The Broken World

by Lindsey Klingele

  The wrath spun her around so she was facing Cedric and Kat, who now both stood in defensive positions. But despite their fierce expressions, they looked small, tiny even, surrounded by the circle of monsters. Kat held up one small knife, while Cedric had no weapon at all.

  The wrath who held Liv tossed her backpack aside and lifted the back of her shirt. She struggled, but it held her firm. The wrath’s eyes combed over her back for a few seconds before it threw her to the ground.

  “She comes with us,” the wrath said. It nodded to Cedric. “And you, are you a scroll as well?”

  Cedric hesitated, his jaw tightening. It was clear the wrath didn’t know who he was. Would it be more or less likely to kill him if it knew he was the prince? Cedric seemed to be thinking over the same question. But he thought for just a beat too long.

  “Evidently not,” the wrath said. It made a small motion with its rock-like head. “Kill them.”

  “No!” Liv tried to scream, but her voice was raspy and thin coming from her bruised throat.

  Kat and Cedric had already sprung into action. Cedric whirled around to the wrath closest to him, one with a sword that dangled from its belt. Cedric kicked out at the wrath’s knee, and when it connected, Liv heard a snapping sound, followed by the creature’s bellow. Cedric gripped the handle of the wrath’s sword and pulled it out in one sure motion. He barely had it pointed outward before another wrath was upon him.

  Cedric swung out at the second wrath, and the blade connected. Thick blackish blood ran from the creature’s neck as it sank to its knees. But two more wraths were already charging Cedric, and he had to duck to avoid their fists.

  While Cedric bent low, Kat jumped high over a swinging mace that was aimed at her legs. The tops of her toes barely grazed the weapon. But before she touched the ground, she was burying the tip of her knife into the shoulder of the wrath who held the mace. It screamed, with a voice like metal dragging across concrete.

  Liv watched helplessly as Kat and Cedric dodged each blow, all while more wraths closed in. She had no weapon, and she searched the ground for something to grab . . . a rock, a stick, anything. Her hand closed around something cool and thick. It was a knife attached to the waist belt of the wrath Cedric had knocked down. The creature was still gripping its knee and yelling; it didn’t notice Liv creeping up at its side. She closed her hand around the hilt of the knife and pulled it free. For a second she just stared at the knife, unsure what to do with it. Then she spun on her knees and thrust it into the foot of the wrath closest to her.

  The creature roared and kicked Liv in the gut with its free leg. She went flying backward, landing on rough ground and unable to pull in a breath. Above, she could see a circle of whitish sky, the tips of the trees. Kat appeared in her line of sight, stepping backward as she dodged a wrath’s claws. But Kat didn’t see the second wrath, the one who came up behind her.

  Liv tried to scream Kat’s name, but she still couldn’t pull enough air into her lungs. She only got out a nnnhhh sound before the wrath behind Kat took another step forward and thrust a knife into her side.

  Kat’s eyes widened in surprise. Her mouth dropped open. In the moment that she put together what had happened to her, the wrath in front of her kicked her to the ground. Kat went down hard, landing nearly on top of Liv.

  Cedric turned, screaming Kat’s name.

  But he couldn’t get to her, because two wraths caught him by the arms and held him. He struggled against them, his arms straining, his eyes fixed on Kat and the spot on the lower right of her shirt that was quickly turning red. He didn’t see as a third wrath came up from behind him. He didn’t turn his head as it lifted up a sword.

  Liv tried to scream as the sword swooped down toward the skin of Cedric’s neck, but she was too late, it was too late . . .

  The sword froze in midair, and the wrath gripping it froze also. A thin arrow stuck out from the creature’s neck, its silver tip dark with blood. The wrath fell backward. When its body hit the ground, Liv could feel the vibrations ringing in her own head.

  There was just a second of silent confusion as the wraths looked to their fallen companion. Then everything turned to chaos.

  Arrows came from everywhere and nowhere, traveling silently through the air and landing in the wraths, who yelled and turned their attention outside the circle, trying to locate the source of the arrows.

