Through the Windshield Glass

by Kristen Day

  The demon pricked his own palm, removed Kinga's glove and traced his own black blood into the wound he had inflicted. It sizzled and I smelled burning flesh.　The demon smiled evilly one last time and bowed.

  "My queen," he said to her. Then he turned and looked directly at me, "For now."

  In an instant he was gone, the force holding our party in place dissipated and we all rushed toward Kinga as she collapsed to the earth.

  "Catch him," she croaked.

  "We can't Kinga," Michael said desperately, "He's gone, we need to take care of you! Katelyn, we need your help!"

  Katelyn came rushing form the tent with Leigh in hot pursuit.

  "What's wrong?" Leigh cried.

  "Aida," Kinga said weakly, "Get-- tent--"

  Kinga was slowly losing consciousness and　I knew that Leigh would attempt to stay unless I made it clear she was unwelcome.

  "Leigh!" I shouted angrily. I was kneeling next to Kinga's injured leg and I yelled as I attempted to tie a tourniquet with a piece of ripped shirt Roman had provided, "Get back inside the tent, now! Keep Maria in there, don't leave for any reason! You can't be out here!"

  Leigh was obviously taken aback by my forcefulness, I glanced up from my work and saw tears shine in her eyes before she flipped around and raced back inside the protection of the tent.

  "Kinga, stay awake!" Katelyn commanded, "You need to get that poison out of you! Sit up!"

  Katelyn forced Kinga into a sitting position and pressed on her stomach. Within seconds the demon poison was pouring from Kinga's mouth onto the dirt. Just as Danny's blood had,　the tar absorbed instantly.

  Tourniquet tied I looked back to see Scarlett sitting on the dirt, staring in paralytic fear at the scene in front of her.

  "Scarlett," I said. I startled her from her terror, "Get up, do something, anything. Get dressed, start making breakfast and let's get moving. That creature knows where we are now, we need to leave. Go!"

  Scarlett scuttled to her feet and turned around in a few circles before finally deciding to go back to her tent and dress first.

  I returned to the group surrounding Kinga. She had managed to expel all of the poison and was already trying to give orders again.

  "Cut off my hand," Kinga said to Roan.

  "You're just in shock, Kinga," Roan said, "Cutting off your hand isn't going to help the pain."

  "I am not in shock!" Kinga screamed. It was the first time I had ever seen her lose control, "I will not become one of them! Michael, I will not become one of them! Now do as I say! Heat the sword and cut off my hand!"

  Kinga punctuated the last four words dramatically.

  "It's not going to help," Michael said, "The bloods have already mixed and the pois--"

  "The poison is out of me and I want my hand off!" Kinga repeated, "If you don't do it quickly you're going to have to take the whole arm!"

  Roan hurried over to the fire that had been going all night and thrust his sword into the coals. I watched Michael tie another tourniquet around Kinga's elbow. He was much more adept than I was and I knew the knot was much more effective.

  Finally, Roan came over with his sword blazing red.

  "Are you cer--" Roan began, but Kinga cut him off.

  "Just do it!"

  Kinga laid her arm out in position, "Right below the elbow, Roan," Kinga said calmly. The group cleared away and Roan raised his sword. I looked away at the last second, but the sound of metal meeting bone was unmistakable. The sound was sickening and the smell of burning flesh filled the air again.

  Still, Kinga did not utter a single noise of pain. She simply breathed heavily through her nose, blinked her eyes and asked to be left alone.

  I turned to go find my tent and saw Scarlett standing agape at what she had just seen. Obviously, she had poked her head out of her tent just in time to see her brother mutilate Kinga's arm. I realized I didn't have any more energy to try to pull her from her shock, so I left her there for someone else to deal with.

  Roman and Avery went off into the trees to bury Kinga's hand. While Katelyn and Michael moved Kinga into　a tent of her own. I could hear them talking in low voices as they worked on her injuries. It was apparent that she lost consciousness as I walked past because Katelyn sighed in relief and said, "At least now she won't be telling me I'm healing her wrong."

