They rose in crescendo as I touched her cheek. My cheek. It was deathly cold and tight like wax. It felt real, but it couldn’t be.
Her eyes clicked towards me, and her mouth dropped open. I screamed and tripped backwards. Hands grabbed me from behind, grasping at my waist. I couldn’t break free.
THIRTY-SEVEN
“Ari! Ari, it’s me.” They were Noah’s hands. I stopped struggling. “What’s wrong?”
I looked up at the figure. It was no longer me. It was back to being a cold, dead corpse. I couldn’t tell him what I’d seen, not until I knew what it meant; I didn’t want him going uber-protector like Josh had. “Spider. Big spider. It’s gone now.”
He chuckled and rolled his eyes before holding out his hand and pulling me to my feet. “There was nothing outside. Probably just animals fighting.”
“There was a knife in one of the pockets,” I said, trying to sound calm.
“That’s something. Good work.”
“We’re running out of time.”
Noah nodded. “There’s nothing else for us here. We should go.”
“Gladly.” I refused to look back at the body as we went outside, even though I could feel it watching.
The sun remained behind clouds, which helped ease the heat, although Noah said he could still feel his shoulders burning. The river split into creeks as we moved upstream, and we headed right. We were only ankle deep in the water, but my pants were still wet from before and the wind hadn’t stopped. I was so cold I was shivering, and Noah put his arm around me, holding me close as we walked. It worked a little, and I stopped shaking, although it slowed us down a lot. He noticed, too, and now that I was warm he broke away so we could pick up the pace. It made sense, but I still missed him a little.
It was mid-afternoon when we saw a huge rocky outcrop rising over the trees. There was nothing to suggest it was anything but a natural cliff, ridged along the edge of the mountain range beyond, but now I knew what was inside. Now that I knew what lay beneath the surface, it seemed darker. Every edge was dangerous, every shadow a figure; even the clouds above were ghostly apparitions, spirits reaching for us. I felt like any moment a hand would reach out of the ground and drag me down to the caverns below.
The creek forked, and we went left, following our line of sight. The walk became harder as we rapidly rose towards the base of the cliff. We were only a few minutes away, so we stopped to catch our breath and plan our next move. We’d talked strategy for the last few hours, but on seeing the cliffs, we went silent, our voices stolen by their shadow.
“Have you seen the ledge yet?” Noah asked.
“I think so. There’s a bit of a walk to go, but it sticks out from the cliff. I think I saw it farther around.”
“You think?”
“Yes,” I replied, too uncertain to be sure.
“This whole plan relies on finding that ledge.”
“And being able to climb up there.” I sat down to rest for a moment, and Noah joined me.
“We can use our abilities to help.” He wiped his forehead with his singlet.
“After last night, I’m pretty wrecked. I hope I’ve got enough strength to use them.”
“Me too. It’s been hard for me to tune at all since we were attacked.”
“We’ll need to be quiet from here on up. I saw the Shadow hanging around here once. It might come back.”
“I’ve never even seen one,” Noah said.
“A Shadow was there during the night the Kindred attacked my house, so the Shadows must be connected to the Kindred somehow, right? How haven’t you seen one?”
“I only heard about them through rumour. They emerge at critical points in Kindred history. I don’t know what they are, not many Kindred do. We just know they show up when needed.”
I looked around, half expecting it to be coming towards us through the trees. It felt like we shouldn’t even say its name here, like that could summon it somehow. That was probably ridiculous, but after everything, I wasn’t taking any chances.
Having sorted out our basic approach, we stepped onto the bank. The ground cover here was sparse so we could stay out of the water. It would at least give us time to dry off a bit, which I was thankful for now that the sun dipped ever closer to the horizon. We stayed low, keeping to the trees. I wasn’t sure if anyone had found the entrance up above, or if Rachel had revealed it as they tortured her, but if someone was up there, they’d spot us for sure. The trees were just thick enough to lower visibility, but not thick enough to hide us from anyone or anything wandering around out here. It made me nervous. As we walked, my head darted around so fast I felt like it was going to fall off, looking for movement, shadows, anything that hinted at an ambush.
