Uprising (Alternate Earth Series, Book 2)

by S. J. West

  “I wasn’t good enough for you,” she says, her voice cracking with emotion and honesty. “When I held you in my arms that first time, I knew you were someone special who deserved to be raised by a person who would help you reach your full potential. I couldn’t be that person for you. I wasn’t even able to look after myself at the time. I depended on Remy to take care of me. I knew that if I was ever going to be a mother who deserved you, I would need to learn how to take care of myself first.”

  “Did you ever look for me after you left?” Leah asks, allowing herself to finally cry in front of her mother.

  “I did,” Xiulan says as tears spill down her cheeks too. I could tell she hoped her answer gave Leah some form of comfort. “A year later I tried to find where you and Remy had gone, but I could not find you anywhere. I spent another year searching, but soon realized he had taken you somewhere so safe even I couldn’t locate you.”

  “How did you end up here in China?” Leah asks.

  “I was fortunate enough to find work as a nanny to a kind Chinese couple in Los Angeles. They took me in and treated me like a member of their own family. It was through them that I found a way back to China, and to the same village I was born in back on our Earth. For whatever reason, my parents never existed in this reality, so I wasn’t able to reunite with them. I bought a house in the village at the base of this mountain, and found work bringing supplies up to the monks twice a week. It was by pure chance that I was here making a delivery when the attacks began.”

  Leah doesn’t say anything else, just looks at her mother, as if she’s uncertain what to do next. To break the tension, I decide to change the subject slightly.

  “Do you know if the birds have attacked your village?” I ask Xiulan.

  “I assume so,” she says, looking troubled by the possibility. “I only stayed here at the monastery because the empress asked for my help in caring for the monks. As soon as she doesn’t require my assistance anymore, I plan to go home to see if anyone there needs my help.”

  “Do you have a family down there?” Leah asks, her voice strained. “Do you have other children?”

  Xiulan is quick to shake her head. “No. You are my one and only child. I have spent my life in service to others to repent for my sins. I knew that, if I ever did meet you again, I wanted to show you that my life was spent trying to atone for what I did. Simply saying that I am sorry for leaving you would have been an empty sentiment. So I decided to dedicate my life to helping others. I wanted to prove to you that I was a person worth having back in your life. I regret so much that I have done, but you are not one of them. You were a Godsend during a time I needed it the most, but I was too selfish to understand it at the time. I ask only that you give me a chance to prove how much I have changed. I will understand if you cannot do that. You owe me nothing, and should not feel as though you do.”

  As Leah stands there and considers her mother’s heartfelt request, I faintly notice that the room is no longer filled with sunlight. I assume it’s just a cloud passing over the sun, until I hear the screeching of the birds.

  Instinctively, all three of us turn our heads to look out the windows facing to the east. A large flock of birds undulates through the sky, heading directly for the pavilion.

  “Jess…” Leah says in alarm.

  I look back at her. “This isn’t exactly the way I wanted it to go, but we need to try now, Leah. Are you ready?”

  Leah looks back out the window at the rapidly-approaching swarm before taking a deep breath and nodding her head, even if the action is somewhat reluctant.

  “You need to hide,” I tell Xiulan urgently. “I don’t know if they can break through this glass or not, but let’s just assume that they can.”

  Xiulan nods and runs to a corner of the room to stand in the shelter of the gold- painted walls, safely away from the windows. I’m not sure how much that will help, but it’s better than doing nothing. I seriously doubt she has time to reach the temple, and I don’t want her trapped on the exposed walkway between the two buildings.

  Leah and I walk out the door of the pavilion to stand on the wooden platform that surrounds it.

  “How far can your fire reach?” I ask Leah as we watch the flock’s ominous advance.

  “Two thousand feet,” Leah says confidently. “Josh and I tested it once. It was as far as my flames could reach, using my staff.”

  “Ok,” I say, having hoped her range was more like a mile. “I suggest we both go invisible in case this doesn’t work. Let’s just hope they can’t see us.”