  Through the dense tangle of limbs and fallen bodies, Liv could see only the darkness of the forest. Cedric took advantage of the interruption and broke free from the wraths who held him. He pulled the first arrow from the neck of the fallen wrath, spun around, and jabbed it into the shoulder of the nearest creature.

  The group of wraths began to thin out. Some had fallen, while others disappeared back into the trees. The wraths who’d been struck with arrows didn’t get up again.

  Liv pushed past the ache in her abdomen and lifted herself off the ground. She crawled over to Kat, who was breathing heavily. Liv gently rolled her over to get a better look at the stab wound.

  “Is it bad?” Kat asked, her voice catching.

  The gash was just above Kat’s right hip. Liv couldn’t tell how deep it was, but the area of T-shirt around the wound was dark with blood.

  “Barely nicked you,” Liv said, struggling to keep her voice light.

  Liv caught Cedric’s eye just after the wraths he was facing retreated back into the woods. He raced over to where Kat lay on the ground and dropped to his knees.

  “I am all right,” Kat said before Cedric could even get a word out.

  “Kat—”

  “I said I am all right,” Kat responded. Slowly, teeth gritted, she sat up, one hand to the wound on her hip. “Make sure they are truly gone.”

  As the last of the wraths scattered into the trees, the forest went still. It was just the three of them, surrounded by a few wrath bodies, each with one or more arrows sunk into their thickened skin.

  Cedric’s eyes stayed on the tree line. He tilted his head upward, and Liv followed his gaze to the cluster of branches in the nearest tree. The branches moved slightly, and Liv put one protective arm over Kat, who brushed it away with a grimace.

  Then something dropped down from the trees and landed on the ground with a grunt. The something stood, and Liv could see it was a young man. He was tall, with light-brown hair that fell past his ears. He wore what looked like a silver breastplate tied over green-and-brown clothes that had been patched over more than a few times. His face and nose were long and thin, and something about him looked familiar to Liv, but she couldn’t quite place how or why. In his right hand, he clutched a bow.

  The young man locked eyes with Cedric, and both of them went very still. Cedric still clutched his sword, and the young man’s face was impassive. The seconds dragged by until, at the same time, Cedric and the young man both dropped their weapons to the ground. They ran at each other, and for a moment Liv thought they were going to start throwing punches.

  Instead, they hugged.

  “You’re alive,” the young man rasped. He laughed then, an incredulous laugh. “Our prince—alive!”

  “Thanks in no small part to you,” Cedric said, then motioned to Kat. “Though I think we will need more of your help.”

  “I told you—” Kat started.

  “Yes, yes, you are all right,” Cedric said. “Still, some bandages and a chance to rest would not hurt.”

  “We can certainly be of assistance there,” the young man said. He put out a hand to help Liv off the ground.

  “Sorry, but . . . who are you?” Liv asked.

  “You can trust him,” Cedric said, slowly helping Kat to her feet. “Liv, meet Rafe Maxillion Harcourt, first son of Duke Harcourt and master both of the bow and of excellent timing, thankfully. He is Merek’s brother.”

  Liv’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh.”

  Rafe winked. “Pleased to meet you.” He turned to Cedric. “Forgive me, but I was under the belief you were either locked up in a dungeon or d
ead. But clearly that’s not true, so—where in hell have you been?”

  Kat snorted in response before Cedric could reply. “Funny you should ask.”

  RED DAWN

  It turned out an apocalypse did little to help LA’s traffic problem.

  Shannon’s head was swimming in exhaust fumes as she gazed out at the slowest-moving jam-up of cars she’d ever seen in her life. And worse, she was stuck in the passenger seat and couldn’t even express her frustration by pounding on the horn. At the wheel of his decade-old Jeep, Joe was too cautious and levelheaded to honk at the hundreds of cars in front of them on the 134 (though no one else on the road seemed to share his stance on honking).

  “Another breakdown,” Joe said, pointing to a stalled-out car on the roadway up ahead.

  Shannon groaned. “Seriously, Joe, if you stop and pull a Good Samaritan with every car we pass, we’ll never get to Pasadena.”

