Ascendant (The Shift Chronicles Book 4)

by Eva Truesdale

  I tried to shout for Will to floor it, but I wasn’t quick enough.

  They crashed into us again, and this time the force was enough to flip us. We landed on our side, two wheels in the air, and before any of us could even think don’t panic, they hit us again. We rolled twice more, and then I felt us teetering, balanced on the narrow sliver of the road’s shoulder, and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

  We started to fall.

  Still in slow motion, and it seemed like I was outside my body, watching it happen. But I could feel my heart leaping and my stomach plunging every time we rolled, end over end, down a hill that turned out to be a lot bigger and steeper than I would have guessed. Several trees slowed our fall, their branches catching against and cracking windows. When we finally slammed to a stop, the impact rattled those windows and shattered most of them completely, sending glass ringing and scratching through the car and over our skin.

  The car was resting sideways again. I hung there, dazed and suspended from my seatbelt, for what seemed like a long time. The feeling of blood trickling down my cheek is what finally brought me back. I was able, with a lot of effort, to focus enough to shift my fingers to claws and saw my restraints off. I dropped awkwardly from my seat and landed against the door that now rested flush with the ground. Vanessa was crushed against it, her eyes shut and her lips mumbling incoherent things. I cut her loose too, hooked an arm around her and then crawled back up, pulling us both out through the broken window next to where I’d been sitting.

  I didn’t even think about what might have been outside. I just wanted out of that metal deathtrap.

  Once we tumbled out into the rain, Vanessa coughed several times, opened her eyes, and then rose shakily to her feet. And one by one everyone else emerged, too, bloody and bruised but for the most part still functioning—which was a lot more than we could say for the smoking, crumpled scrap that remained of our vehicle.

  “This is why you always get the rental insurance, I suppose,” Joseph said after a moment of silence for the fallen SUV.

  “Doubt that agreement covers damage caused by supernatural creatures,” Will said, frowning as he used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe the blood away from a particularly deep-looking cut on Vanessa’s forehead. I couldn’t help but notice that he seemed a lot more shaken up than I usually saw him. And the longer he inspected Vanessa’s injury, the worse he seemed to become.

  “So you saw them, too?” I asked.

  “I smell them,” he said quietly, not taking his eyes off Vanessa.

  I turned away from the wreckage, focused my own senses through the throbbing pain in my bleeding head, and suddenly it was obvious to me, too: they were surrounding us. There were a lot more than just the two I’d seen on the road.

  And that road—and any other sign of civilization— now seemed a million miles away from us.

  “I knew it was asking for trouble, going anywhere with you lot,” Eamon muttered.

  “Well brace yourself,” Kael deadpanned, “because this has basically been just a relaxing afternoon for us so far. I promise you it’s going to get worse.”

  “Pretty much always does,” Will said, matching Kael’s tone as he turned to give Eamon a wry grin.

  Eamon opened his mouth—I can only assume to say Okay, that’s enough, I’m leaving— but before he could get any words out, the wolves appeared.

  Or the lycans, actually. They were definitely all lycan; two dozen of them, at least, slinking down the hillside and stealing in from the woods behind us, blocking off all exits. The six of us drew closer together. We were outnumbered, obviously, and still dazed—nobody seemed in a hurry to shift and start any fights, although it looked like we weren’t going to have a choice.

  Because these wolves did not look friendly.

  I tried holding up my hands and offering a lame, “We come in peace.”

  They didn’t buy it.

  Why did no one every buy that?

  They circled closer, lips drawn back over their bared, oversized fangs. My heart raced. My skin warmed with waking magic. Magic that had grown increasingly unpredictable since my last showdown with the feral, when I’d given up part of my innate power in order to pull off the spell that was currently protecting my friends from their control. It wasn’t magic I was in a hurry to rely on.

  But it seemed eager to burst free all the same.

  And without much thought from me, that’s exactly what it did.