  When we’re both invisible, Leah points her staff directly at the oncoming cluster of birds. As I study their approach, I have to admit that I’m scared. My heart is beating so fast I have to increase the pace of my breathing just to keep up with it. As they get closer, the screeching becomes deafening, filling the air with deadly intent. Their unnatural, glowing white eyes don’t help matters much either. It just adds to their unholy creepiness.

  Leah grabs one of my hands for added support, before she calls on her power and releases a long stream of fire from her staff. I cross my fingers, praying that our little experiment works. As I watch expectantly, I see the birds fly right through Leah’s fire like it isn’t even there, and, worse of all, they change their trajectory slightly downward, heading straight for us.

  “Crap.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  “I think they can see us!” Leah yells to me over the ear-piercing shriek of the birds, pulling back her flame since it’s obviously not having any effect on them.

  “Jess!” I hear Mason scream.

  I look behind us to see my husband and Daniel running on the walkway, desperately trying to reach us before the birds do. Obviously, Daniel has never been up to this particular pavilion before, or he would have just phased to us.

  “Go back!” I scream at them, having already come up with my own plan of action.

  I instantly grab Leah around her waist and order her to, “Hold on!”

  As she wraps arm around my back, I fly us straight up into the air like a rocket, a second before the flock reaches us. I look down long enough to see them crash through the glass of the pavilion. I send out a silent prayer that Leah’s mother isn’t harmed, but immediately return my attention to the task at hand. I end up wondering if my prayer is being answered when I notice that the flock changes its course. To me, they look like thousands of very tiny, pissed-off, heat-seeking missiles as they veer up from the temple grounds and head straight for us.

  “Crap!” I exclaim, leaning us to the right and flying away from danger as rapidly as I can.

  Over the past few years, I’ve become quit adept at flying, one of Michael’s gifts to me. I use everything within my arsenal of practiced techniques to maneuver us away from the drove of birds doggedly following our trail. Unfortunately, they prove to be tenacious in their pursuit, even as I weave in between the mountains to lose them.

  “Jess…” I hear Michael say inside my mind. “Combine the flame of your sword with Leah’s fire, like you did to forge the daggers.”

  “Do you think that will work?”

  “I don’t know, but you need to try something before they reach you. They’re catching up fast.”

  I chance a look behind me, and see that Michael is right. The birds are definitely gaining ground.

  “I need you to fly us,” I tell Michael. “Position us behind a mountain so they have to slow down to make the turn. Maybe it’ll give us enough time to catch them off-guard.”

  While Michael takes partial control of my body, I reach over my shoulder to grab the hilt of my sword. Leah’s eyes follow my motion. I see a look of understanding pass across her features as she figures out what we need to do next. I always knew she was a smart cookie.

  As Michael zooms us around a mountain, he brings us to a halt just on the other side of it, as I requested. Without me having to say anything, Leah points her staff out to the point where the birds will have to fly around the mounta
in as I pull my sword out of its sheath. When my flaming sword meets Leah’s stream of fire, the flames crackle with electricity as they turn blue, burning with the strength of Heaven itself behind it.

  When the flock of birds flies around the mountain, they’re met with the combined power of our fire. As the first wave of birds encounters our flame, it seems to catch like wildfire, swiftly consuming those directly behind them. In a matter of seconds, nothing is left of the birds, not even ash. It’s almost like they never existed.

  “I can’t believe that worked,” I say, in complete astonishment.

  “Me neither,” Leah says, just as shocked.

  “I never had any doubt,” Michaels says, rather smugly, inside my head.

  “That was sheer brilliance, Jess!” Leah praises.

  “I wish I could take the credit,” I tell her. “Michael is the one who came up with the idea.”

  “Let him know how brilliant I think he is, then,” Leah says.

  “Don’t worry,” I assure her. “He knows. He’s doing the equivalent of puffing out his chest in my brain.”

