by A Lonergan
“I never had a say in this!” Anger was blooming within my chest but as soon as I spoke, I was pulled into another vision. This time it wasn’t one of my memories, it was someone else’s.
A young woman with curling dark hair ran from a small hut. She had a child in her arms and tears were running down her face.
“Apollo! What did you do? What did you do to my daughter?” She screamed.
A man with flowing blond hair materialized in front of her. He had wide shoulders and was wearing a white robe. “Dear Sister,” he said, “she is dying. She won’t be able to live here with you any longer, and Zeus will summon you home soon. How will you bring her with you? She will be fair game.” Apollo smirked and licked his dark lips. “I won’t kill her, at least not yet, but you must promise me something.”
The woman’s eyes pleaded with her brother. She looked down at her sickly daughter before replying. “Anything, I will do anything.”
“She must prove that she is worth her life. She will have to prove that she is more god than that damn mortal you bedded,” he sneered. “If she is in this valley, she will die. She cannot return until she is ready to prove herself in my games, if that’s what you want to call them. The
Goddess Games will commence when she is of age. You are not allowed to interfere. If, by some chance, she survives long enough to conceive a child, the Games will continue on with her child, and so on. ”
Artemis looked up from her daughter. “I will find a way to protect her. I swear it.”
“Good luck, she doesn’t have much longer.” Apollo frowned. “This shall be fun.”
I sucked in a deep breath and sat up off of the floor. My grandmother was kneeling next to me with her face in her hands.
“Do you wanna tell me why I get visions that aren’t my memories?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” My grandmother’s eyebrows knitted themselves together in confusion.
“I just saw Apollo telling Artemis about the terms of the Games. He said that her line would have to prove that we’re more god than mortal...”
“The Elders always suspected that, but we never knew for sure. We will have to meet with them this afternoon and have them put that in the library.” My grandmother grasped my hands in hers and helped me stand up. I didn’t know what she was so happy about; it gave me a feeling of doom and dread.
Crawley
I watched Keenan clean and package the meat. He stabbed the knife into the slab on top of the table and gave the boys around him a stern look before they all scurried off.
131
"Jessa smells strange," he said to me. I knew Jessa smelled of the gods and I knew that I was supposed to watch over her because of some Games that everyone had been whispering about, but I didn't know much else and I wasn't sure I wanted to.
Keenan watched me, waiting for me to give something away in my actions or expression. There wasn't much to give.
"Yes, she’s smelled strange since I met her,” I said. “She reeks of the gods."
Keenan wasn't surprised. I rolled my eyes; of course he wasn't. He knew something I didn't. I could smell his sweat rolling down his back. He was anxious.
Jessa opened the back door just as I was about to question him. She avoided my eyes and looked straight at Keenan. Her cheeks started to turn pink and I knew I was missing something. I looked back at Keenan to see a small smile on his lips. The man never smiled. All of a sudden I knew what he was hiding. There had to have been some type of exchange between them in the woods before I had arrived.
Of course.
Jealousy and resentment coursed through my body. I turned on my heel and headed straight for the woods. The beast that I had been doing so well to hide was scratching at my skin, waiting to be set lose. He had been in need of release for hours, if not days. As I made it to the tree line, I felt my beast’s fur break through. I shrugged off the pain that accompanied the shift in the beginning and rolled my shoulders back, ready to get lost in the woods.
Chapter 9
Jessa
Crawley was gone in seconds. He left a cloud of dirt and confusion in his wake. I tried to focus on the vision he had just interrupted unexpectedly when I was pulled into another one.
Keenan's long hair was cropped short and he was wearing a loincloth around his thick hips. Black lettering wrapped around his arms and ankles. His eyes flashed black as he lifted his arms above his head while slow chanting escaped his parted lips. I tried to get closer to Keenan, but he was going in and out of focus. I reached my fingers out to touch him...
An animal let out a roar in the distance and broke my trance. A blood-curdling scream soon followed. Keenan's eyes briefly met mine before he took off running toward the woods. He was faster than I would have given him credit for, but I kept up easily with his long strides. He gave me a curious glance. Power flowed from his body; he would have intimidated me if I hadn’t been so concerned with the situation.
I slid across the gritty dirt when I saw the opening to the forest. Even as Keenan continued on, I couldn't bring myself to move any farther. Red covered everything and dripped off the trees onto the small amount of snow on the ground. Patches of dirt were noticeable in the area but they were covered in blood too. The coppery scent was overwhelming my senses.
Tingles went through my body and I almost started to enjoy the scent, but something was wrong. The smell of blood was making my body start to panic. My breathing was picked up and I soon found myself on my knees next to a large bush. All the contents of my stomach spilled out in front of me. My body was confused. A part of me liked the smell of blood and the chaos associated with it, but the rest of me was disgusted by it and disgusted by the pleasure it had created inside of me.
I tried to lift my body off of the ground but stuck my hand in a puddle of blood. I retched again and swayed. Keenan grabbed my upper arm in a strong grip and helped me up. He kept me steady but put a finger on his lips before he let go. He stalked around the trees and stopped abruptly. I tiptoed toward him and peered around his bulky torso, wiping the palm of my hand on my jeans.
