by K. V. Wilson
Yes. Remember.
A flash of light surged across the sky, illuminating my eyelids. I kept my eyes shut tightly, however; I needed to concentrate. The sky erupted with an ominous boom. The words in Gaelic surged to the tip of my tongue, and this time I did not need to speak them. The earth’s energy obeyed without hesitation, sending the world alight with forks of lightning.
“Ru-Sejka,” Father cautioned. “Make sure they—”
“Yes,” I said flatly. “I know. Make sure no one gets injured. Make sure I am controlling the energy.”
“This storm is too big! Make it smaller.” There was panic in his voice. The same kind of panic that I had heard the day I nearly burned our dugout house down.
My eyes flew open and I took a deep breath. I scanned the sky for rogue bolts, but as I did, the world grew dark once again. The last bout of thunder rolled away, leaving my eardrums thudding with the adrenaline. I wanted more. I wanted to feel the energy of the storm again; it brought back memories I never knew I had. Memories of past lives, of past worlds. But I could envision them as clearly as if I had just been there…
“Are you all right?”
I turned to my father, a slow smile spreading across my face. I could remember. Not all of it – not yet. But I knew it was there, deep down. The magic had brought it out, pushed it to the surface. Along with two names. Two faces.
Nwyfre. The red dragon.
Mac Tíre. The bronze wolf.
“Are you all right, Ru-Sejka?” he repeated. With a start, I realized I’d been staring straight ahead, unblinking. “Your eyes…”
I blinked twice, feeling a fresh tear running down my cheek. “Father, how I wish you could know what I have just remembered.”
“And what is that?”
My father continues to stare into my eyes warily. I know what he sees in them. He sees the power of the universe. He will never be able to see what I have seen, but there is one thing I can tell him that I know he will understand.
“I am not alone.”
Another thunderous boom ensues as I force my eyes open.
I’m sitting on the seat of an aircraft. I wrap my fingers around the hand rests, wincing as the plane lurches. We must be touching down. I’m suddenly aware of a pressure inside my nose. Reaching up, I pull a napkin out of my nostril. It’s doused with blood. The last thing I remember was…
“Red! Xunnu, she’s awake.” Conall’s voice is all but drowned out by the engines as the aircraft slows its pace on the runway.
“Finally,” the chieftain says, clearly relieved.
I blink a few times to adjust my eyes. The cabin is dark; far darker than it was when I’d been knocked out. Or rather, I’d knocked myself out by using too much energy. I scan the vicinity for Covenant soldiers, but the coast looks clear.
“Thirteen, wh-what happened? Is he safe?” I demand.
“Who?” Conall’s eyebrows furrow but then recognition floods across his face. “Oh. David. Yeah, he’s fine. Everyone’s fine. But…are you okay? It looked like you hit your head when you fell.”
I grit my teeth as I run my hands across my scalp, wincing as I skim the point of contact. “Yep, I did. But what happened after I blacked out? Where are the soldiers?”
“The soldiers are dead,” Xunnu says solemnly. His eyes are downcast. “But that’s not all we have to worry about.”
I turn back towards Conall, realizing that one of them has given up his seat for me. “Where’s Damian?”
Conall tips his head, indicating a row towards the front of the cabin. I can just make out the reddish tinge of the young Scot’s head. Breathing a sigh of relief, I continue to scan the aircraft for threats. The soldiers are dead…
A pair of eyes meets mine. They’re child eyes, soft and innocent, peering at me from the row behind us. I smile but the child does not smile back. Instead, the girl lets out a whimper. I glance at the mother and father on either side of her and they shrink back in fear.
“It’s okay,” I whisper, realizing that it’s me they’re afraid of. “We’re going to get off safe and sound.”
The young family doesn’t say a word in response. I bite my lip as my pulse quickens. They saw. They saw everything.
“Skye, listen to me,” Xunnu commands from across the aisle. There’s fear in his eyes. “We need to get off this plane. Push your way through. Use your powers. Anything. Just make sure we all escape safely. Can you do this for us?”
