by Sarra Cannon
I lifted my chin. “I don’t know that,” I said. “And neither do you.”
Jackson took my face in his hands and stared deep into my eyes. “There’s so much more to this world than you realize,” he said. “And no matter how much I might want things to be different, we can’t count on having a future together.” He shook his head. “You just don’t understand.”
I swallowed and fought against the sting of tears. There it was. The one thing I didn’t want to hear from him. Not tonight. Not ever. I hadn’t lost hope yet.
“You could help me understand,” I said, my voice wavering. “You could tell me everything you know and we could sit down together and try to figure it out. We’ve got a year before I turn eighteen. There’s still time to find a way out of this.”
His green eyes searched mine in the moonlit shadows. There was so much pain in his eyes. “We’ve been over this a hundred times,” he said. “There’s no way to break the connection between a Prima and her demon without killing everyone.”
“How can you be so sure?” I asked. “If there’s a spell to transfer the Prima line from one family to another, then maybe-“
“It doesn’t mean anything,” he said sharply. He pulled his hand away from mine, and I immediately missed its warmth. “Besides, we didn’t find the books. Someone else got there first, remember? And since we aren’t even sure who that was, we don’t even know where to look for them. Not that there’s any guarantee we’d find anything in them that could help.”
I bit my lip, unsure what to say that might bring back the closeness we’d had on the boat. Crap. Why was I constantly ruining things between us? Every time we got closer, I had to start running my mouth. And things had been going so well tonight. Jackson had actually opened up to me about his life in the shadow world. But the walls were back up now.
“Why bring me out here, then?” I asked. “Why kiss me and open up to me about your homeland if you don’t think there’s any hope for us? If you don’t think there’s something between us that’s worth fighting for?”
“We should get home,” he said. He turned and walked off into the woods.
“Jackson, I’m not purposely trying to make this difficult,” I said, trying to catch up. There was no worn path out here and the woods were thick. “I just don’t think we should sit around and wait for the inevitable. I think we should fight to find a way out.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?” he said, walking faster. “Just sitting around doing nothing?”
“No, but I do think you’re still trying to do this alone,” I said. “I’m a part of this too, like it or not. I know you’ve carried this burden all by yourself for a long time and you haven’t found the answers yet, but that doesn’t mean-“
“Shhh.” Jackson stopped abruptly and held his hand out, motioning for me to be still. His eyes grew wide and he snapped his head from side to side.
I froze, instant fear paralyzing my limbs. I listened hard, but the only sounds I could hear were the crickets and frogs and the slight breeze whispering in the trees. On instinct, I looked up, searching the slivers of light for the flapping of crow wings. But the sky was empty.
“What is it?” I said so quietly I hardly heard myself.
If Jackson could really see in the dark, he had a huge advantage out here in the woods. If someone was here, he would be able to see them right?
We stood together in perfect stillness. The forest around us seemed to move in circles and everywhere I turned my head, the shadows stretched out into infinite black.
A twig snapped to my right and something whipped past my face so fast, I could feel the heat of it against my cheek. A bright arrow landed just a few feet away. Jackson grabbed my hand tight and pulled me forward.
“Run!” he yelled.
Beside us, purple flames spread out like waves. Footsteps sounded just behind me, and I pumped my legs faster. Thorns grabbed at my tights, ripping them to shreds. A scream lodged in my throat, and I tried to swallow down the fear. To push it deep down so that I could concentrate on running. On the warm, firm grip of Jackson’s hand as we ran.
With no clear path, we dodged in and out of the trees, several arrows zipping off to the right or to the left. I couldn’t see the ground, but we were running so fast, I almost felt as though we were flying.
In the back of my mind, I wondered if I should be trying to use my magic to defend myself. I could fly. Or go invisible. But both of those things took great concentration. I couldn’t do it. I was too afraid and there was no time to stop and collect myself.
Jackson cursed, then leapt over a fallen branch. I didn’t see it fast enough. My shin slammed into the wooden barrier. I stumbled forward, losing my hold on Jackson’s hand as I reached my palms out to break my fall. Sharp pain shot through my ankle when I tried to stand, and I cried out. In the darkness, Jackson reached for me, but as I extended my hand, another arrow zipped between us, landing straight up in the ground.
I scrambled backward, away from the heat of the flaming arrow. Another landed behind me with a thud, and I froze. More and more landed in succession, forming a box around me, pinning me to the spot. I stood, putting all of my weight on my uninjured leg, and turned in a circle as dark shapes emerged from the shadows. Six of them. All holding bows.
You Will Pay For This
Purple ropes of light sprang forth from arrows on either side of my body. They whipped toward me, wrapping around my wrists three times. I struggled to yank myself free, but the bindings held tight, cutting deep into my wrists. I screamed Jackson’s name, but when I looked toward him, I could tell he was surrounded too.
“Harper,” he shouted. “Are you alright?”
“Yes,” I said. “But I’m boxed in.”
The flames from the arrows were so bright they hurt my eyes. I could barely see past the purplish light. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck from the heat.
“What do you want from us?” I shouted.