  Joe sighed. “This one looks abandoned anyway.”

  She felt a stab of guilt as they inched past the car, which was not only empty, but also had its windows smashed in. A pile of blankets and debris was littered outside the car’s doors, and Shannon could only guess what had happened to the people inside. She tore her gaze away.

  Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t help every single person who was currently trying to evacuate the city. What she could do was try to stop things from getting worse. Which was why she’d persuaded Joe to take her with him as he went to track down a lead on one of the Knights of Valere. Daisy and Merek had come along as well—Daisy because she was still waiting for her parents to come and get her, and Merek because, well, he had nowhere else to go after being released from the hospital.

  Shannon’s phone buzzed in her lap. She sighed, but knew better than to ignore it.

  “Hey, Mom, what’s—?”

  “Where the hell are you?”

  Shannon’s mom had never sworn at her before, not once in her life. Not even when she’d “borrowed” the van at fifteen, before she technically had her license, and it accidentally got towed from the beach.

  “I’m safe, Mom. Don’t worry.”

  “Don’t worry? I’m beyond worry. How could you just leave? Do you even know what’s happening out there?”

  “I’ve got an idea—”

  “Shannon Ning Mei, this is not a game. What could possibly have possessed you to leave the house at a time like this?”

  “I had to, Mom. I had to check on Liv and make sure she’s all right.” The lie came out smoothly, but Shannon’s hand that held her phone twitched a little, and she was glad her mom couldn’t see her.

  “I am sure Liv is perfectly fine.”

  “She doesn’t have a family like I do, Mom. She doesn’t have anyone.”

  A pause. “I understand why you’d want to make sure your friend is okay.” Her mom’s voice was slightly softer. “But you’re my daughter, and I need to know that you’re okay. I need you here.”

  “I told you, Mom, I’m safe.”

  “Where are you? I’m coming to get you.”

  “No! Mom, I’ll leave soon. I mean right away. I’ll leave right away.”

  “You better, Shannon. I want you home before dark, or I’m calling the police.”

  “I think they’ve got other things to worry about—”

  “Shannon Ning—”

  “Okay, okay. No need to keep middle-naming me. I’ll be home before dark.”

  They said good-bye and Shannon hung up, then let out a huge breath.

  “I don’t feel comfortable with you lying to your parents,” Joe said, his eyes on the road.

  “Would you rather I told them we were on the hunt for former members of an ancient sect bent on keeping magic portals from opening on Earth?”

  Joe sighed again, and Shannon looked out the window as they moved toward an off-ramp at a glacial pace. The truth was, she hated lying to her parents, too. It felt different now than it ever had before, which was funny, because trying to save the city was a much better reason to disobey her parents than cutting class to get tickets for a Taylor Swift concert.

  But then again, she’d never seen her parents this upset before. Her mom, an environmental scientist who gave lectures on American wastefulness and had never set foot in a Costco, had already bought out several shelves’ worth of canned goods, bottled water, and toilet paper from the local store. Shannon’s dad, meanwhile, had started obsessively watching the news, his eyes bouncing between the CNN talking heads on TV and the CNN app on his tablet.

  Not that the news had any more . . . well, news on what was causing the “abnormalities” in the atmosphere. But there was plenty of information on the results. People were getting out of the city as fast as their hybrid cars could take them.

  Shannon felt restless and stuck. And worse—she felt powerless to help her parents. Just like everyone else in Los Angeles, they were desperately trying to understand why all this was happening, why their lives had turned upside down in an instant. Unlike everyone else, Shannon had a good idea what was going on. But she couldn’t tell her parents about Liv’s tattoo, or portals, or any of it—not without sounding crazy. And even if she did tell them the truth, and they believed her, what exactly could they do with that knowledge? They weren’t scholars on arcane magic or whatever energy worked the portal stuff. There was nothing they could do to fix things.

  But the same wasn’t true for Shannon. She could do something—she could help Joe. Even if it meant being stuck in traffic for hours on end in a car that was honestly starting to smell.