“Yeah. I mean, I’ll try. But what—”
“There will be a ruckus when this plane stops moving, Skye.” I jump at the sound of my uncle’s voice. “We’ll be surrounded by security and the like. And what’s more, the Covenant will most definitely be there.”
My heart surges to life, threatening to explode from my chest. We survived an attempted hijacking, and now this? How will we get through?
David raises his voice. “Yeva’si, prepare yourselves! I want you to fly as soon as the doors open. Don’t look back, no matter what happens to us.”
Xunnu nods. “Meet at the grassy area outside the airport.”
“What’s happening?” a voice behind us asks, and I realize it’s the mother I had tried to reassure.
“Listen, ma’am,” David says softly. “You’re safe. Stay seated with your hands up and no harm will come to you. We’re not your enemies.” Raising his voice, my uncle addresses the entire cabin. “Can everyone hear me?” he attempts, but most of the passengers aren’t listening. Instead, they wail and scream to be let out of the plane. Some of them have already run towards the doors, crying out in fear.
“Hey! Over here!” Conall yells, and David lets out a deafening whistle. A few people turn their heads and David decides this is good enough. We’re running out of time.
“Thanks. Listen, everyone! You’re going to be okay. No one is going to be hurt. The hijackers are subdued.”
That’s an understatement. I feel a pool of dread inside my stomach. I did this. I didn’t have to kill them. But if I hadn’t done something, every last passenger on this plane would be dead right now.
“What about the witch?” someone yells from the back.
“She isn’t a witch!” David calls back.
“She saved your life!” Conall snarls. “She saved all of your lives, you filthy—”
David clears his throat. “Stay in your seats, please! You at the front, get back to your seats. You don’t understand. We’re not here to hurt you.”
“She will! She uses dark magic!”
My breathing grows ragged as I realize the plane has stopped moving. The passengers aren’t clearing from the doorway. We’ll all be trapped. I take a deep breath and stand up abruptly, wrapping Sejka’s cloak around myself so I appear clothed.
“Listen!” I shout. Swallowing, I alter the sound of my voice, growling, “Sit down, or I’ll use it!” This is the only way. I raise my hand, producing a flame in my palm. It flickers wildly, illuminating the terrified faces of the nearby passengers. “Sit down! Let us pass!”
I hear gasps and shuffles as the terrified passengers scurry to take their seats. They stare up at me, petrified with fear.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper as I follow the Lycans towards the front of the plane. Many of them are holding up their backpacks and purses to let out the Yeva’si inside. The shapeshifters take wing, many of them in hummingbird or dragonfly form, hovering in front of the doors.
“Skye,” David addresses me. “Blast ‘em with all you got. Do you understand me? We need to get out of this alive.”
I nod, pushing past Conall and Damian and ignoring their worried looks.
“Skye, don’t,” Conall hisses, grabbing my arm.
“And once we’re all free, fly with the Yeva’si, Skye,” David orders. “It’s important that you survive. We can’t wait for the rebirth of the Ru-Yeva.”
My stomach fills with dread at the thought. “I could always pass it to—”
“You can’t,” David tells me. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
<
br /> “What?”
“The night Sejka saved your life, she risked everything; spirits can’t just transfer to other living bodies—”
“I could try.”
“Spirits are fragile things. That’s why the Covenant’s Ritual to sever the bond between humans and wolves would have destroyed Lycans—”
David’s sentence is drowned out by the sound of the door locks. My heart surges into my throat and my palms grow sweaty. They’re coming.
“One, two…” Xunnu yells. “Three!”
As the aircraft doors are forced open, the Yeva’si exit the cabin in a swarm of bugs and birds. They zip through the gangway and into the airport. I take a step forward, ready to belt out the lightning that I’ve been building up inside of me.
I send out a shock towards the first bodies I see – men wearing dark Covenant garb. They begin to topple. Shots ring out and the Lycans behind me squeal, backing into the plane again. I grit my teeth, erecting a wall of air to protect us.