Ana was lying in a pool of blood with a knife clenched in her fist, but as I got closer, I wasn't so sure it was a knife. The blade was longer than my forearm. I reached out to a tree for support as darkness started to overcome my mind. I felt almost giddy.
I shook my head to clear the nasty thoughts that were starting to form and ran to Ana. All my nausea vanished and I started searching her for any major wounds. When I couldn't find any; I stood up and looked around for Keenan. He was standing over a large brown bear.
A gasp escaped my lips. The animal was enormous. I couldn't believe what I was seeing or that I Keenan was so close to it. I tried to picture it standing up next to him – it would tower over him by at least 5 feet. For a split second I wondered if the animal was dead, and if that was why there was so much blood.
The bear groaned and took away my suspicion. He rolled over, and his bright green eyes flashed right to mine. I could feel my heart rate starting to increase. The look he gave me seared into my soul. The beautiful creature let out a grunt as it tried to stand and fell backward. I backed up slowly, unnerved by how large he was, but also because he was a freakin’ bear for goodness’ sake.
Light flashed on something silver in the bear’s fur. A long blade protruded from his chest. Instinct kicked in, and I ran forward without thinking and grabbed the hilt. My mouth started chanting a language I didn't remember learning as I yanked the blade free.
The huge beast snarled at me, but his eyes softened when they met mine. There was blood all over his coat but there wasn’t a gaping hole like there should have been.
I wondered for a moment if the incantation I whispered had healed him, but shook the thought from my head. It was definitely too crazy. I inhaled and felt dizzy; I could smell something coming from the knife. There were small etchings on the blade that I couldn't read, and the blood coating it didn’t make it any easier.
Keenan took t
he knife from me and looked at it closely. "Crawley, the knife was cursed to keep you shifted.”
What?
The monstrous animal let out a growl and began to stand up. Keenan put his hands on the bear’s shoulders and helped steady him.
Yep, he towered over us both by a whole lot. He threw himself down onto all fours in frustration and let out a huff of air. His eyes were level with mine, and it made me take a step back. I hadn't been nervous a few moments ago, but I sure as hell was now. I gave Keenan a sideways look and went to back farther away but the animal stopped me.
The bear’s face softened and he rubbed his snout against my arm. I looked up at Keenan who was watching the exchange with a curious look on his face. His brown eyes slowly narrowed.
The bear rubbed his snout on me again as I rested my fingers on the fur near his eyes, his bright green eyes that looked so familiar.
"Crawley?" My voice came out in a squeak as the bear continued to rub his snout on me. I shook my head and backed away. There was no way this was real. I looked to Keenan. "Really funny – great joke." Ha-ha.
Of course they had roped that stupid girl, Ana, into it. I turned around and quickly made my way back to my grandmother’s cottage. I glanced at Ana lying on the ground. I almost kicked her, but knew it would probably be a little too much.
I looked at the ‘blood’ everywhere and got pissed that I had thrown up. I hated pranks, surprises, or anything that was out of my control. I huffed all the way out of the woods. I was so pissed that I barely heard the whistle through the air. I turned my head and saw the arrow coming for me. I pulled my shoulder up and barely avoided it. It grazed the side of my arm.
I felt pain immediately and couldn’t control the cry of agony that I let out. I gripped my arm and found that where was flowing freely from the wound. My legs gave out. I tried to stretch my senses and find who had done this to me. My senses dulled as pain overtook me. I shook my head against the fog in my brain. Something wasn’t right.
I couldn't find him, but I could hear him pulling back the arrow that would deliver my kill shot. I couldn't move and knew it was because he had laced the arrows with poison. If the first arrow had penetrated me, there would have been enough poison to take me out.
I heard the whistle and closed my eyes, waiting for impact. I thought of all of the things I hadn’t been able to do or experience. I almost cried but another roar was let out right in front of me. I slowly opened my eyes.
The bear had thrown himself in front of me and taken the arrow through his chest. He obviously heard something that I couldn't and was up without a whimper. He ran quickly as I tried to keep my hearing stretched. I heard a whimper and a sickening sound, one that I never thought I would hear: the sound of bones breaking and skin tearing. It was easily the worst noise I had ever heard. The beast had torn the assassins head off. I fought the urge to vomit again and laid my head down on the grass as Keenan came into view.
He began to blur in and out as he made his way toward me. I barely felt him lift me off the ground. Pain had taken over my entire body and I could hardly keep my eyes open. My head fell back against his shoulder and my world went black.
Chapter 10
Crawley
I had smelled the arrow before it grazed her, but there wasn't much I could have done. I licked my muzzle and tasted the blood stuck in my fur. The assassin had laced his body with poison before I killed him; fortunately, I was immune to the poison he had used. I grabbed the arrow that was protruding out of my large chest and yanked it out. I hissed as I felt my fur and skin knit itself back together.
