen next week, I can make my own choices,” she wiggled her legs to get them free from my grasp. “This is your home and family, not mine.” Her face was still pale and her hair greasy. She looked awful.
“What family? I am your family!” I pleaded with her.
“No. You are far from the girl I used to know. Now you’re on a pedestal with all the others. Well, I’ve seen your future, and it doesn’t look good.” She kicked out at my face, but I blocked it just in time. “You might not have wanted to please your father, but I can, and he has promised to look after me.”
I let go of her ankles and recoiled. She wasn’t making any sense.
“You... you’re going to Aresollo? Why would you do that Ava? He’s evil.”
She stood and brushed down her jeans whilst glaring down at me. Pulling her backpack from her shoulders, she dropped it to the ground and bent down beside it.
“Everyone has different definitions of evil Evangeline. You are mine.” She unzipped the backpack and pulled out Aresollo’s knife. That was what had been missing from Avetta’s office. She advanced toward me, pointing the knife to my face. I shuffled back until my back hit a tree.
“Ava, don’t do this, I don’t want to hurt you...” I trailed off as energy got stronger in the air. Wind lashed at my face. Ava was sneering at me, so unlike the young girl I used to know.
“Hurt me? Oh, you won’t. Goodbye Evangeline.” She picked up her backpack, turned one last time and with her lips curled, stepped into the portal. To Aresollo.
I watched in horror as the portal snapped shut behind her. My oldest friend had just turned into one of my enemies.
I peeled myself from the ground and wiped my tears away with my sleeve. Stay strong Evangeline, the academy needs you.
“Evangeline.” I heard Pearce’s cry. I searched through the trees, looking for any indication as to where he might be. I set off at a jog in the direction of the academy. The mist was closing in faster now. The tree line was in my sight and there was Pearce, standing just inside the forest. He looked worn out and agitated. Once he spotted me, he closed the distance between us. Scooping me up in his arms, he held me tight. The affection made tears prick at my eyes again. He set me back on the ground too soon for my liking.
“We need to get back the others need us, you can explain why you were out here after this is over.” He dragged me along by my arm and we both started running side by side.
When we rounded the corner of the academy, I saw that the battle was still raging on. Our friends were heavily outnumbered, and it wasn’t looking promising. Before we reached them, three skin walkers jumped out in front of us, blocking our path. I threw fire at one, while Pearce charged the other. I missed. One descended on me, fast. Ducking to my left, I spun and threw my flames again. This time I hit. I risked a quick glance at Pearce and saw him rolling around on the floor mid-scrap. Please don’t get bitten. But I couldn’t help him, the last skin walker was stalking me. Focusing on its red gleaming eyes, I side stepped slowly, drawing it away from the others. It snarled and snapped its massive jaw at me. Lighting my palms with fire, I readied myself for its attack. Within seconds it was charging. Bounding toward me on all fours. At the last moment, it pushed off on its hind legs and sailed into the air. Aiming directly for my head with its teeth. I threw my fire, but missed, again. Movement in the corner of my eye momentarily distracted me. It was the shifter that hadn’t attacked. Standing by the forest. I felt a gentle breeze on my face. I ducked and spun around to face the one that was attacking. Throwing flame after flame, eventually one caught, and it lit up like a bonfire. Screeching as it burned. Pearce had just finished his brawl and came running over.
“Come on, they look like they’re in trouble.”
I spun again and sprinted toward the gang. I couldn’t risk throwing my fire in case I missed and hit one of them instead. I took a second to evaluate the situation. They were surrounded, each fighting one or two skin walkers. I couldn’t see an opening. At least I couldn’t until Pearce charged at a skin walker. Grabbing it by the cuff of its neck, he threw it backward. It went soaring through the air and landed with a thud. Oh my God, that was impressive. Snapping my open mouth shut, I sprinted through the gap he had created. Who do I help? My eyes darted in all directions, trying to assess who needed me more. The girls.
Once my eyes landed on them, I bolted forward. Rose was struggling to fend off two particularly nasty looking skin walkers. Sandra was effectively drowning one with her water. It was surrounded and had no way of escaping. Taking a wide stance next to Rose, I called to my fire. It flowed from my hands. Whirling through the air, I wrapped it around the furthest skin walker, giving Rose time to deal with the other. Within seconds my flames had ignited and the one I was holding burned and went limp. The smell of its burned skin was close to making me heave.
Thank you, Rose sent through sounding exasperated.
Let’s help the others. I gave her a nod and looked for who to help next. Pearce, Barak and Egan were all holding their own pretty well. As were Taylor and Sandra.