  “I am not,” Michael says, trying to sound offended.

  “Yeah, you are,” I tell him, “but you have a right to. It was a brilliant plan. Now we know how to kill those little bastards. It’s one of the few good things that have happened since we got here.”

  “One step at a time, Jess,” Michael says, understanding how frustrated I’ve felt that we haven’t been able to do more to help the people of alternate Earth.

  “Hopefully, this will be one giant step forward,” I reply as Michael returns full control of my body to me.

  “Let’s get back to the temple,” I tell Leah. “If you and I will be flying around, trying to save the world, we need to figure out a better way for you to fly with me.”

  “Agreed,” Leah says, tightening her hold around my back. “This definitely isn’t very comfortable. I could have sworn Mason said flying with you was enjoyable.”

  Leah’s statement brings a flush of warmth to my cheeks. Thankfully, she doesn’t know it’s one of our favorite ways to make love, and I’m certainly not going to divulge that intimate piece of information to her.

  “Hold on to me,” I tell her. “We’ll figure something out.”

  When we reach the temple, our friends are standing in the courtyard, anxiously awaiting our return. I barely have my feet on the ground before Mason has me wrapped in his arms.

  “Woman,” he says, holding me tightly to him, “why do you insist on scaring me half to death all the time?”

  “I swear it’s not on purpose,” I declare, hugging my husband back just as fiercely as his warmth brings me some much-needed comfort.

  Mason takes a step back, looking me up and down.

  “Did they peck or scratch you?” he asks in worry.

  “No. We’re both fine. They never got that close.” I look to everyone else and announce proudly, “We found a way to kill them.”

  I go on to explain what the combined strength of Leah’s fire and my sword was able to do.

  “Does this mean we can destroy anything with our flame?” Leah asks.

  “I don’t think that’s how it works,” Malcolm says. “I assume it’s destroying the birds because they’re not of this world anymore. They’re essentially being controlled by whatever evil power was unleashed by opening the fourth seal. I think the meeting of that energy with yours is what’s causing them to completely vanish from existence.”

  “Malcolm’s probably right or, at least close to the true reason,” Mason says. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to make the daggers using your combined fire.”

  “I don’t really care what the reason is. I’m just glad we found something that works. I know we can’t help everyone in every city,” I say, not so delusional that I think we can save the world from the birds, “but we can at least stop some of them. Rafe, did you have any luck with the monks?”

  From the drawn expression on Rafe’s face, I know the answer before he even says it.

  “No. I wasn’t able to help them, but I think I know the reason why.”

  “Is this going to be an answer I want to hear?” I ask, my bones telling me that it won’t be.

  “Probably not,” Rafe confirms. “Do you remember what our Lucifer did to the princes who defied him, especially when it came to attacking you?”

  “Of course I do,” I say, shivering slightly at the memory. “Lucifer trapped their souls in the bodies they inhabited, and then killed them so they had to live inside a rotting human corpse.”

  With a heavy sigh, Rafe says, “The reason I can’t heal the monks is because their bodies are already dead. Whatever the birds are doing, it seems to be trapping their souls, and not allowing them to move on to Heaven or Hell.”

  “That’s horrible,” Jai Lin says, lifting a trembling hand to her lips as tears shimmer in her eyes. Brand places a comforting arm around her shoulders. “I’ve known these men for many years. They don’t deserve such an existence. Is there anything we can do for them?”

  “With the princes,” Malcolm says, “Lucifer was the one who had to release their souls from the bodies.”

  “Well, I don’t see Lucian being that generous,” Daniel says with certainty. “But, what about your Lucifer? Would he be willing to help us?”

  “Honestly?” I say. “I don’t think we have a hope in hell of that happening either.”

  “He might,” Mason says, looking meaningfully at me, “if you asked him to, Jess.”

  “We don’t even know where he is,” I reply, thinking this a good enough reason to drop the subject of seeking Lucifer’s help.

