Before the Raging Lion

by Everly Frost

  Michael shouted in alarm, running toward me, but no matter how fast he ran, he seemed to be zooming further and further away. When I looked down, there was nothing but air below me and beetle tethers everywhere. The drone had shot its leashes around me and pulled me over the edge and I was too dizzy to fight it.

  And now the solar grid was closing fast. Only fifty feet from the ground and I was outside it.

  I screamed and struggled toward the cliff, gripping the tethers, attempting to pull them off. Another wave of nausea surged through me, draining the strength from my hands. The sky spun, a dizzying whirl of blue and gold streaks.

  The drone wrenched me further backward and the movement left me in a cold sweat, hanging on to my stomach.

  On the cliff, Blaze burst into flame, Quake thundered forward ready to leap from the edge, and Rift’s shadows launched themselves beside him. But just as they shot forward, the golden lattice exploded down in front of them. The dome connected with the edge of the cliff, shutting them off from me, caging all of them inside Starsgard.

  The solar grid was in place and I had no way to get back in.

  Michael threw himself against it, trying to rip and tear with his hands. The grid flexed with every attempt, a liquid mesh. It billowed and waved, absorbing the blows instead of breaking.

  My brothers threw everything they had at it—flame, snow, strength—but they couldn’t get to me.

  The drone dangled me there for a moment, taunting them. Then it dropped into a free fall, taking me with it. All I had left was my scream and the echo of Michael’s anguish.

  “Ava! No! Ava!”

  I shot downward.

  His shouts faded. There was no fire in my veins, no power. No familiar warmth, no comfort. Somehow, the poison from the dart had drained all the nectar from my body, leaving me vulnerable.

  I scrabbled at the air, kicking my legs, trying to harness my energy—anything—but everything was a stomach-turning blur. The moss struck out as I passed by, vines forming and trying to catch me, but I was too far away and falling too fast.

  I was no longer a girl made of stars.

  I was falling through space.

  Another drone flew at me, its tethers shooting out to wrap around me so fast I thought they would cut me to pieces, but it timed its descent perfectly to the speed of my fall.

  The ground reared up below and I braced for the impact. At the same time, both drones spun me outward, dropping me in unison. I rolled through the violet light that covered the one-mile radius outside Starsgard’s border and came to a jarring halt against a tree trunk. The scent of freshly cut wood filled my head. Olander’s army had cut down many of the trees around the border to make way for trucks and soldiers.

  There was a soft thud as a drone dropped Aaron safely onto the ground beside me. He reminded me so much of his brother—Douglas Reid—the man I’d killed in self-defense. There was a layer of coldness in Aaron’s expression, something I’d never seen in him before. He had been my brother’s best friend and I’d only ever known Aaron as easy-going, the kind of guy who liked to joke and never took anything too seriously.

  Of course, I knew there was more to him than that. Aaron had been a Basher with my brother. I suspected, but didn’t know for sure, that they’d looked out for each other. Aaron had been devastated by Josh’s death. But now it was as if his cruel older brother had passed the mantle of anger on to him.

  He stood over me while he spoke into a communicator. “I have her.”

  I pushed up on my hands, struggling to get to my feet, rage burning through me. Risking a glance upward, I confirmed that Michael and my brothers weren’t following me. I desperately needed their help, but I was grateful they weren’t there. I had no doubt that what Aaron had shot me with would affect my brothers too, defeating the effects of nectar. At least they were safe inside Starsgard.

  Aaron sidestepped as I lurched for him, but not quickly enough. My hand connected with his throat, small fingers closing across his windpipe. The first sign of alarm shot across his face. He’d seen what I could do with my power. They day before, I’d killed his commanding officer, Cheyne, merely by touching him. Then I’d ended the battle by vaporizing the entire invading Evereach army. Only Aaron had escaped.