Adam and Darryl, they’re fighting four. I grabbed Rose’s hand and pulled her toward our wolves. Just like we practiced, guide my fire with your air so that we don’t have to get too close, I told her. She nodded and took a deep breath. Standing side by side in the centre of the battle, I generated enormous flames. I nudged Rose with my elbow to let her know that I was ready. I felt her energy fill the air around me. My fire began drifting its way toward the nearest skin walker. With a small blast of air, Rose pushed it forward and wrapped it around the creature. We moved onto the next one. A scream tore through the night. Spinning, we spotted Sandra pinned underneath a skin walker. Its teeth were dangerously close to her face. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion after that. Taylor kicked out at the one he was fighting, sending it backward by ten feet. When he reached Sandra, he grabbed the skin walker and pulled back. It barely budged. He tr
ied again, and this time pulled it off of her. She blasted it with her water. It streamed from her hands into its mouth, while Taylor held it steady. They’re safe, I thought. Until a shadow caught my eye.
“Taylor,” I screamed when I noticed another one behind him. But I was too late. Taylor turned, eyes wide. He had no time to defend himself when the skin walker launched itself at him. It sunk its teeth into his shoulder and tore him from the ground. It shook its ugly head with its jaw still gripped on Taylor’s shoulder. His body was flung around like a rag doll and screams tore from his mouth. Adam’s wolf bound out of nowhere, clamping its jaws down on the skin walker’s neck. It yelped in surprise and released Taylor, who fell to the ground. Adam dragged the skin walker away before Darryl joined in on the fight.
Sandra was the first to reach Taylor. Tears streamed down her face. She rolled his body over onto his back and scuttled back with a gasp. As we drew closer, I could see the deep gashes in his shoulder. The surrounding skin was blackened, and it was spreading.
“Help! Someone help me,” Sandra screamed. I ran the last few steps and threw myself on the floor next to Taylor. He had gone ghostly white and his screams had turned into low whimpers. His eyes were rolling back in his head. Sandra’s words about being bitten by one of them rang through my mind.
“Stay with me, Tay. Keep your eyes open,” I stroked his face and shook his leg. Please stay awake. His body convulsed, and he was foaming from the mouth. Someone grabbed me from behind and tore me from his side. Egan.
“He needs a healer before it spreads further,” he barked. Lifting Taylor in his arms, he gripped him tight and ran for the academy. I sat on the floor in shock. Sandra was covered in Taylor’s blood and still sobbing while Rose held her.
“Incoming,” Pearce yelled, making us all jump. I whipped my head around to look at the forest. The shifter from before was standing in the centre of the tree line, unmoving. Dozens of skin walkers emerged from behind it, stalking their way toward us. We won’t survive this. Pushing my worry for Taylor aside, I stood to join Pearce.
“We aren’t going to get through this,” I whimpered. He wrapped his arm around me and bent down to my ear.
“You need the girls, you are strong enough to protect us all,” he whispered. His voice was steady. For a second, I struggled to understand what he meant, and then realization dawned.
Girls, we need to do what we did at training, only on a much larger scale. I sent through, keeping my eyes on the slow-moving skin walkers.
I don’t think Sandra’s up to it Evvy, Rose sobbed.
Well, she needs to, or we will all die; I snapped. Glancing their way, I saw Rose drag Sandra to her feet. Moments later they were by my side.
“Everyone get as close to us as you can,” I shouted out. One by one they came to stand in a line beside us. “Are you ready, girls?” I asked with false bravado.
Rose clamped her hand on my shoulder, Sandra did the same with less enthusiasm. Like in our training, I opened up the bond and focused on intertwining our energies. The skin walkers were still stalking slowly. They outnumbered us three to one, so I hoped with everything in me that this would work. Instead of engulfing ourselves in flames, I lit the ground in front of us. As the skin walkers drew closer, my pulse quickened. Then they ran, all at once. When they were a couple of feet away, I screamed at Rose.
“Now Rose! Sandra protect this side from the heat.” I pushed a little more of my energy through to Rose to help her sustain her own. Sweat was spreading down her back and she was biting her lip with concentration. Pushing her air forward, she forced the fire higher, just as the first skin walker tried to leap over it. It burst into flames and fell to the ground a couple of feet away from us. I spread the fire out and in a circle to protect us from all sides. Rose pushed it even higher and threw pockets of air to force balls of flames outward, hitting anything that came near. Fatigue laced every single one of my limbs, and I was struggling to hold on. Pearce, sensing my exhaustion, came to stand behind me. He placed his hands on my back and whispered.
“You’ve got this.”