Noah stopped, but I was looking the other way and nearly ran into him from behind. I didn’t say anything, in case he’d stopped for a reason. “I know what we heard before,” he said.
He stepped out of the way.
We were at the entrance to a clearing, a space in the trees that wasn’t natural. Bodies littered the ground. Birds, snakes, possums, even a cow that must have gotten lost and made its way out here. At the centre was a pile, at least as tall as me, where most of them had been stacked unceremoniously after they’d been ... What had been done to them? They were dried, emaciated, empty. Leathery skin stretched taught over bones that remained somehow intact. Black eyes rotted in their sockets, and the stench was awful.
I gagged and covered my nose. There were at least thirty bodies here, of all shapes and sizes. Several were human.
Noah broke the silence with a whisper. “The skin doesn’t look broken on any of them. They weren’t eaten. Not exactly. I haven’t seen this before, but I’m willing to bet I know what happened. You said the Shadow was wandering around here one night?”
“Rachel said it was hunting.”
He gestured to the carnage. “Dinner, anyone?”
“But they haven’t been eaten.”
“Not in the traditional sense,” Noah said wryly. “They’ve been ...”
“Consumed,” I finished. “What the hell are we up against?”
“I wish I knew. But even the Elders are scared of them. I sure am.”
I took another step, and tripped over a body. A human one, with skin dried out, eyes shriveled but open, mouth frozen in a scream. My stomach turned.
We had to move, or that would be us too.
THIRTY-EIGHT
“Let’s go. Now,” I urged Noah. We picked our way across the clearing, trying not to step on any of the bodies. I stumbled at one moment, and there was a sickening crunch as my foot went through the rib cage of a decaying parrot. Thank goodness I’d put my shoes on when we left the river. This was the second collection of bodies I’d seen today, and that was two more than I was okay with.
“On the bright side”— I grimaced —“at least we know we’re close to the entrance. If this is where I saw the Shadow hunting, we’re right underneath it.”
I turned right and stepped farther uphill, out of the tree line and towards the base of the cliff. Far above my head was the outline of the ledge. This was the entrance.
“Now what?” Noah asked.
“I can’t see any hand holds, can you?”
“No, and any edges are too thin to stand on. It’s what, two storeys up?”
“Three at least.”
“Not a height I want to fall from.”
“Me neither.”
We stood for a moment, thinking. I got an idea and explained it to Noah. He thought it was good, though risky. If we started a fire up here, we were dead. The forest floor was dry and covered in kindling; any fire would go up in a second and spread through the mountains in no time. But we didn’t have any other options.
We stepped back and picked the tallest tree we could find. It wasn’t too far from the base, and if we got the angle right we’d be fine. Timing was everything. I had to lower the tuning of the top front section of the tree while Noah shattered the base. I
f he could control the size of the shatter and I could make the top heavier at the same time, the tree would fall away from us and end up leaning against the cliff, like a ladder. That was the theory, anyway.
Pausing for a moment to catch our breath from the climb uphill, we held hands—the signal for me to tune was when Noah squeezed. He had far more experience than me, so he was in charge of timing. His hand was warm but dry. My hands were freezing cold. It was good to get some blood flow back into them.
I closed my eyes and began to tune in to the tree. It was a huge tree, old and full of sound. I felt bad we were about to end its life, but in the grand scheme of things, I’d rather have my family than a tree.
Concentrating on the top, I waited for Noah’s signal. His hand squeezed, and I lowered the tree’s resonance as much I could without breaking it. Noah blasted the front part of the trunk into oblivion, right at the base. The tree stood for a moment in shock and then slowly fell forwards, against the cliff. It hit hard, the top cracking into the cliff as leaves sprayed down around us. A bird screeched, flapping wildly away, woken from his bed inside the trunk. Noah had gotten his tuning right, so the tree had shattered rather than caught fire. That was a relief.
