by K A Riley
“I’ll get a job and pay for gas and stuff,” I vowed. “I’ll—”
But Will shook his head. “Don’t even think about it. Mom and Dad would have hated it if you did anything to distract you from school.”
“But…”
“No ‘buts.’ We both know perfectly well what our parents would have wanted, and it wasn’t for their seventeen-year-old daughter to find herself struggling to juggle work and school. Maybe go out and find yourself something more interesting than a part-time job to occupy yourself.”
I got the distinct impression he was talking about boys, but I chose to ignore the suggestion.
“Okay, okay, I’ll shut up now,” he laughed. “Let’s get going.”
Out of habit, I started to get into the passenger side, but Will stopped me with a shake of his head. “Nuh-uh. You’re in charge now. Time to take the wheel. Literally and figuratively.”
I skipped over to the driver’s side and slid in behind the steering wheel. The rush of being in control of something for once, plus the knowledge that my time with Will would soon come to an end, made the drive go by all too fast.
I pulled us up to the curb and slid the chugging Matrix into the long line of cars already idling as families and friends said their last goodbyes before sending their loved ones on their way. Suitcases and backpacks of every color sat on the concrete walkway outside the revolving doors to the terminal.
The place was a flood of hugs and smiles and tears.
There was a terrible impermanence to it all. Everyone on the move. Everyone leaving to go somewhere else. So much attention being paid to the ones about to catch a flight. But what about the rest of us? The ones being left behind. No one pays nearly as much attention to us.
Will opened his door but didn’t get out. “Penny for your thoughts.”
“You’re lucky,” I said, staring straight ahead through the windshield at a burly man lugging suitcases out of the back of a taxi. “You’re lucky for all the things you’re going to do out west. All the adventures you’ll have. The things you’ll learn. The people you’ll meet.”
“I am lucky. But not for any of that. I’m lucky because, after all those people and adventures, I have you to come home to.”
“You will come home, won’t you?”
“Of course I will. How can you even ask that?”
I rested my head on the steering wheel and looked at my big brother who smiled and reached over to pat my hair.
“I better get going.”
“I know,” I said, my hand on his wrist.
Will stepped out of the car, and I pushed my door open and ran around to join him on the curb. I flung my arms around his waist and held him tight, willing him to stay but knowing he couldn’t.
As we said our last goodbyes, a sense of impending dread wormed its way through my mind. With Will’s departure, I was losing my most loyal protector, the one person on earth who’d always seemed to understand me. But something told me that even Will wouldn’t be able to protect me from whatever mayhem was in the process of being unleashed on my life.
“It’ll be too late by the time I get there to call tonight,” he told me. “But I’ll be in touch soon, I promise.”
I nodded miserably, unable to avoid remembering how empty the house felt without him for the month of July. August would feel even longer.
“I’ll be back to visit in a couple months,” he assured me. “I’ll FaceChat you lots, too.”
“Great,” I replied. “I get to hang out in front of a computer camera. You know how much I love that.”
“Stop it.” Will took me by the shoulders and looked me in the eye. “Vega, you’ve always been so down on yourself. Let me give you some brotherly advice.”
I cocked my head and stared at him like a curious dog, even though I was only humoring him.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Know your worth,” he said. “Know how great you are. Don’t let the world tell you otherwise, because it will try. Be strong. Prove to everyone, but most of all to yourself, just how incredible you really are. Fight for what’s right and for what’s rightfully yours.”
“Rightfully mine?” I asked. It was an odd thing to hear him say in light of everything that had happened yesterday.
“You know what I mean,” he added. “You’re talented. You’re gifted. Everything comes easy to you if you just put your mind to it. I know you do well in school, but you always throw a wrench into your own social life. Don’t be someone who sabotages herself on purpose to prove to the world that you don’t deserve the best things. You should be proving how amazing you are, because that’s the real you. And I think you know it.”
“Hmm. This is strangely sincere talk from you, Big Brother.”
“Yeah, well, I figure I won’t be seeing you for a while, and this might be my last chance. You know, in case I get hit by a truck or something.”
“I appreciate it. But don’t get hit by a truck, okay?”
“I’ll do my best not to. As for you, don’t spend too much time at home.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I know you. You’ll hole yourself up for the rest of the summer with a stack of books, read until your eyeballs dry out, and never put yourself out there.”
“Put myself out where?”
“You know. Into life. Take a chance. A leap of faith. All that hokey clichéd stuff.”
“I promise. If a chance comes along, I’ll leap. I’ll probably break an ankle doing it, too.”
“That’s all I ask,” Will laughed. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and threw me a smile that looked like it might turn quickly into a quivering frown.
“Don’t you dare cry, or you’ll get me started,” I said, hugging him close and burying my face in his shoulder. “I’ll miss you, Will. And thanks. For everything.”
As I watched my brother walk toward the sliding doors and into the terminal, I forced down the sob forming in my throat.
Will spun around one last time and called out, “Love you, Vega!”
“Love you, Will,” I mouthed through a smile as the tears streamed down my cheeks.