  I walked into my tent and saw Leigh and Maria curled up together in a corner, "I'm sorry I yelled at you," I said to Leigh, "You were lucky you didn't have to see that."

  "Is Kinga going to be okay?" Leigh asked tearfully.

  "Okay?" Maria repeated.

  "Yes," I said, although I wasn't sure. I suddenly remembered a similar conversation with my mother, "I think she will be."

  I slumped onto my bedroll and fell asleep again within seconds.

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  When Leigh shook me awake I knew everything that I had seen must have been a dream. Leigh was just waking me up now to tell me it was time to go and that I had overslept.

  I sat up, rubbed my eyes and pulled my hair out of its ponytail. I yawned widely, stretched my back and scratched the hair headache out of my head. My hair fell over my face and I was sure Leigh would giggle at the sight, when she didn’t I was alarmed.

  I swept the hair out of my face and stared up at her. She was just short enough to be able to stand up comfortably in the tent. She was mimicking Kinga's favorite stance with a slight moderation. Instead of her hands being clasped behind her back, they were resting on her hips. It would have been comical had Leigh's face not been so grave.

  "What's wrong?" I asked, "I'm sorry if I overslept, I'll get ready fast."

  "You didn't oversleep, we're not leaving, Kinga wants to see you," Leigh said.

  "I'm still dreaming," I muttered, "Kinga's not here, Leigh, stop it."

  "She is here and she's hurt really badly, she wants to see you," Leigh's voice quavered and I realized that not even in my wildest dreams would I have imagined her voice to sound like that. It left only one explanation, everything I had seen was reality.

  "Okay, just a minute. Let me get looking halfway decent. Why don't you help Maria get dressed?"

  "She's already dressed," Leigh said, "She's outside with Katelyn."

  I nodded and started putting my hair back again, "Why does she want to see me anyway?"

  "She's asking to see everyone who came with Michael," Leigh said. I could tell there was more Leigh wanted to say but she kept herself from doing so.

  "All right, let's go," I said, but Leigh looked at me skeptically.

  "You have blood all over you, you should probably change," Leigh said.

  I looked down and realized she was right. There was dried blood all over my jeans and t-shirt, not to mention caked on my hands.

  "Urg," I said. I held back a dry heave and asked Leigh to get me something wet to wipe down my hands with.

  While Leigh was gone I changed into fresh clothes and tried not to look at my hands as I did so. Leigh finally returned with a wetted down tee shirt and started helping me get the blood off my hands, face, and even neck. I don't know how it all got there. I must have been in shock after I helped with Kinga's injuries, and then I went to sleep with blood on my hands. I looked on my bedroll and was glad to see that I had managed to keep it clean.

  Finally, Leigh deemed me presentable and I left the tent. It was easy to tell which tent Kinga was in, she had been moved but Michael was standing outside with Roman's shotgun.

  I couldn't help but think how futile it was to stand guard. One demon had managed to freeze more than ten people where they stood; it wouldn't take much to get past Michael and his shotgun.

  Michael stood aside and let me enter the tent. Kinga was propped up against the tent wall. Katelyn was kneeling next to her trying to talk her into eating something.

  "Not until I know," Kinga whispered fiercely, and then she looked at me. Yikes.

  "Sit down, Ira," Kinga said.

  "It's Alice," I protested defian
tly. Kinga didn't seem to care, that was my first turn on that something more than injuries was wrong with her.

  "Let me see your palm," Kinga continued. I held out my hand without the mark on it and Kinga looked at it disdainfully, "The other palm."

  I held that one out sheepishly, "It looks just like yours did," I said. I wished I hadn't drawn attention to the fact that Kinga was now one arm short, but it was already out and Kinga didn't seem to mind.

  "I understand that, but I wanted to make sure it was still black," Kinga said, "Just before that demon turned up my hand burned and the circle glowed red. Did that happen to you?"

  I shook my head, "No, I was just--" I stopped before revealing that I had been with Michael.