One of the soldiers takes a step forward, brandishing some kind of shiny device. I send a shock of electricity through his body and he shakes violently. With his last ounce of energy, he grits his teeth and jabs his weapon at me.
My air barrier falters and I barely have time to duck, holding my arms in front of my face as the dying man plunges the blade into my forearm. I scream out in pain, throwing a punch at his face. He tumbles backwards, taking out a few others in the process. I send a bolt of energy towards the wall of the gangway, forcing a hole in the thick material.
“Go! Go!” I shout at the Lycans behind me. “It’s a long jump, but I can heal you!”
They surge through like lemmings, falling to the ground with cries of agony. Conall grabs my other arm in an attempt to pull me through.
“Let go,” I warn, meeting his eyes. I don’t want to electrocute him by accident.
He hisses, “Get out of here! Shift and get away before your injury gets worse!”
“Not until the last of us are out!” I shoot back. As the remaining Lycan passengers jump through the hole in the gangway, I prepare to follow.
“Hands up!” a new voice demands and I turn to face its owner. A squadron of police officers and airport personnel are converging on me, guns raised. I back up towards the hole in the gangway, the London breeze ruffling my hair.
How can I stun them without hurting them?
A gunshot rings out and I bite my tongue as a wave of excruciating pain washes over my injured arm. I clutch at it to stem the bleeding.
“Adhair!” I call out to the breeze, reaching for the energy to send the officers flying.
“Get down! Hands over your head!”
“Adhair!” I scream, panic rising inside my mind. What’s happening? It’s not working!
“Skye!” Conall calls from below. “Jump!”
I turn and leap through the hole, landing heavily on my toes. A torrent of pain blazes through my joints and I hold back a curse. “Run!” I gasp.
A flurry of gunfire follows Conall and me as he grabs my good arm and pulls me after him. The distant silhouettes of our allies contrast against the backdrop of a blood-red sky.
“Get ready to Shift!” Conall howls. “Skye! What—”
My vision grows cloudy and spots of red and black flutter across my line of sight. I sink to the ground, still clutching my arm. The last thing I hear is the cacophony of bullets striking the asphalt. So many bullets…
29
PLAIN OL’ MAC TÍRE
Aelshen
The word is but a whisper as it reaches me consciousness, but there’s such desperate panic left in it that I know fer certain she’s in trouble.
There’s no flippin’ answer. But at least I’d heard something. I hadn’t been able to communicate with Ru-Yeva fer days.
“Ramsey, faster! Something’s gone wrong!”
The great red dragon nods his head and I wrap my arms tighter around his neck as he builds up speed. We’re way up in the clouds so I can’t see a blasted thing. Once we begin our descent, I plan to shift to starling form and spiral down towards the London airport.
This was meant to be a courtesy meeting. Todd planned to take a small group of Lycans with him to the airport. He wanted to see that his daughter had arrived safely back in England after her journey to the New World with Xunnu and the others.
O’course, he’d expressly told me not to come. But I’d convinced Ramsey to sneak out with me. I wanted to have a word with Skye before she met with her father. What Skye needs is a mentor, a fellow Spiritborne to help her remember who she truly is. Todd couldn’t be that mentor, even if he tried. And so Ramsey and I planned to arrive at the airport before the party of Lycans did. But there may be more to this than any of us knows. If my hunch is right, we may have an ambush on our hands.
“Okay, here’s my stop!” I call out. Ramsey immediately slows, hovering on the brink of a cotton candy cloud. This is no time for food comparisons, Mac Tíre. The Lycans and Yeva’si are in danger!
“Careful, Mac Tíre. ‘Tisss a long way down,” the Ddraig hisses.
I pat Ramsey’s scales, swinging me leg o’er his body. “Go warn the others! The Covenant may be waiting for them in the airport!”
With that, I take a deep breath and dive head-first off of the dragon’s back, extending me arms ahead of me so I’m more aerodynamic. I barely manage to stifle a rather ungentlemanly squeal of terror as I fall to me death.
When the airport lights begin to blind me sharp eyes, I Shift, keeping me avian body angled so I can aim for the runway.
There they are!
