The Midnight Strider (The Chronomancer Chronicles Book 2)

by Reilyn J. Hardy

  “Do you know what makes a monster?” I ask.

  She crouches down in front of me, and holds onto her knees. “What?”

  “Being able to differentiate between right and wrong, and still choosing wrong.” I look her dead in the eyes. “Kinda like you.”

  She narrows her eyes. “I’m not the monster here,” she tells me, shoving me backward. “She’s a creature of Drarkodon’s, and you might as well be one too. You’re with them by association.”

  I scoff.

  There’s a howl in the distance. I start looking around, but I don’t see anything. A growl comes from behind me. I shift on the flattened grass, but still, I see nothing.

  Salvador and Valentino exchange glances.

  “Do you think it’s the wolves?” Valentino asks.

  “Hurry up and light the fire, Uncle Val!” Marisol snaps, nudging her uncle’s arm. “We don’t have time to wait for the sunrise.”

  Valentino fumbles with the matches.

  Salvador loses his footing and falls face first before being dragged into the tall grass.

  Chapter FOURTEEN

  blowing smoke

  Marisol’s eyes are wide, she’s waving her torch around, but I don’t think she can see anything either. I get to my feet. I reach my hand out for my dagger, but nothing happens. It doesn’t come to me. When Salvador disappears, Marisol throws her torch into the kindling at Rhiannon’s feet. Flames illuminate immediately as the fire spreads.

  “What are you doing!” I shout.

  “MARISOL ISABELA DESOTO!” She freezes at the sound of her mother's voice. “You do not set people on fire!”

  Maite and Coin are behind us, Coin is holding a piece of paper in his hand.

  “Why are you here? How did you —”

  “Rhiannon — the girl you’re trying to burn — was worried about you.”

  Coin and I run to the burning post. We climb over the rocks and I try to stomp out the fire while he unties her. She’s still unconscious, the bottom of her dress and her stockings are charred, her skin is blistered. We carry her into the ground and I stand back up, hearing another low growl.

  “The wolves have come,” Maite says, she’s holding her crossbow, aiming it at the tall grass.

  “Mom! How could you just let them free her? Her kind killed dad!”

  Maite turns around, lowering her weapon.

  “Your father never went to fight, do you hear me?” she says. “Your father was a coward and he left. He left you, he left me, he didn’t even say goodbye.”

  Marisol takes a step back, shaking her head.

  “You’re lying.”

  “We do not kill people, Marisol.”

  “She is not a person, Mom!” she says. “She’s a vampire!”

  “We don’t have time for this. We will talk about it when we get home!”

  “If we get home,” Marisol mumbles.

  “If it’s Rev,” Maite says from beside me, while Coin holds onto Rhiannon, still trying to wake her up. “We can talk to him. I’ve spoken to him once before — I had no idea what he was at the time. Not until recently.” She glances at Coin.

  Rev. That’s the name of one of Jace’s brothers. I’m positive. “Wait,” I say. “I think I know him.”

  “Well think faster,” Maite says, “there is an unconscious vampire at your feet!”

  I close my eyes, trying to remember the names of Jace’s siblings. “Champ?” I start, turning in a circle. “Dapper? Effie? Rev!”

  Maite elbows me in my side. I flinch, rubbing beneath my ribcage. She smacks me in the arm and points at the tall grass. There’s a head poking through, she looks just like Kina, but older.

  “Effie?” I say as I step toward her. She narrows her eyes.

  “Who are you?” she asks, glancing at Rhiannon laying unconscious. “And why are you protecting that?”

  “I’m not protecting anything,” I say, holding my hands up in surrender. “Effie —”

  Her eyes dart back to me.

  “How do you know who I am?”

  “I know your brother — Jace and — and — Kina!”

  She tilts her head slightly to the side, not taking her eyes off of me. “Are you Mae?”

  I nod. “Yes!” I start patting the center of my chest. “I’m Mae! I’m Mae.”

  “Follow me.” She backs up, disappearing in the grass.