No response. The dark forms moved closer, encircling me. I saw now why I hadn’t been able to make out any of their faces. They were all wearing masks. Black, faceless masks with nothing more than a long slit where their eyes should be. Each of them had long, shaggy hair caked in mud and matted to their heads. Definitely not your average person on the street. But who?
I’d been worried about the Others ever since I saw the guy watching me through the window the other day. But this was different. I didn’t think these people had anything to do with the Others.
The figures lowered their bows and just stood there, staring blankly toward me, as if waiting for someone to tell them what to do. I just needed a second to think. There had to be a way out of this mess. We’d faced worse, right? I had to think.
As long as these arrows burned, we were trapped here. But how to put them out? Their fire wasn’t typical, but maybe water would douse them. I needed water. Lots of water.
My ankle throbbed and pulsed within my boot, but I pushed the pain out of my mind. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine complete darkness. A butterfly’s wings moving gently back and forth against the nothingness. I planted my feet firmly on the ground, ignoring the pain as my body connected to an ancient power that ran up from the earth and into my veins.
I turned my palms to the sky, lifting my chin toward the canopy of trees above. I opened my heart and let my emotions pour from my body. Every sad and angry thought I’d ever had bubbled to the surface. I thought of the day the Order would take Jackson from me forever, forcing me to bond with Aerden’s spirit. I thought of the way my mother died at the hands of an evil crow. And finally, the tears came.
A cold drop of rain fell against my cheek, then slid down my neck and into the fabric of my sweater. I opened my eyes, waiting for the rain to extinguish my prison of flames. I watched in hungry anticipation, begging the flames to go out so I could make a run for it. But nothing happened. The rain fell in sheets, drenching the area around us, and the flames burned on.
“It’
s not working,” I said to Jackson, hoping he could hear me. Hoping he had a better idea.
I shivered violently, my teeth chattered. I took a deep breath and willed the rain to stop. Just as suddenly as it had come, the downpour stopped.
“A nice trick,” a woman’s voice said. “Cute, but pointless. If you were a more talented witch, you would know that magical fire can’t be put out with water.”
I jerked my head toward the sound, squinting through the brilliant light to make her out. She wore a shiny blue mask, but instead of matted hair, she had long wavy brown hair that fell to her waist.
“Who are you?” I said.
“You don’t know me,” she said, stepping closer. “But I know you.”
Great. That’s helpful.
My whole body shook from the cold. My clothes hung limp on my body. Yet this woman looked untouched. Not a drop of water on her.
“Get away from her,” Jackson said. His voice was a rough growl.
The woman laughed. “What are you going to do about it, demon? You haven’t had powers for years, so don’t pretend to be all big and bad. You’ll only make yourself look foolish.”
I raised an eyebrow. Whoever she was, she knew about Jackson and his history in this town. Too bad for her, she didn’t know he had his powers back. Right about now, I wished I understood what all those powers were exactly. Was he as helpless as I was? Or just biding his time until the right moment to strike?
“As for you, dear little Harper, I’m afraid your time has come,” she said. “It’s nothing personal, you understand. This is purely business.”
Fear spread across my skin like an army of marching ants. How many times could a girl like me really avoid certain death? I felt like a cat on its ninth life.
The woman in the blue mask reached into the large black bag she carried. The glint of silver twisted my stomach. A ritual dagger. This crazy witch was going to kill me.
“You better kill me first, witch,” Jackson said. “Because if you hurt her in any way, I’ll turn the rest of your pitiful life into the worst nightmare imaginable.”
“And how exactly do you plan to do that?” The woman shook her head. “Prank calls to my house late at night? Scary.”
“Actually, I was thinking of something more like this.”
A blinding light flashed, and I closed my eyes to shield them from the blaze. Freezing cold wind blew across the bare skin of my hands and face. The crackling of ice sounded all around me, and I opened my eyes to find the woods around us completely transformed. The purple flames were frozen solid and the ground was covered in a layer of white frost. I watched with wide eyes as the purple ropes around my wrists iced over. I looked at Jackson in awe. He had definitely been holding out on me.
As the frost spread, the matted creatures became frozen solid like ice sculptures. The witch stood there staring, still clutching the ritual dagger in her hand. She shook her head back and forth, faster and faster. Every muscle in her body tensed and twitched.
“You,” she said, her voice high and shrill like a banshee. “You will pay for this.”
She lunged toward Jackson, dagger first. I threw my body forward, breaking free of the ice chains that held my wrists. The ropes fell away and shattered on the ground. I kicked hard against the frozen arrows, desperate to reach Jackson before the witch.
The scene played out before me in a blur. Moonlight glinted off the silver of the dagger as she ran. Her footsteps crunched hard against the snowy floor of the forest. I screamed out as she reached him, plunging the dagger straight into his heart.
A New Purpose
In that one moment, I felt the earth fall from beneath my feet and swallow me in its darkness. Every piece of my soul screamed out in pain. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized just how deeply and completely I cared for Jackson.
As the dagger reached his chest, his body disappeared into a swirling mist of dark smoke. The dagger hung in the air and the witch fell backward, whimpering and laughing at the same time. The crazy screeches of a girl gone mad. I collapsed, unable to hold myself up. He couldn’t be dead. I didn’t think I could face this alone. I felt empty.
