by Ellis Logan
Chapter 29
“I’m sorry for what happened back there,” Alec said.
We’d been driving for hours, and Amber had succumbed to a food coma in the back with Miko draped around her neck.
“It’s not like it was your fault.”
“No, but I should have been paying more attention. Mitch warned us there might be danger. And I should never have let you walk by yourself behind us like that.” His face grim, he gripped the steering wheel tightly, turning his hands white at the knuckles.
“Hey now, I think I took care of myself pretty well back there. I might not know all your fancy moves, but I was trained by the best, you know.” I teased him, and was rewarded by a small, tight smile.
“Yeah, but not the best of the best,” he teased back, and turned serious again. “We will remedy that in Valhalla. I have a feeling you are going to need that training before too long. Besides,” his smile came back, “how else will you be able to hold your own in a spar with me?”
“Oh, I can think of some ways, don’t worry.” I would have been annoyed by his sass, but right now all that mattered was seeing that smile on his face. I liked happy Alec way more than brooding Alec. Today just didn’t seem to be my day, though, I thought as his face shuttered in once more.
“Those guys, we were lucky, they don’t seem to have been well-trained,” he mused.
“I saw them looking at their phones when we came out from the doughnut shop, I think maybe they were looking at a picture of me. Is that possible?”
“Yeah, the Dark is probably broadcasting your face to every Shade that has a phone, probably with some kind of reward. We were lucky.”
“Well, I’d like to think skill had at least a little bit to do with it.”
“No,” Alec shook his head, “you don’t understand. As good as the Light Guardians are, the Shades have trained fighters who are just as good. Some of them are so twisted and evil, it is almost impossible to fight them. Some of them feel no pain, and are fueled by pure bloodlust. They revel in it.” Sadness and loss suffused his voice, making my heart feel like it would break with empathy.
I reached out and placed my hand on his arm, not thinking about the result. Warmth and comfort flowed through me, and I hoped Alec was feeling some of the same. I concentrated on sending the compassion I felt back to him as I talked. “You sound like you’re talking from personal experience. I’m sorry if taking care of me is bringing up some bad memories.”
“Thanks,” he smiled crookedly at me, his eyes flitting toward my hand on his arm, being careful not to take his eyes off the road for more than a moment. I waited, wondering if he would feel comfortable enough to share his pain with me. When it seemed like he wouldn’t say anymore, I removed my hand, feeling a little awkward. I stared out the window, watching the fields and trees whir by. It was a beautiful, clear day, and I could see hills rising in the distance.
“It happened when I was just a boy.” His quiet voice pulled my gaze back towards him. “My father fell in love with a human, my mother. He left Aeden and fae politics behind him to make her happy. Before, he’d been with the Guardians, but we lived in Boston for most of my childhood. He trained me from an early age, a lot like how your mom trained you. My sister hated fighting, all she ever wanted to do was dance, and he let her. She was three years younger than me.”
He stopped, and I watched him, waiting for him to go on.
“One day, the Dark sent men to our house to capture my dad. He may have put fae matters aside, but his name was still in their records as an operative, and they’d found him. We were out fishing. It was a gorgeous day, a lot like this one. I’d caught five trout all by myself, and I felt so proud coming home to show my mom. But when we got there, my mother and sister were dead. They’d been tortured, beaten and killed without remorse. The house was covered in blood. We didn’t even get to bury them, my father packed me back in the car immediately and took me to Aeden to live. I was only ten, but I dedicated my life to becoming a Guardian that day.”
“Oh Alec, I’m so sorry. All this time, I never thought anyone could understand how I am feeling about my mom, but this has got to be so difficult for you, bringing it all back.”
He shrugged. “The Dark stopped scaring me a long time ago. I didn’t think they could ever hurt me again. But the thought of them getting to you...I won’t let that happen.”
“Is that the surge talking, or some Guardian kind of honor code?” My mouth let out the words before I could even think them through. I winced, clapping a hand over my mouth. God, had I really just said that? I’d pretty much just admitted what I felt every time we touched. How mortifying.