But the tree slid against the cliff face, away from the ledge. The trunk overbalanced and slid the other way. Noah yelled for me to duck. I did, and the base of the trunk flew over my head as the tree smacked hard into the earth. That was close.
We stood, staring for a moment at our dismal failure of a plan.
“If at first you don’t succeed,” said Noah dryly.
We picked a second tree. It was a little shorter but also at a better angle to the ledge. If we got it to fall straight at the ledge it would land more securely than the last one. We tuned again, and the tree fell. No birds this time, but a wisp of smoke rose from the base as the tree toppled. It slammed against the ledge, dislodging a few rocks, but stayed in place. The plan had worked.
The smoke at the base grew bigger, and flames burst from the stump. Noah had created too much heat when he shattered the base. I ran forward, and Noah followed, trying to put out the small fire before it became a big problem. But the ground was covered with leaves, and the dirt was too hard to dig, so I had nothing to smother the flames.
“Can you put fire out by tuning?” I yelled at Noah.
“It’s possible, but I’ve never tried. You?”
I shook my head. “No time for practice. We have to get this out now, before it spreads.”
The river was still close. There was only one option.
“Take off your singlet!” I yelled at Noah. He took a moment to work out what I was thinking.
“Any excuse, huh?” he joked. He ran to the water and soaked his singlet, then ran back and wrung it out to douse the flames. It wasn’t enough.
“I need help!” he called, but I was already down at the river.
“Don’t you dare turn around!”
My khaki pants were thick, and they would soak up the biggest amount of water. I took them off quickly and dunked them, then sprinted back to the trunk and threw them on the flames. The trunk sizzled, and my pants steamed like crazy, but after a few seconds, the crackling reduced to a quiet hiss.
I had stepped right in front of Noah. He was dutifully staring directly at my eyes, trying not to glance down.
He mumbled something and went bright red. So did I.
“Just turn around,” I said and grabbed my pants off the trunk. They were burned through in a few places, but just on the legs. On the bright side, the fire had mostly dried them, although they smelled like smoke and were still steaming a bit.
Noah’s singlet was a little worse for wear, with a huge hole through the front and back. Once I was dressed, I threw it to him. He was still facing away, and it landed around his neck, smearing his skin with charcoal. He put it on, even with the hole burned all the way through.
“Nice pants.” He smirked, looking at the patchwork of holes seared into them. They did look ridiculous. I grinned, doing a spin as if I were in a fashion show. As I turned, one of the holes got caught in a fallen branch, and I tripped. Noah doubled over with laughter.
“Shut up!” I laughed with him. I couldn’t have that happening halfway up our tree-ladder; I’d plunge to my death. Using the knife from the chapel, I cut both pant legs into shorts. It was cold, but at least I’d be safe. I used a scrap from them to tie my hair in a ponytail. Noah looked at me with a shy smile.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he replied. “It just ... suits you.”
My face went hot again and I changed the subject. “Light’s almost gone. We need to get moving.”
“Who first?”
“You. I’m not having you staring at my butt the whole way up.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He smirked, and I gave him a gentle shove.
He began the climb. The trunk was on an angle towards the cliff, a pretty steep one. The tree was bare for the first storey, which made it difficult to get a handhold. Noah tried to walk up it like a gymnast on a balance beam, but his shoes didn’t have enough grip and he slid back down twice, sending pieces of bark flying off the trunk. The only way was to shimmy along, arms and legs wrapped around the tree. The trunk wasn’t that thick, but his arms still only made it about halfway around. Stability would be an issue for me as I was shorter than him.