I hopped into the car—my car—wiped my eyes, gave my head a good shake, and drove back to town, where I was determined to track down and get some actual answers from one Mr. Callum Drake.
Maybe it was time to take that leap of faith.
The Enemy
After tucking the car into our driveway, I showered, threw on some clean clothes and began the short walk to High Street and the Novel Hovel. I supposed driving was an option, but I’d always enjoyed wandering around town on foot too much to become reliant on a rusty old car—besides which, walking would give me time to figure out what I planned to say to Callum.
I turned onto High Street, my pulse quickening as I approached the bookstore. By the time I was a block away, I was already imagining how foolish I’d sound when I started asking questions. I began to wonder again if the whole thing might have been some extended hallucination. Callum would probably look at me like I was completely insane.
Or maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he’d look at me like he knew exactly what I was talking about, because it was all real.
I wasn’t sure which reaction would give me the most relief.
I’d just started to pick up my pace when I realized something wasn’t right. The world had come to a stop, just as it had the previous day. The hum of air conditioners in shop windows died. No cars whizzed by.
The only thing that showed any sign of life…was me.
I froze, my throat parched with fear. When the world had gone still yesterday, Charlie had handed me the dragon key that had set a whole chain reaction of mayhem in motion.
I wasn’t sure I could take any more chaos just now.
I stared ahead towards Perks, but this time, there was no sign of Charlie or Rufus. No sign of any life, in fact. Downtown Fairhaven was a ghost town.
Hesitant, I began to walk again, hoping it was a fluke. M
aybe a power outage had caused the abrupt silence. I’d heard that such things happened when too many people were using air conditioners and televisions at once. I told myself to keep walking, to get away from High Street, where everything crazy seemed to happen. But before I could make it more than a few steps, the sound of a long, low snarl erupted from behind me.
No, no, no. Please, no.
I slammed my eyes shut, freezing in place as my hands clenched into tight fists. Please, I murmured again inside my head. Make it stop. Make it go away.
But the growl came again, accompanied by a string of several more, as if the sounds were multiplying behind me.
I spun around to see a massive white wolf standing in the middle of High Street, its bright eyes locked on my own. Coming at me from the direction of the Commons was another wolf, this one gray, with black streaks in its fur. Then another, and another, until four of them stood—two on the street, the other two on the sidewalk—in a menacing semi-circle in front of me. I stepped away, my back pressed to the brick façade of a single-story building housing a bank, a sandwich shop, and one of the local real estate agencies.
Cornered, I stared at the enormous animals, my hands shaking. I started to cry. Not out of fear, though. This was pure, unadulterated anger. Anger at being faced with death for the second time in twenty-four hours. Anger at being the apparent target of some army of supernatural beings with nothing better to do than terrorize me.
The wolves growled, the hackles on the backs of their necks quivering in a bristling fury. Although they looked like giant mutant dogs, there was something else about them that horrified me. Something beyond animal. There was an intelligence in their eyes along with a palpable anger and hatred.
Just like I’d seen the previous evening on the face of the man in the alley.
Waerg.
That was it. That’s what Callum had called the strange contorted man-wolf who’d thrown me against the wall. The man who’d almost killed me.
And now there were four of them.
They approached with small steps, heads low as growls erupted from deep in their broad chests. Their paws looked heavy enough to press their imprints right into the concrete sidewalk.
As I stared in disbelief, a strange, feminine voice began to speak inside my mind. You have something that we need, Vega Sloane. Give it to us, and we’ll leave you in peace.
Like a person possessed, I pulled the key out from under my hoodie and held it up to the growling beasts. “Is this what you want?” I asked. “You can have it. It’s all yours.”
The words were definitely coming from my mouth, but I didn’t feel in control of them. Last night I realized the key was of vital importance. Callum had threatened to kill someone to protect it and me.
So why was I now offering it freely?
Before I had a chance to toss the key at the advancing pack, the light, distant sound of chiming bells caught my attention. I looked down the sidewalk past the wolves to see Callum stepping out of the bookstore. Without a second’s hesitation and with his face in a rage, he sprinted in my direction, coming at the four wolves from the side. But he came to an abrupt stop after only a few seconds, like something had halted him in his tracks—some invisible barrier that was now keeping him from coming any closer.
He shouted, but my mind had clouded over, and I couldn’t make out what he was saying. He pounded with his fists against what looked like nothing but the air in front of him. The way his fists bounced off, it must have been a barrier as hard as steel.
The wolves turned to peer at Callum over their shoulders before twisting back to face me.
He can’t help you, the soothing female voice spoke to my mind. I looked from one wolf to the other until my eyes settled on those of the white beast. Its eyes were blue, intense, and eerily familiar. I’d stared into them once before, and then, just like now, fear had overcome me.
“What are you doing to him?” I asked, my gut churning with terror as I pushed away the fog that had overtaken my mind. She’s manipulating me, I thought. She’s putting ideas in my head—trying to soothe me so I’ll be compliant.