“I don’t know,” he answered carefully, keeping his eyes on the road. “I want to protect you. Discovering you with a darkling made me want to rip your friend’s head off, and not just because I hate the Dark. But your father is Bran, so I think…I think you must be meant for something bigger, given who your family is, and the way Mikael is hunting for you. I’m not sure we could ever-”
A loud yawn from the backseat interrupted him. “Whatcha guys talking about. Is he schooling you on the ways of the Dark?” Amber rubbed her eyes and leaned over the seat. I’d totally forgotten she was even in the car, I’d been so focused on the words coming out of Alec’s mouth. “What’d I miss?”
Hmm, let’s see, I thought. Alec has some sort of feelings for me, but he may or may not feel the surge the way I do, I don’t know, because you and your annoying mouth just interrupted him.
“Nothing,” Alec and I answered at the same time. Miko snorted, obviously catching my thoughts in his head. I reached out to him to see if he knew what Alec had been about to say.
Sorry doll, not a clue. All I’m getting from him now is intense relief at having been interrupted.
Well, that was reassuring. Not.
“Okay,” Amber looked at each of us, clearly sensing that something was up. “How long was I out?”
“A few hours,” Alec answered. “We’re almost at camp.”
“Camp?” I started. “Please tell me we aren’t going to be sleeping outside.”
I could only begin to imagine the size of the bears in these Northern woods.
“No way, too cold!” Amber shuddered. “We own a private camp near here, the land contains some caves that lead into Aeden.”
“Tell me again how the Dark can’t follow us here?”
“Oh, they can come here, the land isn’t protected from them or anything, although it is private property. But no one except the Light can actually enter Aeden. This entrance wasn’t discovered until after the divide, and we’ve kept it a secret from the Dark. That’s the main reason we lived in Boston when I was a kid, so we would never be more than a day’s travel from the portal.”
He went quiet again, and I resisted the urge to put my hand on his knee.
“Okay, but can’t they just make a blockade or something, to keep us from getting there?”
He laughed mirthlessly. “They could try.”
“Gee, that makes me feel much, much better.”
“Don’t worry so much, Siri.” Amber clapped me on the shoulder. “We’ll be fine. We’re using a secret entrance that practically no one even knows about, certainly no one Dark.”
“If you say so.” I knew she was trying to comfort me, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that was crowding me in. I watched a few more miles of fir and pine pass us by.
“Almost there,” Alec said, turning onto an almost invisible rough track through the trees. I was glad we’d switched to the Scout; I couldn’t imagine how the Ducati would have fared traveling this terrain. Every once in a while we’d slow down to gingerly traverse ruts in the road, or climb over small tree limbs that had fallen across our path.
“Doesn’t anyone maintain this place?” I asked.
“Not much. We like to keep it off the map, if we take too much care of it we start to get poachers and squatters, and that could attract attention from the Dark.
The locals think this land is owned by a small, crazy family of Americans, and we try to keep it that way.”
“Ah,” I said, like I followed their logic.
We pulled up in front of a tiny, ancient wood cabin. “Don’t worry,” Amber whispered in my ear, “the cabin’s just for show. We almost never stay in it.”
“Speak for yourself, girly girl,” Alec mocked. “I love staying out here. It’s really quiet, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh I totally get you,” she rolled her eyes, “I love the quiet when you stay out here, too.”
I couldn’t help it, I had to laugh. I wondered if Alec realized that while he’d lost one sister in Boston, he’d gained another with Amber.
Alec pulled the car behind the cabin, camouflaging it slightly by parking between several large hemlock bushes. I slung my bag over my shoulder, eyeing the woods with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.
This was it. No turning back now.
Alec grabbed my pack and Amber stuffed the remaining bag of donuts into her own messenger bag. Miko raced into the trees, clearly reveling in his return to nature.
Amber strode confidently into the woods, following a trail that apparently only she could see. I followed her a few feet behind while Alec brought up the rear and Miko trailed us in the canopy above. If my mood had been different, if I hadn’t been nervous about wasting time, I would have challenged Amber to a footrace. I was itching to run, the woods calling to me with their siren whisper.
I zoned out for a while, just allowing my feet to fall where Amber’s had been.
You can’t hide from us, Siri. We will have you. Join us, or die.
I stumbled. No way was Mikael here. Amber had said we were safe. A few crows cawed in the distance. Maybe I was just imagining things, my nerves getting the better of me.