Skin walker after skin walker attempted to jump through our defense and each one fell to the ground burning and charred. The smell of their flesh clogged my nose. The flashes of lightning from Barak were hurting my eyes. The exchange of energy with the girls was weakening me. I felt my knees give way. They hit the ground and my body followed.
My fire dropped and sizzled out. We were now open to attack, and I was in no state to fight. An ear-splitting howl carried on the breeze. The skin walkers who had been ready to attack dropped back. They slinked off into the trees. Only a couple remained, staring at us. The shifter that had remained at the forest edge howled again. He’s calling them back. Reluctant to move, they snapped their teeth at us. One lunged for Sandra, but Adam intersected it. Snapping its neck, mid-air. The lone skin walker, realising that it was now severely outnumbered and didn’t stand a chance, blew air from its nostrils and bound off into the trees. I met the eyes of the shifter. They had changed back to red. It dipped its head slightly and turned, disappearing into the forest with the others. I laid out on the floor, my arms spread around me. Sandra collapsed on the spot and began sobbing again. Taylor.
I tried to pull the strength together to stand, but I couldn’t. A shadow cast over me. Pearce. His shirt was torn, and I could see deep gashes across his chest. Blood was spattered up his arms and over his face. Yet even so, he looked attractive. You’ve just been in battle, Evangeline, and that’s what you think of.
“Is it over?”
“I think so little siren, they retreated so I doubt they will be back. Not tonight, anyway,” he bent down and picked me up. As much as I was exhausted, I needed to see Taylor.
“Do you know how he is?” I asked Pearce, remembering that he had the same connection with his brothers as me and the girls. He looked at me solemnly and cast his eyes away from mine.
“It’s not looking good. I think everyone should say their goodbyes while they can.”
A sob escaped my mouth, and my breath caught in my throat.
Not Taylor, I can’t say goodbye to Taylor.
I burst my way into the medical room that was now empty bar Taylor’s bed. Everyone else was still in the bunkers below ground until we knew for sure that the battle was over. A healer rushed forward, holding her hands up to stop us from going any further.
“Move,” Sandra growled at her.
“I need to prepare you for what you are going to see,” the healer told her sternly.
“I don’t care, move out of my way before I move you myself,” Sandra glowered at her. She stepped aside to let her pass. Rose and the others followed while myself and Pearce remained rooted to the spot.
“How is he?” I asked her. She bowed her head gravely before replying.
“By the time that Egan had brought him in, the venom had spread too fast for me to do anything for him.”
“What does that mean?”
She sighed, hunched her shoulders, and hugged herself.
“The best that I could do was make him comfortable. He is hooked up to monitors to keep oxygen pumping to his heart. I also gave him morphine for the pain. But you have to understand…” she paused, and a single tear fell from her eye. “As the venom spreads further, he will become paralyzed. He won’t be able to move and possibly not even speak. I suggest that you say your goodbyes before that stage hits.”
I threw myself into Pearce’s arms and sobbed.
“Will he be in pain when he goes?” Pearce asked the healer.
“No. He will drift into a sleep that he won’t wake from. It will be a peaceful end.” The healer came closer, stroked my arm and gave me a remorseful look. “I’ll leave you to have some privacy. He won’t have long.” Then she walked out of the medical wing and left us.
“I don’t think I can go through there,” I sniffled. Pearce squeezed me tight and stroked my hair.
“You will regret it if you don’t,” he breat
hed. I pulled away from him and wiped my eyes. “I’ll be right here with you.”
“Ok… let’s go join the others.”
We were all huddled around Taylor’s bed. He was sat at an incline, and his bare chest was visible for everyone to see. Black smears spread out across his abdomen and up his neck and shoulders. He was barely conscious, but somehow still coherent.
“Hey gang, did we win?” he croaked and turned his head to look at us all. Sandra took a seat beside him and held his hand in hers.
“Of course we did. I would have been fine. Why did you have to do that? You left yourself open,” silent tears streamed down her face and she buried her head in his arm, unable to look at him.
“If I had the choice, I would do the same again,” Taylor coughed and sputtered as he spoke. “It’s ok Sandra.” Her shoulders were rising and falling, and her sobs soon turned into wails.
“You’re an idiot,” she cried. He struggled to move his arm, but slowly managed. Resting it on her head, he stroked his fingers through her hair.
“Don’t shout at me in my last moments please. It is what it is,” he paused. “At least I get to go out as a hero right?” A small smile crept onto his face. I watched, amazed at how accepting he was of his fate. Rose was next to make her way over, holding his free hand.
“You are so brave Taylor, I love you so much,” she bent to kiss his forehead. He briefly closed his eyes as she did.