  "I know you were with Beau, he has already told me the two of you were walking the perimeter of the clearing to check for potential threats. Do not feel guilty that you did not see that demon; he wasn't there until I entered the clearing. I would've known. Alecsander will soon know we are here, I have already advised Michael that we should turn around and--"

  "We can't turn around!" I shouted, "Daman knows where the compound is, he knows how to get there and he will hurt everyone there to get to me and you! He already hurt Maria once, I won't let it happen again, and I won't let him get to Leigh. Our best option is to continue with the plan we were trying. We have to strike first or Daman will have the advantage and we will never have another chance!"

  Kinga was taken aback, but as always, she quickly recovered, "Alecsander, Perdita, and Aida," she said forcefully, "Use their new names! You do not know the power you wield in using a given name."

  "What difference does it make now?" I asked, "We think it can be an asset, why not use any advantage we can get?"

  "You don't understand," Kinga said.

  "Then enlighten me," I almost screamed.

  "It's unimportant," Kinga replied vaguely. For the first time she wouldn't meet my eyes and it gave me courage to move on.

  "Are you so disappointed with yourself that you have to keep creating new aliases to start over? Because to me it seems like the only reason people aren't allowed to be themselves here is because the woman they're following is too afraid of her own past!”

  The words were out and I knew there was no way to take them back. I didn't want to either, I was done being afraid of Kinga, I was done waiting for permission to speak against her, and I was done not speaking my mind.

  "I am not afraid of my past," Kinga insisted quietly, "Others are, that's why--"

  "Sure, sure, others are afraid of their past, but so are you! You don't want to remember being a slave so you leaped at the opportunity for a new identity. You had probably already forgotten most of your old life and Daman saw that as an asset. Your fear gave our enemy his biggest weapon!"

  Kinga's jaw dropped, Katelyn gasped and dropped the bandages she had been about to wrap around the blunt end of Kinga's arm, Michael poked his head in and the sounds of work outside ceased.

  My voice had risen to dangerous levels, had we been inside it would have echoed for ages. Instead, it permeated the thin walls of the tent, knocked the wood of the trees, and stunned anyone within earshot.

  "Alecsander is simply the name my husband wishes to go by," Kinga said. I noticed her swiftly blink away tears and a twinge of guilt almost made me apologize, but I resisted, "Names are not weapons, they are tools to make a better life than the ones we lived."

  "Yes," I said indignantly, "Because my life as Ira the Watchful is so much better than it was when I was Alice Patterson!"

  "You ungratefu--" Kinga broke off and screamed in violent agony. Michael moved fully into the tent and knocked me aside.

  "Fight it, Kinga!" Michael shouted, "It's a choice, you can fight it!"

  "I can't!" Kinga screamed, "It's in me, we didn't stop it soon enough!”

  Kinga grabbed a handful of Michael's shirt with her remaining hand and brought her face level with his. I gasped when I realized her eyes were completely black, "He's taking me, I will not　be the cause of more deaths! I will not!”

  A deafening bang sounded, Kinga flew backwards, for half a second her body was frozen in the air, her mouth opened wide in torment. One eye looked normal, the other was still black. Finally, she landed back on the ground. Her stomach was ripped open, but she was still bleeding red mixed with poisonous black.

  "You were right, Alice," Kinga gasped, "I was afraid."

  Kinga looked at Michael, mouthed 'thank you', and fell silent for the last time. Michael dropped the shotgun he had used to end Kinga’s life and left the tent.

  Quietly, Katelyn took a blanket from the bedroll she was sitting on and draped it over Kinga's once strong, now emaciated body. I stayed long enough to make sure Katelyn was all right I ran out after Michael. I knew where he would be.

  Chapter Forty

  I looked up into the tree and I could just make out the sole of Michael's boot in the foliage. As silently as I could, I climbed. As I neared him I made sure to make some noise so I wouldn't frighten him into falling.

  "Did you love her?" I asked from ten feet below him.

  Michael laughed harshly, "No," he said, "There was a time--, but no, not anymore.”

  “You watched that same thing happen to Daman didn’t you?” Thankfully, I didn’t have to clarify what I had meant.

  “I wish I had known that he chose to die, and chose to change, I would've killed him and none of this would have ever happened."