I’m keeping him from interfering in our affairs, the voice said. This can be a simple exchange: We get the key. You get your life. Callum Drake will be safe.
I answered her with a silent stare, a feeling of strength rising up inside me as I narrowed my eyes.
No, I thought. I can’t give the key up. It’s too important. I may not understand why, but if I give it to them, everything will be destroyed. The only thing I know is that I have to protect it, no matter what.
The female voice practically sang in my head then, a soothing, melodious tone that made me forget why I cared about the key in the first place. Come, now. You can live a life unsullied by the scourge of the Old Magic. You can return to normalcy. Isn’t that what you want most? Peace and quiet, here in this lovely little town of yours? Don’t you want to forget everything that’s happened?
“Yes, it’s what I want,” I began, once again overtaken by her charms. “All I want is to go back to how things were.”
How things were, the voice said. Yes, of course. Before your parents were taken from you…
The feeling of calm that had settled into my bones shattered, and my jaw clenched at her words. “Don’t talk about my parents,” I snapped. “And don’t pretend to know what my life was like before they died.”
Apologies, the voice said. It was not my intention to offend. Give us the key freely, and we will leave in peace.
I had to admit I was tempted by her words. Angry though I was, I looked down to see my hand reaching out to offer the key to the white wolf. I could feel her inside my head, probing around, trying to find the most vulnerable part of me, to find a crack in my mental armor. Yet some part of me wanted her there. I wanted her to take away this curse, this trinket that had haunted me ever since Charlie had handed it to me. The thought of being free of it made me feel light, free as a bird…
I took a step forward, holding the key out with tremulous fingers, ready to hand it over, when a voice cried out.
“Vega! Stop!”
I looked up to see Callum, still trapped behind the invisible barrier separating him from me and the wolves. His face was strained as he struggled forward as though he was pushing a massive wall, inch by inch, with every ounce of his strength.
“But they want it,” I said evenly, all emotion stripped away. “I think they should have it—don’t you?”
Even as I heard myself say the words, I began to realize they didn’t come from a place inside me. It was this wolf, this Waerg—she was slipping the thoughts and words into my head, somehow. She was controlling me. I felt like I’d been taken out of my body and was watching from a distance as someone manipulated me like a helpless cloth puppet.
“The key was given to you for a reason,” Callum yelled. “Use it! You know what to do, Vega! Go through the door. Accept your fate!”
The sound of his voice jarred me back inside myself. I recalled the door that had sprung up in the alley—broad, tall, with a carved dragon decorating its surface. The Breach, Callum had called it.
Glaring at the white wolf, I ripped the key from its chain and shut my eyes, trying to conjure the door. I had no idea how to do it, but still, I tried. In my mind I painted every inch of the door, from top to bottom, until I could all but feel it.
I opened my eyes to see it hovering in the air before me, but this time it didn’t seem solid as it had last night. Now it was nothing more than a nebulous hologram, flickering and fading in and out like a waning light.
Beyond its surface I could see the faces of the wolves, lips drawn back in angry snarls.
The white wolf stepped forward, and as one paw moved in front of the other, her shape altered. After a second, the woman I’d seen in the park the previous day stood before me, the same silvery-white hair and dark red lipstick framing her face.
My breath caught in my throat as I stared at her, hatred bubbling up insid
e my chest.
“It’s all right, Vega,” she cooed. “You have nothing to fear from me. I’m here to help you get back to your old life. I’m here to take away the fear you’ve been feeling, you poor dear.”
As much as I fought them, the words soothed me once again. Just as the woman had promised, my fear dissipated, replaced with a blanketing sense of calm. I felt a smile trace its way over my lips as I took a step toward her, holding my hand out once again in offering.
“No!” Callum cried out. “She’s in your head. She’ll destroy you if you let her stay there!”
He was right. I could feel the woman rifling through my mind like she was leafing through a filing cabinet. Yet I couldn’t find the energy or the will to care, somehow. I found myself welcoming her like an old friend who comes in for a glass of iced tea. Welcome. Please, be my guest.
Iced tea, I thought with a wistful smile. My Nana used to serve me and Will iced tea when we’d go to visit.
Nana, who had written me that birthday card and given me the supposedly unbreakable chain I wore around my neck now. What was it that she’d written in that card?
the end of an old life and the beginning of a new one…challenges and danger ahead…this silver chain will save your life…
I drew my eyes to the key I was holding. When I saw how close I was to handing it over, I jerked my arm backwards.
“No!” I shouted. I shut my mind off, closing down my emotions as I’d done so many things over the years since my parents had died. Damn it, if there was one thing I was good at, it was pushing people away. “Get out of my head!” I snarled, locking eyes with the woman. “I know what you’re doing to me, and it’s not going to work.”
An awful, unnatural grin twisted the woman’s thin lips. She narrowed her eyes, staring at me with a malevolence unlike anything I’d ever seen or felt in my life.
“You miss your parents, don’t you?” she asked. “Every day you miss them. Every day, you wonder if you could have prevented their deaths. The truth is, it’s all your fault.”