  But I was slow now—and sick. Before I could harness what remained of my power, there was a whir above me and one of the drones ripped me upward and slammed me against the nearest tree. The impact knocked the wind out of my lungs and the fight out of my heart. My head connected with the thick trunk and pain exploded down my neck. I collapsed to my side as it released me, leaving me to heave into the leaves and dirt, coughing up the contents of my stomach.

  My power was gone.

  The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Aaron rubbing his neck as he crunched through the leafy forest floor toward me.

  It might have been hours later or only minutes when I resurfaced. I could barely open my eyes, allowing only a sliver of light, a small slit of vision, to see what awaited me.

  A scream grew in my throat as my view filled with the lion from my vision. Grisly golden fur surrounded the beast’s exposed teeth as it descended to purr beside my cheek.

  In a voice that growled and rumbled, it demanded, “Is she alive? Did she survive?”

  As the lion’s outline became clearer, I realized that it wasn’t a real animal after all, but a man wearing a lion’s skin over his head and shoulders. Its upper jaw drew apart across his scalp and its mane blended with his golden dreadlocks that reached well past his waist. He had blue eyes and pale skin. He was old, but the sharp intellect in his eyes told me he was dangerous.

  Aaron hovered in the background with a group of soldiers who formed a circle around us. The circle opened as another soldier ran up with a white cocoon in his arms. Through the gap, I could see machinery in the distance: trucks large and small and massive tree-cutting drones.

  “My Lord!”

  The lion-man reared up at him. “Is that it?”

  I recognized the cocoon. It was the one Hannah had carried the night before—she’d begged me to allow her to cut a branch from the tree, telling me that if she didn’t return to Evereach with it, her parents would be killed. I wouldn’t let her harm the tree, but knowing the threat to her parents was real, I’d cut a branch from another tree and smeared it with nectar. Now I hoped the ruse would work.

  The soldier confirmed. “It’s from Hannah.”

  “Have you verified its contents?”

  “We’ve tested the sap. It’s nectar, my lord.”

  The lion-man grinned. “Very well. Let Hannah’s parents go. Tell her to go, too. I don’t need her anymore.”

  Inwardly, I sighed with relief. The fake branch had worked and as long as Hannah ran far and fast, she’d be long gone by the time anyone figured out the truth.

  The soldier hovered. “There’s more, sir. There’s a flower…”

  “What?” The man snatched the cocoon from the soldier, nursing it in his big hands. As the outer shell opened, his jaw dropped at the sight of the beautiful flower contained within.

  Tears burned behind my eyes. Michael had kissed me under the tree, our bodies pressed up against its trunk, and that’s when the flower had grown. I’d learned when I first arrived at the northern tower that the source of nectar—the branch from a tree known as the midnight tree—was coated with a substance that reacted to human touch. My brothers had never dared to touch it because of the scorpions living on it, but I’d been bold enough to try. And when I did, the dead branch had sprouted a single leaf.

  That leaf was nothing compared to the flower that this man now held.

  His surprise quickly turned to a scowl. The corners of his mouth turned down. His fists clenched hard around the cocoon. “Twice a flower. Never the fruit.”

  He dropped the flower to the forest floor and crushed it beneath his boot, grinding it hard into the ground.

  Tears spilled from my eyes as I could do nothing but watch. I wanted to ra
ge at him for destroying something so perfect, but I swallowed down my anger. I needed to take the chance while he was distracted to try to escape. I inched away from him, taking deep breaths to steady myself, wishing for the world to stop spinning. I made it several feet only to find another man blocking me on the other side.

  Michael’s father studied me. His expression was filled with surprising concern—an expression that sat uncomfortably on his face. It appeared that he wasn’t in much better shape than I was. Even through the haze, I could see the weary lines around his eyes. Normal people could get away with not sleeping or eating for much longer than I could, but eventually the stress on their bodies became visible. Michael’s dad looked like he hadn’t done either for a week.

  My voice was scratchy, barely a whisper. “Mr. Bradley.”

  He let out the breath he’d been holding. “She’s still with us.”

  The lion-man growled, drawn back to us, closing the cocoon with a snap. “Your potion was too strong, Robert. I almost lost my prize.”