A swarm of small birds converges at London’s Heathrow Airport, and I know right away that these are not ordinary birds. This must mean that the Yeva’si and Lycans had to leave the airport hastily. Maybe one of them was discovered, or maybe the Covenant had been waiting all along. A single starling exits the flock, speeding towards me. Once I reach the lawn, I Shift. Xunnu does the same, pushing his long hair behind his ears.
“Mac Tíre! The Lycans need our help!”
“Which gate?”
Xunnu frowns, eyes narrowed as he glances across the runway, attempting to pinpoint the gate their plane had docked at. “I don’t know. We came through the airport. David said to meet at the grass—”
“Call the others. Follow me. We’ll find them.”
The shapeshifter nods, turning towards his people and indicating that they should follow at a distance.
Xunnu and I Shift, soaring side by side as we near the gates of Heathrow. I reach for the energy of the earth, hoping it will help me to find my Spiritborne comrade. The first gate we pass over, for I feel no presence of nearby spirits. Same with the second and third. As we round the corner, however, a flurry of activity catches me eye. A large group of humans – perhaps twenty or thirty – is running willy-nilly across the tarmac. I angle my body towards them but change direction as I hear the shots.
A lone human stands beneath a great aircraft. A gaping hole has been blown in the side of the walkway above, and it has Ru-Yeva written all over it. As I watch, a second person jumps out o’ said walkway, falling to his knees. Her knees.
Ru-Yeva.
She’s bloody injured. An’ the word ‘bloody’ is the perfect way to describe it, too. A wave of gunfire follows the two o’ them as the young male attempts to lift Skye up from the tarmac. I descend upon the two, Shifting to man.
It makes sense to use telepathy since the world is so deafening it’d be madness trying to talk. There’s no response, however. I narrow my eyes.
“Skye!” I call out, and the young Lycan turns his head, eyes growing wide. “It’s me – Aelshen!”
“What?” he asks, an’ even with me sensitive hearing I can barely make out his words.
“I said…oh, never ye mind!”
I puff out me chest, not carin’ that everyone for miles around is a
bout to witness a buck-naked, beer-bellied guy perform a bit o’ magic on this chilly eve.
“Aelshen?”
“Uisge!” I bellow, raising me hands to the sky.
I keep me eyes on our mutual enemies, who are still too damn cowardly to jump down from their safe spot. A bout of hard rainfall ensues, drenching me in mere seconds.
Skye and her companion stumble. I almost lunge out to cushion Skye’s head as she tumbles to the ground. The young man gets to her first.
Taking a deep breath, I summon the water’s energy to my core, directing it and altering its prime directive: turn on the soldiers. The wave of wetness sloshes towards the walkway, and before the soldiers can even think, the force knocks ‘em flying.
“Run, Skye! Take wing!”
As the downpour begins to cease, the young man meets my eyes. His mouth is drawn into a tight frown. “She’s hurt bad, Aelshen.” I recognize him as the young lad who’d been with Skye the first time we’d met. What was his name again?
“Reach for the earth, lass,” I coax.
Skye’s head slumps and I can tell that she’s losing a lot of blood. The tarmac is soaked with red.
“She didn’t heal herself,” the young man tells me. “I don’t know—”
I gulp, wiping the water from me eyes. “This is bad. Can she Shift?”
“I don’t know,” he repeats.
“Ru-Yeva. Stay with us.” I close me eyes, feeling the earth’s pull as I focus on her wounds. But when I glance back at the young Guardian, I see something I’d dreaded. “It’s the weapon,” I conclude, my voice growing hoarse. “They’ve stabbed her.”
“What does that—?”
“It means, lad, that she can’t Shift, can’t perform magic, can’t bloody connect with the spirit world anymore!”
His mouth drops open and he swears, tightening his grip on Skye’s hand. “Is it—?”
“Not permanent, but it’ll put a damper on our flippin’ escape, that’s fer sure. Damn! I should’ve kept Ramsey with me.”
“Who?”
“Ne’er mind. Take her with ye. I’ll hold ‘em off.”