  I run to pick up my dagger and look at Maite, then at Coin. Maite nods to Coin.

  “Go with them,” she says. She hooks her finger on the back of Marisol’s shirt. “You, are staying right here.”

  Coin picks up Rhiannon and we venture through the uncultivated land. I can hear running, but I don’t know where it’s going.

  “How do we know this isn’t a trap?” Coin asks, carrying Rhiannon in his arms. “They could be leading us right into one.”

  “Considering I was just lured into one by your soon-to-be stepdaughter, I’ll take my chances.”

  “I knew something was up,” Coin says. “She normally doesn’t take to strangers so well, especially wanting to go somewhere with them. How does Effie even know who you are?”

  “Jace must've told them,” I say, trying to fasten my sheath back onto my pants. “After he left Nevressea, his family found him.”

  “All the way out here?”

  I shrug.

  “I guess we’ll find out.”

  When the sun peeks over the horizon, Coin tries to shield Rhiannon, but I shake my head. We’re almost to the trees. “She’ll be okay,” I say.

  “But the sun —”

  “She’s fine, trust me." I look ahead. "Just make sure we don’t lose them.”

  “We won’t,” Coin insists, moving ahead of me. “Come on. Follow me.”

  “At least Marisol was leading us in the right direction.”

  “Do you do that a lot?” he asks over his shoulder.

  “Do what?”

  He doesn’t turn back around. “As far as I know, Jace is normally the sarcastic one,” he says. “You okay?”

  I shrug, but then it dawns on me that Coin can’t see me.

  “Never really thought about it. Guess I’m just used to hearing it but now —”

  “You don’t. I understand. Come on, they’re headed this way.” Coin darts between the trees. I stop for a brief second to look at the large trees that tower over me. I’ve never seen such high trees. I step in.

  I’ve blindly followed people before, not that they’ve led me anywhere good. At least this time, I have a good chance I’m not being led right to my death. Or so I hope.

  I try to keep my focus on the ground, making sure I don’t trip over the roots and leaves, even broken trunks I have to climb over.

  I glance up, and have to look up again.

  Over my head, high in the trees, there are dark shadowy clusters. I can’t make out what they are, even with the sun beginning to rise.

  “What’s in the trees?” I ask Coin, struggling to catch up with him.

  “The wolves,” he tells me. “They live in the trees.”

  Our plan wouldn’t have worked, not that I particularly prefer how things have gone so far.

  The more I look up, the more the shapes begin to appear. I can see the wooden structures built into the trees. They’re massive, taking up multiple of the banyans.

  I bump right into Coin.

  Wolves surround us. Dozens of packs, just like Jace said. There must be hundreds of them living in Harnsey. I stiffen, and back up against Coin.

  “Where did Effie go?”

  He shrugs his shoulders, but still he grips tightly onto Rhiannon. I see her stir as she starts to wake. This is the worst possible time to wake up.

  Her eyelids flutter.

  Go back to sleep.

  ‘I wasn’
t asleep. I smell were —’

  Yeah, I bet you do.

  Rhiannon falls right out of Coin’s arms at the sight.

  Getting right to her feet, she flinches, landing on the burns covering her soles. She stands up straight, ignoring the pain. She glances up.

  ‘So much for being up in the trees.’

  Effie jumps down in front of the three of us. She’s wearing a wool dress. Her hair is cut short, lined with her jaw. She looks just like Kina. Only older.

  “You trust too easily,” she tells me.

  “I didn’t think anyone part of Jace’s family would be leading me into danger,” I say.

  “But you brought the vampire.”

  “I wasn’t gonna leave her behind,” I say, standing in front of Rhiannon. “Jace wouldn’t've wanted me to.”

  “How would you know?”

  “I spent the last eight years with him. I think I know my best friend.” She’s not going to intimidate me. Even if she does tower over me, and snarl at me. “She took care of him, you know.”

  “Art —”

  I ignore Rhiannon.

  “When your family left him in Nevressea.”