Just as I had that thought, Miko started chattering frantically.
“Siri, there’s danger up ahead,” Miko warned. “The woods are alive with the news. The birds say there are five Shades in the clearing by the caves.”
I stopped abruptly and Alec crashed into me, grabbing my waist to keep me from falling.
“Amber!” I hissed, but she didn’t hear me.
“What is it?” Alec whispered in my ear, sending a shiver of tingles down my spine. Oh, but this was so not the time for that.
“Shades, five of them, up ahead.”
“How do you-”
“Miko,” I nodded up at the trees.
“Okay. Stay out of the clearing. I’m going to go around and close the circle from behind. Whatever you do, don’t follow Amber. She can take care of herself.”
“Whatever you say, oh Captain my Captain.” Either he missed my Dead Poet’s reference, or he didn’t hear me, because the only response was the rustling of a leaf as he disappeared out of sight.
“Miko, come down here,” I whispered, feeling a bit out of my element. He dropped down gently onto my shoulder from a branch above. “Can you tell what the Shades are doing?”
“They’re just hanging out in front of the cave. As far as I can tell, no one else is in the forest. Typical Shade behavior, relying on brute aggression rather than employing any finesse or strategy,” he sniffed disdainfully.
I resisted the urge to chuckle as I crept up behind a large boulder on the edge of the clearing. Amber had just walked into the clearing and was doing her best lost hiker impression. She was so small and young looking, I could see how easy it would be to fall for her act. Four men and a woman stood in a semi-circle before her. The men watched her with varying degrees of boredom and appreciation, while the woman looked intelligent enough to suspect that Amber’s act wasn’t on the up and up.
“Hey guys, I’m supposed to be meeting my boyfriend at a campsite here, at least, I thought it was here.” Amber giggled. “We’re playing hide and seek with our GPS, see?” She rolled her eyes and held up her phone, quickly putting it back in her pocket.
“I think you must be lost, girl.” A particularly rough looking Shade with a half shaved head stepped forward, cracking his knuckles.
“Oh, um, okay. I’ll just be on my way then,” she took a step backward, staying on her toes as if she meant to run.
“I don’t think so.” A second Shade stepped forward, a massive First Nations youth with long black hair and tribal tattoos.
“Now, now, boys, is that any way to invite a lady to dance? This is dangerous country for a girl to be out all alone.” The red-headed woman pushed Long Hair out of the way and approached Amber, putting out her hand. “I’m Giselle.”
Amber eyed the hand distastefully.
“Come now, don’t be rude. Where are your manners?” Red sneered.
“Oh, right!” Amber said in her best Valley Girl voice. “Like, I totally forgot. Here they are!”
She placed her hand in Red’s, watching her eyes widen fractionally as they recognized Amber’s Light, and pulled her forward suddenly, breaking the woman’s nose with a vicious head butt.
The woman howled with rage and charged Amber head on. Amber, however, had clearly been schooled by the same trainer as Alec. If anything, her moves were more fluid, more graceful. In a flurry of kicks and twirls, hair flying loose from her buns, she decimated her opponent. Long Hair snarled and Rough Guy cracked his knuckles and his neck at the same time, the two of them converging on Amber.
“Oh, yay. Is it time to dance now?” Amber wriggled her hips. “Bring it, boys.”
Again, her feet flew, faster almost than my eyes could track her. But the guys weren’t planning a fair fight. Even as they received blow after blow, they remained standing. It was clear that they both had vast reserves of strength and endurance. And now, I could see that the other two men from the group were circling around, trying to get the jump on her.
“Miko, I’m going in.” I whispered. “Stay here.”
Oh really, you want me to obey you, when you are planning to go against orders yourself. Well, ain’t that just peachy.
“Just stay, alright?” I hissed, crawling forward. The youngest of the group, a surprisingly clean cut blonde kid, was crouching behind Amber now, obviously hoping to trip her the next time she came too close. Hah. Not on my watch. I reached down and grabbed a long stick from the ground. Weapons were always useful.
The boy beckoned his friend to him, gesturing at Amber. All they needed was one good push and she’d stumble backward right over him. It was now or never. I slipped up quickly behind him, rapping him on the head and knocking him onto his stomach. I gave him a second whack on the base of his skull, just to make sure he stayed down.