  Mr. Bradley cleared his throat. “Your prize is safe, Alexander.”

  Alexander. I startled at the mention of that name.

  The man wearing the lion’s skin—Alexander—was the former leader of the Bashers. He was the man who’d threatened Michael’s family and forced his mom to flee to Starsgard. He was the man responsible for my brother’s death: he’d stolen Josh’s nectar ampule and condemned my brother to die.

  “Monster,” I whispered, anger threatening to consume me.

  Alexander brushed the hair from my forehead, gently shushing me. A smile broke across his face.

  “Lovely weapon,” he said, “You’re mine now.”

  Chapter Three

  Josh, 4 years ago

  MR. BRADLEY STARES at me. I can’t tell if he’s in shock or just thinking it through. I can never tell with this guy.

  He asks, “Josh, are you sure? What you’re suggesting is incredibly dangerous.”

  “But you agree it’s necessary.”

  “There’s no denying it would be helpful to have eyes and ears inside the Basher organization, but you’d be risking your life.”

  The room we’re in is concealed on a level of the Terminal that only Mr. Bradley can access. Somehow, he managed to get a portion of the building erased from all the blueprints and rigged it up with a thousand layers of security so that only he can access it. The room is filled with computers and scientific equipment. He does a lot of his main work in the other labs to keep up appearances, but this is where he’s been fine-tuning my nectar ampule, testing my reactions, my healing—and my strength.

  The tests should probably scare me but they don’t. Instead, this is the only place I feel truly safe. Nothing can hurt me here.

  I say, “I can do it. The nectar ampule you put in my back makes me heal as fast as your son.” I tap my shoulder, close to the back of my neck where the slim device rests under my skin. “The Bashers will believe I’m a fast healer like them.”

  He shakes his head. “But to join them? I don’t know, Josh. I’m already playing a dangerous game with multiple players. I’d rather keep you out of it.”

  I nod. “The Bashers. The government. Starsgard. Your own family.”

  “I don’t want you involved.”

  I give him a look, like seriously? I’m already involved. I got involved the day I was born with mortal DNA. I smirk, knowing that what I’m about to say next will surprise him.

  “You’ll need someone on your side when Cheyne betrays you.”

  He startles. “You know about him?”

  “I know that your right hand man, Officer Cheyne, who is supposed to be a loyal Hazard Officer for the government, is actually with the Bashers. There’s no other reason he’d try to stop your family reaching safety. What I don’t understand is how he’s a Basher. He’s a slow healer, right? They hate slow healers. That’s their whole credo—rid the world of the unworthy and create a superior race.”

  Mr. Bradley sighs. “Alexander has a collection of what he calls his ‘special children.’ He gathers them from each generation—”

  “Wait, Alexander is how old?”

  “Over a thousand years. He’s one of the immortals. A direct descendant of Eve’s immortal line.”

  Now it’s my turn to startle. “Whoa, okay. That’s … Eve? Seriously? So, that means your wife and son are descended from that line too?”

  Mr. Bradley hesitates and I roll my eyebrows at him. This guy is so full of secrets I’m surprised he doesn’t rattle when he moves.

  I give him an out. “Okay, what’s so special about Cheyne that Alexander’s prepared to compromise his beliefs?”

  Mr. Bradley seems relieved that I let the whole immortal-child-of-Eve thing go.

  “He’s willing to bend his own rules to further his cause. It doesn’t matter if someone’s a slow healer if they have something useful to him. He recruited Cheyne when he was a teenager because he was my best friend.”

  “So it’s all about you.”

  He grins. “Thanks for making me sound like an egomaniac. But no, it’s only partly about me. I shot through school, was already doing cutting-edge experiments with DNA in my late teens. I was invited to Seversand for the first time when I was nineteen. That’s when I met Helen…”

  His face softens as he mentions his wife. There’s a void at the back of his eyes and I know he misses her. She and his youngest son, Jason, left Evereach a few weeks ago. They had to escape Alexander’s threats against Jason because he was a slow healer. Alexander saw Jason as an abomination and wanted to bury him in a Basher cell—literally. Cheyne did everything he could to try to stop the family escaping but it turned out that Starsgard was all too willing to grant them asylum. It’s a constant thought at the back of my mind: if Starsgard helped Mr. Bradley’s family, maybe they’ll help mine.