  Fire rose from my skin. Tiny little flames running along my forearms, hissing as they hit the chill mist falling through the thick canopy of tree leaves. Not very bright, and not very powerful looking, but it still managed to catch the attention of every single beast that had surrounded us. And I mean every. Single. One. They were all like magnets, their attention snapping after every tiny move my magic and I made.

  I decided to try an experiment; I jumped forward and to the right, away from Kael and the others. The lycans followed obediently. So I took a few more steps backward, drawing them further away from my allies.

  Kael’s voice was, rather unsurprisingly, angry and in my head a second later. (What are you doing?)

  (They’re drawn to me and my magic,) I replied, summoning more fire to my right hand.

  (And?) It was Vanessa’s voice this time, just as sharp as Kael’s.

  (And I’m drawing them away from the rest of you, apparently? I don’t know. I’m making this up as I go—) The lycan closest to me snapped at my leg. It caught only air between its teeth, though, and it seemed too timid to try again. None of them seemed that eager to try and reach me, really; they followed my steps, and they would get within five feet or so, but then they could only pace and snarl and snap. It was as if there was some sort of invisible barrier between us. I wasn’t creating barrier magic, though. Only fire; that fire was more natural and easier for me than defensive magic.

  I swung my right hand toward the lycans closest to me, streaking flames through the air with enough force that the tips of it licked fur, singeing it and filling the air with an acrid scent. They were tripping over themselves to get out of my reach, then—but they still wouldn’t be driven completely away.

  (The five of you should run, while I have their attention,) I thought.

  (Are you crazy?)

  (They aren’t going to attack me, I don’t think. But something is keeping them from leaving me completely, so…I’ll just hold them off until you all get away, and then I’ll figure out a way to slip—)

  (No.)

  I couldn’t keep arguing through thoughtspeech when all my focus was on holding the flame in front of me. So I just shot Kael a quick, silent glare— my best attempt at an oh-my-god-will-you-go-already? face. Eamon and Will were trying to drag him away, at least. My head was starting to ache, and my palms were shaking. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep this magic up.

  I heard twigs snapping behind me. I spun around, but I saw nothing aside from shadows—shadows that might have been more lycans closing in, but I didn’t focus on them long enough to be sure. I just kept circling, keeping the beasts at bay while inching further away from Kael as quickly as I could, before he could do something stupid.

  More twigs snapped.

  From footsteps, I was pretty sure now, picking their way through the wet undergrowth. They sounded like human footsteps. And they were getting quicker, nearer. The skin along the back of my neck prickled, but I fixated on the glowing eyes around me, because the wolves they belonged to seemed like the bigger threat at the moment.

  Especially since they seemed like they were getting braver.

  I heard someone shouting my name. But I was too focused on trying to create a bigger fire, and I didn’t care. I was in a magic-induced trance. Feed the flames. Drive the wolves back. Protect your friends—

  “Alex!”

  I shook my head, determined. “These wolves are afraid of me,” I mumbled, refusing to believe that they were moving closer, that I couldn’t win, that I couldn’t
drive away the dark—

  An arm wrapped around my stomach.

  A knife pressed against my throat, and a rough voice was in my ear a moment later: “We’re not all afraid of you, dear.”

  Seven

  sides

  My focus slipped, and the summoned fire flickered and died against my mist-coated skin.

  A second pair of hands grabbed my arm and jerked me around, bringing me face to face with the man holding the knife. His eyes were dark, clouded. Cruel. He walked the knife around in his hands, passing it back and forth between them without taking his gaze off me.

  “Rather bold of you, gervarse,” he said, catching the knife and pointing its tip at my throat again, “trying to frighten off my wolves by flaunting that magic. You really should have just run away. Though perhaps you know you wouldn’t have gotten far? Because I suppose you must realize how outnumbered you are here; even with your power, one of you versus the forty of us…not great odds, hm?”

  “Perhaps more than one, sir,” came a voice from behind me.