Suddenly, I was at the center of the attack. Now that the Shades had seen me, their fighting became more focused, more virulent. The staff helped keep them at arms’ length as Amber and I took position together, readying ourselves to fight back to back. Amber knocked out Rough Guy as he lunged for me from the side.
Which was great, really, it was, except that Red was starting to wake up, and where the hell was Alec?
Red, Long Hair and a small weasel of a man formed a triangle around us, slowly circling. Weasel kicked Rough Guy when he stepped over him.
“Stupid git,” he muttered. “Get the hell up.”
“Wow, some friend you are.” I couldn’t help it. Sometimes things just popped out of my mouth. My hippie friends in Arizona blamed my zodiac sign. Really, though, I just had no filter sometimes.
“He’s not my friend. And neither are you.” Weasel came at me. He was surprisingly fast and efficient in his moves. I guess they’d been saving the best for last.
He grabbed me, and the force of his energy punched me like a sword in the gut. Coldness seeped through all my pores. The forest went still and dark around me. My stomach heaved and I fought to stay focused, to not vomit at his feet. A breeze ruffled my hair, and suddenly the light and sounds of the forest returned. My vision cleared, and Weasel started to fall backwards away from me, a small dagger protruding from his eye. I looked over my shoulder and saw
Alec perched on a rock. He locked eyes with me for a moment, relief naked in his gaze. Then he was running into the clearing, daggers flying from his hands. In moments, every shade was down. They would not be getting back up.
“Nice work, Bruce Lee. I was wondering when you’d show up,” Amber quipped.
Alec ignored her and strode directly to me. He cradled my face roughly in one hand.
“What the hell happened back there? You stopped fighting. Why? And why were you fighting in the first place? What about ‘stay here’ did you not understand?”
It was like being lectured by my mom when I fell out of a tree in Ireland and she couldn’t decide whether to be worried or mad. I couldn’t muster an ounce of irritation in response, not when Alec was touching me and all my endorphins were flowing after the fight.
I reached up and placed two fingers over his lips, a tiny shock going through me at the contact. “Shh. It’s okay.” I removed my fingers. “I’m okay.”
“But you-”
You know what they say about not starting relationships in life or death situations? Yeah. Screw it. My blood was coursing through my body furiously, pulling me to one source, and suddenly I understood what they meant when they called it the surge. Because that’s what it felt like, all the energy in my being, all my light, surging forward to crash into his like two ocean waves colliding. I reached around his head and pulled him down as I rose up to meet him, kissing him square on the lips.
For a moment, there was just the surge, the two forces of light connecting. The quiet before the storm. I had a split second to question the wisdom of what I’d just started. This was how tsunamis were made. And then he was pulling me to him, literally crashing into me. It was a kiss that poured every bit of his soul into mine, every moment of yearning I’d had for the last two days. It stole away every ounce of my resistance, every thought I had of why this couldn’t work, and set every fiber of my being on fire. Time stopped, and we restarted it. Better. Stronger. Brighter.
Amber started clapping.
We pulled apart, and the entire forest looked greener. More in focus. Yet I only had eyes for Alec. He stared at me in wonder.
“That was. Amazing,” I murmured as I tried to catch my breath.
“Woo hoo, Alec and the commander’s daughter, this is going to be awesome!” Amber laughed.
Alec’s face clouded and he backed away from me, dropping his hands from my arms. Just like that, the world was a colder, darker place to be in.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…I mean, we can’t-” he began.
“Hey, whatever, you didn’t do anything. Forget it.” I leaned down and grabbed the knife from Weasel’s eye, wiping it on the ground and sticking it in my boot. “If you don’t mind, I’ll keep this until you can deliver me to my father.”
“Siri, look, let’s talk.” He frowned at me like I was a stubborn toddler.
“Hey, there’s nothing to talk about. You’re just doing your job, and I have a darkling boyfriend, remember? Come on, Amber, let’s walk.” I turned to her and grabbed an arm, dragging her toward the cave. I whistled for Miko and he climbed up my jeans and into my bag. I refused to give Alec the satisfaction of turning around to see if he was coming.
After all, he had to follow.
It was his job.