  Effie smacks me right across the face with the back of her hand. I didn’t even see it coming. All I saw was the ground I landed on. I grip at the foliage on the ground as I sit up. I don’t rub the side of my face, though I can feel it stinging.

  “How dare you —”

  “Effie!” A man emerges from the roots of a banyan tree. “Leave the kid alone.”

  She doesn’t take her eyes off of me as Rhiannon pulls me to my feet. He walks in front of her. He’s darker than she is, but they share the same features.

  His hair is short, but I see Jace in his face. They all look very similar to one another.

  “I’m Champ,” he says. “My brother’s told us a lot about the both of you.” He looks at Rhiannon. “Even you. We were told you took care of him.”

  Others start to come out of the banyan too, but we remain surrounded by the other wolves.

  “Some of us don’t believe that though,” Effie says, crossing her arms. She’s giving Rhiannon a once over. “Some of us —”

  “I don’t care what you think!” Rhiannon snaps. “You have him back. He’s home now. Why can’t you let it go?”

  “Because he’s not home,” another one of them says. I forgot for a second how many brothers he has. This one is wearing a tie draped around his neck, and suspenders holding up his pants. If he isn’t Dapper, I’d be surprised. “He went looking for you,” he tells me as he shifts his gaze to look at Rhiannon. “That’s the only reason why you are still alive.”

  I frown. “What? Went looking for me where?”

  “Do you think we’d be standing around here if we knew where he went?” Effie snaps at me. “We don’t know where he went!”

  “It’s not just him, either. Our little sister is missing too.”

  “Kina?” Rhiannon asks, her eyebrows are scrunched together in worry.

  “You know our little sister?” Dapper asks.

  “Not really,” she says softly. “I know of her,” Rhiannon says. “I know of all of you.” Her eyes move along each of them. “Effie, Champ, Dapper,” she looks past them and at the four remaining by the tree. “Gally, Hal, Dylin and Rev.” She names each of them. “He would talk about all of you. Enough that I feel like I knew you all.”

  “Well you don’t,” Effie says.

  Rhiannon just shakes her head, crossing her arms.

  “Where —” I stop. I look at Rhiannon. “What if he went to Newacre? What if he had the same ‘dream’ you had — and he went there to look for us?”

  She closes her eyes.

  “I really hope not,” she says, massaging her temples.

  “Newacre?” Champ asks, before turning to one of his brothers. “Isn’t that where he said he was staying —”

  “With me and my dad,” I say. I stop. When Jace was trying to get Kina to leave, he mentioned something about their dad calling them back. “Dad… Can’t your dad call him back here?”

  Champ shakes his head. “Jace hasn’t accepted Dad as his alpha yet. We have no control over what he does, we have no idea how to find him —”

  Control. Maybe that’s the only reason why Effie hasn’t attacked us. If she had her own free will, I’m sure she would have, particularly Rhiannon.

  ‘Thanks.’

  Sorry.

  We don’t make eye contact.

  “What about Kina?” I ask.

  “She’s not a werewolf yet.”

  “We’ll go get him,” Rhiannon says.

  “Am I allowed to go back home?” Coin asks. “I can’t go to Newacre. I’m not prepared to travel that far out right now and I have to help my fiancée.”

  Effie nods, and waves her hand.

  “You’re not going alone,” she says, directing her attention back onto Rhiannon.

  “Well actually, I was thinking of bringing Artemis with me, so no, I wouldn’t be alone.”

  “Don’t you give me attitude, vampire.”

  “You’re not going,” Champ says to Effie.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You’re too unpredictable,” he says.

  “I’ll say.”

  I elbow Rhiannon. She doesn't look at me.

  “Dapper and Rev will go.” He looks back at his brothers, the two of them nod. The one with the tie draped around his neck and the other has his hair tied up in a knot. There are twins standing beside them, who I assume are Hal and Dylin. They’re identical down to their hair. Even the way they move is completely in sync. Apollo and I were never like that.

  We definitely aren’t now.

  “Whatever, I don’t care who goes. We have to go now.” I outstretch my hand to Rhiannon. “I need a charm.”