  I glanced over my shoulder for as long as I dared taking my eyes off the man’s knife. The others hadn’t managed to run away after all; they all had at least two people holding them, pulling them toward me. The ones dragging Eamon and Joseph pulled their captives right up next to me, and then the same one who’d spoken before kept talking: “There are these two, as well. They’re both emitting an innate magical energy as well, though it isn’t as strong or strange as the girl’s.”

  The man with the knife nodded, as though he felt it for himself now. He glanced over to Vanessa, Will, and Kael next. “But then we have two, magicless lycans and a random werewolf?” His gaze fell back to me. “Interesting traveling companions,” he said. “Or not companions, perhaps? More like forced slaves? Gathering up more unsuspecting victims for your army, gervarse?”

  That word again. Gervarse. And it clicked, suddenly—the memory of where I’d heard it before.

  “Wait a second. That word you’re calling me? You mean the feral, don’t you? You think I’m one of the feral?” His teeth bared at the very mention of them, but I shook my head as vehemently as I could. “You’ve got it all wrong,” I said. “So wrong. Just listen to me—”

  He took a step closer. I was very aware of the power coiling in his muscles. Of how close he seemed to losing his temper.

  And of how confident and deadly that knife seemed in his hand.

  “We’ve been tricked by your kind before.” He took my chin in his hand and jerked my gaze up to his. I heard scuffling behind me, and it was followed by Kael letting out a string of curse words and Vanessa telling him to calm down before he got us all killed.

  “Not falling for it again,” said the cruel-eyed man after he tossed an unconcerned glance toward Kael and the others. “Though I have to give you credit for this…” His hand moved away from my chin, tracing along the curve of my jaw. “This is an unexpected form you’ve taken. A young, weak girl? Complete with scars to make me feel sorry for her?”

  It took every bit of restraint I had to keep from slamming my knee up into his gut. Or maybe I would have aimed a little lower than that. And then we’d see how weak he thought I was.

  I hadn’t forgotten that I was surrounded, though. “This isn’t a trick,” I said. “I’m not feral. I’m the opposite of them, really—”

  “The opposite?”

  “I’m the one who might just save your sorry self from the feral, if you’d stop acting like a first class asshole and let me go.”

  He laughed.

  And at this point I really deserved an award for the restraint I was showing in not kicking him.

  “You’re an entertaining one,” he said. And then his arm was suddenly around me again, and the knife pressed close enough this time that I felt blood dribbling down and collecting in the hollow of my throat. “All of you will cooperate,” he called over to my companions. “Or we’re going to experiment and see how fast she can heal a severed jugular. It might not kill this demon, but it will hurt—and you all seem rather concerned about her well-being, so. Act accordingly.”

  “I’m not a demon,” I snapped.

  He just chuckled again. “Back to the alpha,” he called to the pack behind him, and the grip he had on me tightened as he jerked me into motion.

  “You know, getting thrown out of a bar was not on my Ireland bucket list, but this actually kind of was.”

  I lifted my head from Vanessa’s lap and gave her a sleepy, dubious look.

  “I mean, not under these exact circumstances, obviously—but I wanted to stay in a castle. And did you see this place on the way in? I think it definitely qualifies as a castle.”

  “And this is basically a dungeon,” Will said with a yawn, glancing around our windowless room. “So yeah, I see what you mean. This is fun. Man, I love bucket lists.”

  “Just trying to be positive,” she said with a shrug.

  I got to my feet and wandered toward the door, feeling anything but positive. They’d thrown and locked us into this room as soon as we’d arrived here, supposedly because they were waiting on the alpha to arrive and “speak” with me. Although I wondered if speaking was really all they planned on doing. Or if they even planned on letting us out of here at all. I could still feel that man’s knife on my skin. Could see the cruelness in his eyes….

  Yeah, there was no part of me that thought he would have any problem with letting us die and rot in here.