  “This world has far too many people,” Merek said from the backseat. A bicyclist moved quickly past his window, and he flinched backward. “Do you not feel cramped all the time?”

  “I do right now,” Daisy responded, squirming away from him. “Seriously, Joe, how small is this car? You could have at least gotten an SUV.”

  “I don’t think social workers make SUV-level salary,” Shannon responded.

  “Hey,” Joe replied. “You’re right, but still. Hey.”

  “Are we there yet?” Merek asked, completely oblivious to how annoying that question was during a long car ride. Daisy snorted, and even Joe managed a small smile.

  “Now, now, don’t make Joe turn this car around,” Shannon said, grinning.

  Merek looked between them, confused at their smiles. “I do not understand half the things you say, let alone why you dragged me along on this ridiculous mission.”

  “It was this or stay in the hospital,” Joe replied.

  “With the tubes,” Shannon added.

  Merek made a face like he didn’t care, but Shannon could see him half shudder as he turned to face the window, ignoring them once again.

  Eventually, Joe turned onto a small side street on the outskirts of Pasadena. The houses had mostly dirt lawns, and the few palm trees wilted in the hot, still air. Joe parked in front of an adobe house with faded Spanish tile on the roof.

  “This is it,” he said.

  Shannon reached for her door handle, but Joe stopped her.

  “I think it would be best for the three of you to wait in the car, at least until I make sure it’s safe.”

  “I thought you said there was only, like, a twenty percent chance a Knight actually lives here,” Shannon said. Even though Joe had spent years trying to keep Liv, Daisy, and Peter safe from the Knights who’d killed their parents, he said he’d only picked up on their actual trail a few times. And he’d never gone looking for them before.

  “That means there’s a twenty percent possibility it’s dangerous.”

  “So you drove us all this way just so we could sit in the car?”

  “You’re the one who begged to come, Shannon. If you want to help, this is how you can do it. By listening to me and keeping an eye on these two.”

  “Hey!” Daisy and Merek both said in unison from the backseat.

  “Sorry, guys, but Daisy, you’re only thirteen. And Merek, you could still pull your stitches out at any m
oment.”

  “Wait—what?” Merek asked, eyes wide. “That could happen?”

  “Fine, I’ll stay and watch over the backseat misfits.” Shannon sighed and lifted her hand from the door handle. “But at least leave the air on. It’s a hundred degrees outside.”

  “A hundred and two, according to my phone,” Daisy piped in from the backseat.

  Joe shook his head, but left the keys in the ignition as he got out of the car and headed up the dusty front walk toward the house.

  Merek shifted over to look at Daisy’s phone. “That thing can tell you the current weather?”

  “Current, future, whatever.”

  “Can I see?”

  Daisy shrugged and handed her phone over to Merek. He took it cautiously, as though it were a hot cup of coffee that might spill and burn him.

  “This world has so . . . much,” he murmured. And for once, he didn’t sound snide.

  Shannon wondered, not for the first time, what Merek’s home world was like, and how Liv was doing there. What would it be like to leave behind everything you knew and travel to a place so different? Personally, she’d never wanted to live anywhere but Los Angeles. She’d known what she wanted to be ever since the first time she’d seen Hannah Montana: famous. She already lived in LA, so she figured she was halfway there. She and Liv planned to go to USC or UCLA; she’d study theater and Liv would study film, they’d get an apartment together, and then they’d take over the world. One of them leaving Los Angeles—let alone their whole world—had never been part of the plan.

  Shannon watched Merek, wondering if he’d had any sort of life plan before coming to LA. He glanced up from the phone screen to see her staring at him and grinned, lifting one cocky eyebrow as if to say caught you. Shannon opened her mouth to put him in his place when, suddenly, the Jeep started shaking.

  It wasn’t a gentle shake, either. The Jeep lurched quickly to the right, then back again. Daisy yelped, and Merek put his hands on the back of the seat in front of him to steady himself, eyes wild. Shannon gripped the armrest and waited for the earthquake to be over. They’d been happening every few hours for the past couple of days, but they were jarring every single time.