  “Oh, right.” She starts digging through the pouch that’s tied to her belt. I see her flinch, still standing on the burns on her feet.

  “Can you guys give her some space?" I glare at the wolves. “You’re weakening her.”

  “That’s kind of the point,” Effie says, not moving from where she stands. Champ grabs her by the arms and pulls her backward. He waves his arm in the air and the wolves that surround us begin to disperse.

  Rhiannon looks at me.

  ‘Thank you.’

  I nod.

  She pulls out a Thirondel charm and drops it onto my palm. I look at each of Jace’s brothers before looking at Rhiannon. I turn around.

  “Follow me,” I say.

  “You’re going the wrong way,” Dapper says, pointing behind him. “Newacre is that way.”

  I turn around.

  “You think we’re gonna walk there?”

  “Is that marble supposed to take us there?” Rev asks, crossing his arms. His arms flex as he does so. Jace does the same thing when he’s trying to intimidate someone.

  “Marble? Yeah, this marble is supposed to take us there, actually.” I turn around again and start walking in the direction I had come from. Rhiannon walks beside me. “I don’t care if you guys follow me or not.”

  Now there’s movement behind us.

  ‘Do you think he’s okay?’ Rhiannon asks me, she doesn’t look at me.

  He better be.

  I glance at her, but still she doesn’t look at me.

  We walk away from the houses built up in the trees. These aren’t ordinary tree houses, where one or two people can barely fit inside. They’re full houses, literally built in and around the tree, and somehow the entrance was in the roots that were high above the ground.

  I didn’t want the affects of the Thirondel charm to startle anyone. I turn around.

  “The ground’s going to crack,” I say as they gather around us. “This is a Thirondel charm, also known as an
icebreaker. It breaks the ground, and creates a portal to where you want to go. You guys will probably land on your feet,” I mumble, “Jace always does.”

  Rhiannon smiles.

  Dapper nudge Rev and the two of them are looking at Rhiannon.

  “You have really pink lips,” Dapper says. “They look nice against your pale skin, I’m sure Jace has told you.”

  Rhiannon looks at me. She rubs her arm uncomfortably.

  “Anyway,” I continue, “I don’t know what it’s gonna be like on the other side, but try not to change into your — you know — other forms.”

  “I don’t like changing into a werewolf, so I won’t.” Dapper shrugs, leaning back against the closest tree. He keeps looking at Rhiannon.

  “Newacre!” I throw the Thirondel charm against the root of the tree near his foot and as the ground opens up, the tree breaks away. Dapper nearly falls through the hole. “Well, jump in.”

  “How do we know you aren’t trying to trick us?” Rev asks, shooting an accusing look at me.

  “Jace is my best friend,” I say. “Get in the ground.”

  He widens his eyes and pushes his brother into the portal before jumping in himself.

  “You didn’t have to scare him,” Rhiannon says.

  “Scare him?” I ask.

  She points at her eyes. “Your eyes flashed black.”

  She moves to the hole but I grab her arm.

  “Dapper is —”

  She shakes her head.

  “Jace said Dapper tends to flirt with anything that has legs. I guess he isn’t above vampires.” She shrugs. She straightens her dress. “See you on the other side.”

  Rhiannon steps into the hole, and I follow right after. Harnsey may not be a danger to me without Rhiannon, but without Jace, I didn’t particularly feel welcome anyway.

  We land right at the bridge, the entrance to Newacre. Smoke is burning my eyes before I even have the chance to stand up. We’re already too late. I get up to my feet, covering my mouth and nose with the front of my shirt. Dapper and Rev have disappeared from my sight, and my town is in flames. I can barely see a foot in front of me.

  The tarps of the Salvation are blazing, ripping free from their ties as they whip in the wind. There isn’t a soul in sight, aside from the four of us. Smoke and the stench of scorched flesh burn my nose, even through my shirt. I breathe shallower breaths, trying to keep myself from coughing. I close my eyes, they burn from the toxins.