  Despite his efforts to keep it hidden, I knew Michael had been crying before I had reached him, "I don't think you would have, he was your brother."

  "He ended my life!" Michael shouted. Birds fled from the top of the tree and a squirrel froze a few feet above us, "He pulled me back down into that hole, I might still be alive if it weren't for him I could've gone back home."

  "Would it have been home without your brother?" I asked quietly.

  Michael looked down at me with a peculiar stare, "What do you mean?"

  "After James got married and moved away my house didn't feel like home anymore. I never thought I'd really lose him like this, but now I know if he had died first I would have never been the same again," I said. I found it strange that I didn’t feel like crying about it anymore.

  I knew Michael still wanted to be alone, but I was afraid if I left him for too long his mood would go from depressed to self-destructive, so I scaled the last ten feet and stood on the branch he was sitting on. I hugged the trunk of the tree with one hand and smoothed a loose hair of my ponytail back down.

  Michael was covered in Kinga's blood. The black poison had burned holes through his gray jacket and the red had stained it in a dazzling pattern. His face was speckled mostly with red, but a few spots of black had hit him there too, leaving behind small, angry, circular burns.

  "Scoot over," I said to Michael. He did, the branch was wide and sturdy enough for both of us to sit on comfortably. I turned sideways, straddling the limb and asked Michael for his jacket. He complied with a blank look on his face. He was staring into the foliage of a neighboring tree and didn't seem to be aware of me at all.

  I turned the jacket inside out and spat on a corner a few times until it was wet enough to scrub with. I grabbed Michael's jaw, turned his head towards me, and began dabbing at the blood on his face. He winced a little when I touched the burns, but that was the only show of feeling that I got from him.

  "Sorry," I said every time I brushed a burn. I finished with his face and moved to his neck. His black shirt was untouched, at least by demon blood, so I didn't bother to check for any mess there.

  I moved to his hands which were worse than his face. Most of the blood was congealed already. I swallowed bile several times while I wiped his hands clean and whispered 'sorry' dozens of times as I did so.

  When I finished I dropped the jacket onto a lower bough and we sat in silence as the sun began to set. Stars burst through the sheer film of day and blanketed the world in night.

  "We should go back
to camp," I whispered, "Everyone will be wondering where we are, we have to bury Kinga, and I think it's my turn to cook."

  I stood and offered my hand to Michael to help him up. When he was standing he was incredibly close to me, barely three inches away from my nose.

  "We should hurry," I breathed. I made to move down the tree, but Michael stopped me. Our noses were barely an inch apart now. I could feel his breath on my mouth, but it wasn't the same as Daman's.

  There was nothing menacing in the way Michael was looking at me, he was hardly looking at me at all, more like through me. He was looking into my eyes, there was still sadness there, but something else too, a look I couldn't quite place. Michael closed the gap between our mouths.

  My eyes closed of their own volition and I was violently aware of how amazing it felt to be kissed for real, by someone I trusted, by someone I was falling for and not being forced into for a game.

  The kiss was tender, Michael's fingers curled against my chin and as he pulled away he brushed a hair behind my ear.

  "It's my turn to cook," I breathed. As soon as Michael had pulled away I realized how dangerous it had been to let him do that. I couldn't let it happen again.

  "Don't you dare die," Michael replied.

  "It's my turn to cook," I said again, more insistently this time. Michael looked confused.

  "Is that all you can say? Was it that bad?" Michael was trying to be charming, but I couldn't let him prevail on me.

  "What do you think happens to the people who don't choose to leave here?" I asked. I had to change the subject or risk letting myself reach for Michael again.

  I searched Michael's face and tried to ignore how the setting sun cast a red glow over his cheeks and distressed every beautiful line of his face. I fought back the urge to run from the tree like a frightened animal and waited for Michael's reaction.

  "I don't know. Maybe they go to the same place, maybe they start over, or maybe they have to wait for someone to help them. I try not to think about it," Michael admitted. He was looking at my mouth again. I pulled my lips in and looked away at the sunset.