The dark mist fell away, dissolving into the ground. The silver ritual dagger landed with a clank against the icy shards of broken arrows and flames. All I wanted was to feel the cold metal against my hand. I wanted to stab it into the heart of the witch. I willed my legs to work, my eyes focused on that glint of silver. I stood on shaky legs. A newborn fawn. A new purpose. Revenge in my heart.
I moved like a zombie. Eyes blank and staring. Body stiff and cold. And just as I reached for the dagger, my hand closed over warm flesh. I jerked my head up. Had the witch beat me to it?
But instead of a masked witch, I stared into the purest green eyes.
Jackson? But how? Tears sprang to my eyes, and I sucked in a ragged breath that burned my lungs. His gaze was confident. Loving. Apologetic. He pulled his hand from mine, stood, then threw the dagger in a perfect line straight into the stomach of the witch.
She let out a single, high-pitched scream, her hands closing over the cold weapon as if she could pull it from her body. She stumbled back against a tree, then sank to the ground, blood pouring from the wound and coating her black dress with a sticky slickness. Her body jerked twice, then went still.
I looked up at Jackson. Was he real? Everything was a dream, and I felt numb. Afraid to hope.
He kneeled beside me, pulled me into his arms. “Are you alright?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but my voice wouldn’t work. A sob escaped my throat and I threw my face into his chest.
“I’m sorry, Harper,” he said. “I never should have brought you out here. It was a stupid idea.”
“I thought you were dead,” I said, my lips trembling. “The dagger. I saw it cut through you. When you turned to smoke, I thought…”
“Look at me,” he said. Jackson held my shoulders and ducked his head to meet my gaze. “Do I look dead to you?”
I laughed and cried at the same time. “No.” I shook my head in disbelief. “But how?”
He hugged me close again and I melted into him. “I shifted before she reached me,” he said. “Into shadow form.”
“I didn’t even know you could do that,” I said. I wiped tears from my cheek and smacked him on the arm. I had never felt so relieved in my life. “Why didn’t you tell me you could do that?”
Jackson winced and pretended to cradle his arm. “I guess my secret’s out at this point.”
“What about them?” I asked, staring at the frozen sculptures, their bows suspended in ice.
“Harmless now that the witch is dead,” he said. “Watch.”
He walked over to the nearest man and used both hands to topple it over backward into a tree. The ice shattered and broken pieces fell to the ground. I stood up and stared down at the mess.
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“These were ghouls,” he said. “They can be conjured from another realm or raised from the dead, but as soon as the witch that commands them dies, they turn to dust.”
“And the witch?” I asked. “Who is she?”
We turned in unison, and I jumped back in fear. The witch’s body was gone.
We Don’t Have Much Time
Blood seeped into the ground and covered the trunk of the tree where the witch had fallen. But where did she go? Jackson pulled me close.
“She was dead,” he said. “I’m almost positive of it.”
“So how is she gone? Wouldn’t we have seen her if she just got up and walked away?”
“Something strange is definitely going on here,” he said, his eyes surveying the woods around us. “We should get out of here as soon as possible.”
I had no problem with that. I was ready to leave the second I saw the purple arrow fly by my head. But when I tried to head back toward Shadowford, Jackson hesitated. He bit his lower lip and had worried creases around his eyes.
“What is it?” I ask
ed. “I thought we were leaving?”
“Harper, look at this place,” he said. He stretched his arms out and turned around. “We can’t leave it like this.”
For the first time since the fight broke out, I took a good look at the area around us. The ice was melting into the ground, leaving it slightly soggy, but that part would dry up by morning. It was the part underneath the ice and around the edges of our fighting area that were destroyed.
I held my palm even with my chest and conjured a small orb of pure white light.
“Don’t,” Jackson said, taking a step toward me.
I shook my head. “I want to see,” I said.
Jackson backed away, giving me space. I walked around the edges of the area, taking in the severity of the damage. Every bit of undergrowth was gone. Even the grass and weeds underneath the pine needles were gone. In places where the ice had melted, I could see nothing but scorched earth, as if a fire had ravaged the area instead of an ice storm. The trees that were hit the hardest were decomposed and rotten. Their limbs were bare and dry. Anything that had been living and thriving when we got here was now dead and decaying.
“What caused this?” I asked, trembling. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.
“Me,” he said simply.
I turned to study him. “You?” I asked. “You mean the ice stuff you did?”
He shook his head and began to pace. “Not exactly,” he said. “Yes and no, I mean. It’s complicated.”
He ran a hand through his hair, and I waited for him to keep going. He’d been avoiding telling me about his powers for the past couple of weeks, but after tonight, there was no hiding the truth.
“You’ve already told me how you got your powers back,” I said. “Is it really that much of a stretch to explain to me how it works?”
“We don’t have much time,” he said. “I promise I’ll explain it all to you later, but we can’t leave this looking so scarred. It leaves too much evidence of my powers. If the Order finds this, they’ll know. I can’t risk it.”