  “Noel is still trying to locate him for you,” Brand informs me. “I’ll tell her that finding him is even more crucial now. I don’t think she was in too much of a rush, since it will probably be a while before you return to your Earth. Maybe she can figure out a way to hasten her search.”

  “Tell her not to put her life in any danger just because we ‘think’ Lucifer might be able to help the infected,” I say. “Like I said, I don’t think the odds are in our favor where he’s concerned. Lucifer doesn’t do a lot, unless there’s something in it for him.”

  “It’s worth a shot,” Brand says, with a small shrug. “We don’t seem to have a lot of other options open to us at the moment. You wanted him found, and now we have another reason to find him as soon as possible. We have to try everything we can, Jess. At this point, we don’t have anything to lose. This will at least allow us to offer some of the infected a quick and merciful death.”

  “Just don’t count on his cooperation,” I caution. “He’s been nothing but a pain in my ass since I’ve known him. I certainly don’t expect him to change now.”

  “Until Noel finds him,” Nina says, “maybe we should concentrate our efforts on using Jess and Leah’s powers. Which cities should we try to help first?”

  Thus starts a long discussion (or is it argument?) about which cities we should clear the birds from first. Most argue that we should choose one large city in each country, and work our way down from there. Others, like Jai Lin and Xiulan, suggest that we start small by going to rural areas first.

  “I think Jai Lin has a point,” Mason tells the others. “Leah and Jess should practice flying together first. If they go into a large metropolitan area and become over- run by more than one flock, they’ll be in trouble. They need some time to work on a strategy that works for them.”

  “I agree,” I tell everyone. “Give us a day or two to figure some things out first. For one, we need to find a better way for Leah to fly with me. The two of us trying to hold onto one another will just end up exhausting us both.”

  “I have a suggestion to solve that problem,” Malcolm tells me before turning to Brand. “Do you think you could find us a harness, like the ones they use in tandem skydiving? That way, Leah can stay attached to Jess without either of them having to hold on to one another.”

  “I’m sure we
can find one,” Brand says confidently. “Nina, would you mind procuring it for us?”

  “Yes, I’ll take care of that,” Nina says.

  “This is a little off-subject,” Rafe says, looking at me warily, “but I would like to make a request. I want to be taken somewhere I can actually be of help to people.”

  “You help people at the castle,” I tell him.

  “I’m not talking about healing the occasional cut or scrape, or walls falling on people,” Rafe says, teasing me about an actual wall falling on me during our last battle with the princes. “I mean somewhere I can be of actual use. Listen,” he says to me, taking a step towards me, “The other vessels and I know that you’ve been trying to keep us safe, Jess, and we appreciate that, but you need to let us do what we can to help the people here. You weren’t the only one sent to help. We all have something to contribute.”

  “I know that,” I say, feeling slightly guilty for my selfishness. “I just want to make sure we all get back home, Rafe, and the only way I see that happening is if you guys stay where it’s safe.”

  “Jess,” Leah says, gaining my attention, “Rafe’s right. We’ve all been feeling a need to do more since we got here.”

  “I’m sensing a mutiny,” I say.

  “We all know you love us,” Leah tells me understandingly, “but you have to let go of your need to keep us safe all the time. We’re not going to run down the streets of New York, screaming at the top of our lungs until Raven or Lucian finds us. We’ll be careful. We’re not stupid.”

  “I never said you were,” I reply, slightly taken aback by what Leah just said.

  “You know I didn’t mean it like that,” Leah says with a sigh. “I just meant that we can take care of ourselves. We won’t put our lives in unnecessary danger. We’ll be just as careful as you are.”

  “Was that supposed to be reassuring?” Malcolm questions, with a small laugh.

  “Oh, hush,” I grumble at Malcolm.

  “Jess,” Rafe says imploringly, making me instantly feel bad that he feels the need to take such a tone with me, “let us help. Leah needs to help you with the birds, and I can help heal the sick and injured.”