  And the worst part was, that wasn’t even what I was most upset about.

  What was really bothering me was how much time we were losing, trapped in here. Because who knew what sort of power the feral were gathering in the meantime? Everything we knew, everything we’d learned, suggested that the reason they’d come back to this country was because some part of the land held power for them to tap into. And we could only assume that was what they were doing this very second. Recharging, as Will had put it. Making themselves even more impossible to stop, even if we did make it out of here.

  And then there was, as always, that other ticking clock.

  That curse, which the four of them still remained infuriatingly silent about, as though it wasn’t happening. As though I hadn’t watched Vanessa press her hand to her heart and go silent as a grave just minutes after we were tossed in here. As though I hadn’t seen the pain on her face, same as I’d seen it on Kael’s during the plane ride over here.

  Vanessa’s latest attack had been one of the most intense I’d seen yet, but still, we didn’t linger on it after it had passed.

  Or we didn’t talk about it, at least.

  But I was still thinking about it. Thinking about how the curse would likely kill all of my friends before I managed to die in here, and how I’d have nobody except Eamon to perish beside, and nothing but thoughts of the feral’s chaos and bloodshed to keep me company as I went.

  I was standing very still in the middle of the room, trying very hard not to let these thoughts overwhelm me. I could sense Vanessa moving behind me, getting to her feet. Staring at me. She was saying something, too, I think; but as soon as I heard her voice, all I could picture was her silent stare from before, and that turmoil in her eyes as she reached for her heart and tried to endure the curse’s attack….

  I drew back and kicked that stupid door as hard as I could.

  Again and again I kicked it, even though I knew it was useless. I tried my useless fists, too. Pounded them against the metal until it stung and I was sure my knuckles were bruised, until I was almost crying, until Vanessa and Kael grabbed me and pulled me away.

  My hammering had woken up Joseph, who’d been sleeping in the corner. The second my gaze met his sleepy expression I felt a flutter of defiant, desperate hope. “You and me,” I panted. “Magic. There has to be something we can do to get out of here, right? Between both of our power, it’s just a door, it’s just…”

  Somehow I knew, even before I asked, that this would be useless, too.

  I still fe
lt like crying harder when he shook his head at me. “Can’t you feel it suffocating you?” he asked, his eyes trailing toward the door that I hadn’t left so much as a dent in. “They’ve reinforced it against magic somehow…We could try to break through, and yes, between the two of us we might eventually be successful. But I’m not sure it would be the best use of our energy right now. Not when we don’t know what’s coming next.” He looked back at me, stretching and rubbing a bit of the lingering sleep from his eyes. “Patience,” he said. “Maybe it will come to that sort of desperateness, maybe it won’t.”

  I slumped down to the floor and stared at my hands. “Speaking of energy,” I said before I could stop myself, “how could they mistake me for the feral earlier? We can’t be that similar. And my magical energy can’t be that much stronger than yours, but they almost overlooked you.”

  “Because I have more control over mine. And so does Eamon, as he’s proven with his hiding. Your magic is a bit wilder than ours, still.”

  “But it isn’t feral.” It made me sick, thinking about being confused for someone like Carrick or Cerin.

  “Perhaps not,” he said. “But the power starts out similarly, anyhow—none of it is of this world. And then it just comes down to how you use it.”

  Vanessa slumped down next to me and wrapped her arm through mine. We both stared miserably at the door together. She was quiet, more quiet and still than I’d ever seen her, while I sat and tried to think of all the ways I’d use my magic if I ever got out of this place.

  And then the door opened.

  The man with the cruel eyes stepped inside without a word, grabbed me by the arm, and yanked me up. At least a dozen others filed in with him. Two of them grabbed Joseph and Eamon, while the rest pushed Vanessa and everyone else back. Cruel Eyes jerked me forward so hard that I stumbled.

  “I can walk,” I snapped. “I don’t need you to pull me anywhere.”