After Noah made it to the first branch, I began to shimmy up the trunk, same as he had. It was hard to keep my weight centred. I climbed a few body lengths but overbalanced, slipping to the side. I tried to grab the trunk, but there was nothing to hold on to, and my arms flew into the air as I dropped off the trunk. I hit the ground hard on my back, and my lungs emptied. Noah noticed from his position near the top and called out, starting to move back down the tree to help me. “Ari! Are you all right?”
I nodded, gasping for air, and gave him the thumbs up, waving him away so he wouldn’t come back down. I was just winded. I’d heard somewhere that if you breathe out as you hit the ground you won’t be as winded. That would have been helpful to remember before I fell.
I staggered to my feet, doubled over and sucking in oxygen. After a minute or so, my breath returned, and I tried the climb again. This time, I was far more careful and made it to the first set of branches with ease, aside from the bruising emerging around my ribs where I’d landed. It was easy moving from branch to branch after that, stepping up and along like a staircase. It would have been fun, except I was heading ever closer to the Kindred.
Towards the top, the branches grew thin, and my movements slowed. I picked my footholds carefully, hearing cracks as I placed my weight on them. Noah’s hand appeared in front of me. He was standing on the ledge above. I grabbed his hand, and he pulled me onto the ledge where I’d once stood with Rachel. It was clear to me now. She’d brought me here so I would have a way in when the time came. She knew. Somehow, she knew I would need this place.
The sun was nearly gone behind the mountains. The clouds that had blocked it out now formed a canvas on which it could paint, tracing orange, red, and purple waves as far as I could see. But there was no time to admire the artwork; the moment it set, my family were scheduled to die. Strange that something so beautiful could trigger something so ugly.
“Ready?” Noah asked.
I took a deep breath. “Ready.”
THIRTY-NINE
The entrance was how I’d left it, covered with moss, vines, and climbers trailing down, dripping with water that came from who knows where. The creek was barely visible far below, and looking over the edge was dizzying. A thin wisp of smoke still rose from the fire we extinguished. Hopefully, no one came to investigate. If the Shadow returned to its hunting ground, it would see the tree against the ledge and work things out pretty fast, assuming it was intelligent enough to do so. But we couldn’t just push the tree over to hide our plan; it was our only way out for the time being. Hopefully we’d be gone before anyone saw it.
I’d w
alked the passage enough times now that it was easy to make our way through. I held Noah’s hand to help him in the dark. It was a nice change, taking the lead.
The closer we got to the end of the tunnel, the faster my heart went. It started as a dull thump, like a bomb blast on the horizon, and by the time I could see light in the distance, it had become a crack ripping through my body like an earthquake. I had to get it under control, or I wouldn’t even hear the enemy coming. Slowing my breathing helped a bit, and by the time we reached the training ground, my heart had settled.
“Looks empty,” I whispered.
“They’re probably still cleaning up after the bombs. No time for training.” He didn’t voice the other possibility—they could already be gathered for the execution.
Despite the stillness, we stayed well out of sight, keeping to the walls and shadows. I cracked open the door and peeked out into the Apex. There were fewer guards than I’d expected, only two directly below on the floor and another two guarding the east wing. Rachel’s bomb must have seriously crippled security. Plus, they were probably feeling confident after the attacks on the safe houses. There weren’t enough Unseen left to pose a serious threat.
The door creaked as it opened further, and I froze. The guards were directly below, several storeys down, the top of their heads just visible through the grilled slats on the floor. If they looked up, we were both dead.
They continued to watch the ground floor, so I stepped softly out onto the metal landing. The metal pinged, creaking in protest as my weight fell on it. I stood still, blood pounding in my ears.
Nothing happened. There was no shout of discovery. After a minute, the thudding in my head settled enough for me to hear again. Noah stepped out onto the landing beside me, but I had already primed the metal with my weight and it didn’t creak again.
There were footsteps below, slapping against the stone floor. One guard walked across the Apex towards the west wing. The last step echoed through the cavern as he stopped at the door. If he turned around now, that was it. Game over.
The Fire Unseen Page 23