  Mr. Bradley shakes his head like he’s shaking off bad memories. “Alexander tried to get to me many times, but I evaded him at every turn. His only move was to get to my best friend.”

  He focuses on me again. “Make sure you don’t have any weaknesses, Josh. Not even your sister.”

  There’s a warning in his voice. There’s always a warning when he mentions Ava.

  He continues. “There’s only so long I can pretend I’m still working on a weapon from your blood. I can’t hold the government off much longer. I will have to test her at some point.”

  “No.” My response is far too quick, far too aggressive.

  He gives me that warning look again and I reign myself in. I’ve always had a hunger for risk, but the nectar ampule in my back raises my anger levels far higher than normal. Mr. Bradley’s worked hard to remove the side effects of nectar—the hallucinations and rage—but he’s only been able to go so far. Still, I’d rather have the ampule than not. Just the other day, a guy on the football field broke my arm and without nectar my secret would have been out.

  I ask, “Don’t you only need a little bit of her blood? I could give her a paper cut or something. Maybe while she’s sleeping. She’d never need to know.”

  “We need more than that, Josh. We need bone marrow. That’s not something we can get without her consent.”

  He leans forward, clasping his hands in the way that I’ve come to recognize—he does it whenever he’s about to tell me the hard reality. “You know that Seversand has a mortal girl. They’ve made a weapon from her DNA and it’s only a matter of time before they use it. It’s highly possible that female DNA is the key to creating a successful weapon. We need to find out whether your sister’s mortal too. She could be the key to our own defense.”

  I shake my head again, but he plows on. “You know we’ll have to bring her in. If only for her protection.”

  Then he abruptly changes the subject. He points. “How’s your broken arm?”

  “Fine, and I know what you’re trying to say. It’s only a matter of time before Ava hurts herself and her mortality gets out. I know that would be bad, but she�
�s careful. She’s cautious. She’s not like me. It’s like she has this built-in survival mechanism…”

  I stop and scowl at him. He’s managed to steer the conversation away from where I wanted it to go—from getting him to agree to let me spy on the Bashers—but I’m not about to abandon the idea.

  “Look,” I say, knowing I have one more powerful card up my sleeve. “Alexander wants a fast healer. He wants another kid from today’s generation who is as close to immortal as possible. He wants your son, but if he has me instead, it’ll take the focus off Michael. You can help your son by letting me do this.”

  Now Mr. Bradley looks at me. Really looks at me. Is he looking into the reckless heart of me, my need for danger? Or is he seeing the real reason for my request—to protect my sister from her own best friend: Hannah the Basher who thinks it’s all a game and doesn’t realize that everyone’s lives are at stake if the Bashers get their hands on a mortality weapon.

  But I’ve struck a chord with Mr. Bradley, a real chord, because he’d do anything to protect his family—even travel halfway around the world to steal a branch from a mythological tree. I still don’t know if the midnight tree is the real Tree of Life or just a freak of greenery, but Mr. Bradley certainly believes in it.

  “Okay,” he says. “You can infiltrate the Bashers. But if your life is ever in danger, Josh, promise me—promise me—you’ll ask for help.”

  I nod. “I’ll ask. I promise.”

  Chapter Four

  Ava, now

  I WRENCHED AWAY from Alexander, bruising my skin against the bark and rocks beneath me. He’d called me a weapon, his weapon, and everything inside me wanted to scream back at him and wipe the elation from his face.

  Before I could speak, Mr. Bradley slid his arms under my shoulders, lifting me, urging me to my feet.

  “Take her to the cells,” Alexander ordered.

  Mr. Bradley paused. “But the President’s waiting to meet her at the Terminal.”