My healing was always stronger in my beast’s form, probably because I got the healing from him in the first place. I gazed down at the arrow in my paws and breathed a sigh of relief. I was lucky the arrowhead hadn’t broken off inside of me. It made me cringe to think of digging it out after I had healed around it. Now that would be complicated.
I tried my hardest to have a level head about Jessa but knew that my beast was winning this round. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. I needed to be calm or there was no way Shaskia would let me around her granddaughter. I lay down next to the back door. I knew better than to try going through it in my bear form. I didn’t want to test my limits. After all, it was my fault that Jessa had been shot.
I felt restless. My bear was starting to get anxious from being so far from her. I didn’t know why he was feeling so possessive all of a sudden, but it was making me nervous. I scratched my head on the doorframe. I didn’t like it when my beast fought for control like this. It had been so long since the last time I had lost it. Jessa was doing something to me that I didn’t understand. My beast had a strong urge to protect her and there was nothing I could do to get him to calm down. I watched the sun start to set and knew it would be a long night.
Keenan was watching over her, but for some reason that didn't set well with my beast. I scooted closer to the door.
Maybe if I stretched my body out, I would be thin enough to snake my way through the door...
Yes! The perfect solution.
My giant bear claws slipped and scratched all over the doorknob until the door finally swung open. I grunted in triumph and inched my head through the doorway and looked around.
Coast clear!
My shoulders went through next. Almost. Umph! Something popped me on the head. I
looked up to find Shaskia standing over me. She had a smug look on her face and a broom in her hand.
Piss off the grandma, why don't ya.
"Crawley, remember when I had to replace the entire doorframe the last time you did this?"
My shoulders fell, defeated. I let out a soft whine and tried to give her my best ‘sad bear’ look. Her face didn’t soften and I knew I was losing. I needed to think of something new.
"Maybe if you were a wolf, but you're a damn bear, so move out of the way so people can get in and out. Your mother is on her way and I know you don't want to cross her!"
It was one thing to cross Shaskia but another to cross my mother. The last time this happened, she had grabbed me by the fur around my face and tried to drag me into the yard. I had never been as scared for my life as I was in that moment. She didn't say a word. She just left me in the field. Even then I was bigger than her, but she wasn’t afraid of me. No matter how much I growled or whined, nothing fazed her.
I learned that day that a silent woman was a scary and dangerous woman.
I dragged myself back through the doorway and went to my patch of dirt next to the small house; there was nothing else I could do. I felt helpless and desperate.
A nap didn’t bring me the comfort that I hoped it would. When I closed my eyes, I saw the arrow grazing Jessa's shoulder over and over. I felt sick to my stomach when I woke up and knew I would need to hunt soon. I dragged my muscular body up off the ground and paced between Shaskia’s home and her neighbor’s.
It was a busy part of the day so only a few people noticed me and let out surprised noises, but nothing more. They weren't very surprised by beast anymore; they knew him well. At least the older people did, but they had told their children about me.
The Elders had watched me grow awkwardly from cub to man, sometimes more cub than man. I remembered running through the woods as a child and getting confused by the overwhelming sounds and scents. Because of this confusion, I had problems shifting and would do it spontaneously. The saying that it takes a village to raise a child was accurate when it came to me.
For months, my beast would get the better of me and push me to the side. I would wake up in random places, disoriented and not knowing where I was or how I got there. It was a constant battle over who was alpha enough to have control of my body and mind.
I took a deep breath and knew Keenan stood over Jessa. I could smell his desire floating around the air. I wasn't surprised. Men lusted after her no matter where we went. She was definitely a fine specimen of a woman. I could sense his despair at the fact that he couldn't help her
and felt useless. I knew the feeling. I looked down at my speckled, furry body and threw my head back to the ground. I contemplated beating it on the ground but knew it wouldn’t fix anything. My claws were twitching in the dirt. I felt like crap.
My mother knelt down next to me and rubbed her fingers down my snout. "It does you no good to be out here worrying. There's nothing you can do at this point. Shaskia is doing all she can to counter the poison. You know that. Go home and sleep in your own bed. It hasn't been touched in ages."
I listened to my mother and made my way to my house next to the woods. I had built it myself. Even though it didn’t look like much, it was mine and that meant something. My California king bed stretched across the back wall; the kitchen had its own little nook near the door. I pulled myself through the snug doorway that was specially crafted for my thousand pound bear form. I tossed my huge body toward the bed that I barely fit on and pulled my big bear paws under my body.
Sleep engulfed me before I could even try to fight it off.
Chapter 11
Jessa
Blackness. I swam in blackness. Where am I? "Jessa babe, my you look just like her. The
long flowing hair. Bright eyes. Artemis and her bright eyes. Though she had a taste of cruelty, I don't think you do. Disappointing." The voice wrapped around me. It made me nauseated. I couldn't move or speak. "The Games haven't even begun yet and here you are. You might never wake up, and you'll be the last of her petty, stupid line." I felt a touch slither up my arm and heard a chuckle in the distance.
“I loved her and he stole her from me!” Fingers wrapped around the top of my arm and jerked me up. I stared into darkness but knew he was right there in front of me.
