“Talon can’t do it! He’s about done, Claire,” Harvey yelled. His frantic voice pulled against me just as hard as his arm as he tried to escape my grasp. “We have to move now if we have any chance of pulling this off!”
“Harvey,” Uriah said, his voice commanding, no longer shaky and weak, “stand back. Protect Claire. I’m going to get Melody away from him.”
Uriah’s body coiled in anticipation of renewing his fight.
“No, you’re not,” I said, grabbing him before he could do anything stupid. He stared at me like I had just asked him to slit his own wrists. I buried the hurt that look drew out of me and focused. “Uriah, you already tried to fight him on your own. It didn’t work. And don’t bother arguing with me. I know exactly how close you just came to dying. I’m done standing on the sidelines.”
His lips pressed thin, but we didn’t have time for arguing and he knew it. “What do we do then?”
I turned away from him to his surprise and looked at Harvey. “When I say so, start running to the right. Circle around so you can get close to Melody. I know you’re going to want to try and grab her, but don’t. You can’t do it, Harvey. Just get what you need and get back here as fast as you can. The rest of us will do everything we can to keep the Matwau from killing you.”
Harvey blanched just a little at my frankness, but he nodded.
“Claire…” Uriah began.
“Just keep the Matwau off Harvey,” I said. I was leaving out the reason behind this tactic, the plan I had come up with what felt like ages ago. I could see in his eyes that he knew all of this. “Please, Uriah, just trust me.”
One quick nod from him, and Uriah leapt away from us.
He ran straight for the Matwau. Still tangled up with Talon, the Matwau transformed into a gigantic panther and crashed down on the raging cougar. Talon’s howl swept across the valley. Blood ran down his shoulder and across his chest, but Uriah did not slow to help his friend. None of us could, or more of us would fall. I hoped Talon would survive as I raced through the sand. Backhanding Melody hard enough that she collapsed to the ground, the Matwau stood over her body and stood to meet Uriah.
As hard as it was to watch Uriah rush toward such a terrifying creature, I prayed to the gods that Uriah would be all he saw. I ran in the opposite direction as Harvey. If the Matwau’s focus wavered, I wanted it to fall on me next. Harvey had to get to Melody. He was almost there, so close to getting what we needed, when the Matwau’s gaze snapped to his scrambling form. Melody’s limp body was suddenly surrounded by the remaining creatures, the ones Uriah hadn’t killed. They hadn’t run to her, they were pulled by the Matwau’s power to her side, a not so subtle indication of his newfound power.
Uriah saw the creatures and the Matwau’s altered interest as well and sprang forward even faster. He wasn’t fast enough. The Matwau's twisted power propelled him at Harvey just short of a sonic boom. My whole body tensed as I waited for them to collide. But it never happened.
35: Futile Fight
I knew I could never catch him. My eyes tracked the Matwau as he rocketed toward Harvey, keeping Melody’s guarded body in my periphery. A second before the Matwau obliterated Harvey everything seemed to stop. In that moment of suspension, I drew in a terrible breath and almost blinked. If I had, I would have missed it.
Some force I couldn’t explain threw Harvey and the Matwau apart. Sand exploded between them, arcing with them as they flew back. I stumbled to a stop as Harvey bounced along the sand. The heavier, more massive Matwau dug a furrow through the desert floor as he skidded to a stop. I feared Harvey was dead despite the bizarre experience, but his weakened body twitched and he forced himself to sit up. That was all I needed to see. My gaze and direction turned back to the Matwau. My dad taught me to fight fair, but I had no intention of following that advice today. I sped back toward the disoriented mound of evil fully intent on pounding my fists into his flesh until he colored the sand scarlet.
“No! No, no, no!” the Matwau raged. “This cannot be!” He was standing now. His fiery gaze bored into me. “Whose protection is he under? Who did this?”
Protection? What was he talking about? Suddenly my eyes widened in amazement. I remembered this. When the Matwau tried to attack Daniel in Quaile’s presence she had repulsed him, claiming Daniel was under her protection. Is that what Claire had done to Harvey? Could she do it to me? That hope burst after only a brief life. If she could have put her protection on me she would have. No doubt the gods thought that would have tipped the balance a little too much in my favor.
When I do die, whether it be today or years from now, I’m going to have a few things to say to them about their ideas of what is and isn’t fair.
“Where is the shaman?” the Matwau screamed. “It’s one of you here. It has to be! A shaman can only reach so far. Who is it?”
I had to strain to keep myself from turning to look at Claire. I didn’t want anything in my expression or body language to give her away and turn the Matwau's anger on her. Refusing to look at where I thought Claire was, I was startled when she came into view, sprinting in a wide arc around us to get behind the Matwau. To get to Melody.
The Matwau was oblivious to Claire, still raging. “I made sure! Neither of the Tewa shaman were chosen. There was no one else!”
Claire was almost to Melody. Panic that the Matwau would spot her nearly erupted out of me. My brain scrambled to keep him distracted. “You don’t know everything, Matwau,” I yelled at him. “You think because you’ve been alive so long you know all the answers, the future. Well, you don’t! You can’t kill Harvey, and you aren’t going to kill me either.”
“I will kill every single one of you!” he screamed.
I wondered about that claim, but my thoughts were too focused on Claire to spend much power on it. Her hand reached out as she neared Melody, and my heart clenched. Don’t do it! I begged. There was no way she’d be able to yank Melody’s dead weight away from those creatures without getting herself killed. Two more steps, and she swerved, dipping down briefly and darting away before the beleaguered wolf could do more than snap at her. He obviously didn’t consider her much of a threat. I couldn’t imagine what the point of Claire’s feint had been, but movement from the Matwau refused to let me ponder it.
Furious, he tore back to Melody’s side. His creatures scattered at his appearance. Melody stirred just in time to see the Matwau lunging for her. A wall of absolute terror hit me as Melody’s emotions laid hold of my heart. The Matwau turned to look down at her. His gaze was fixed.
“Killing you isn’t the worst thing I could do to you, Uriah. I can make you suffer in so many other ways,” the Matwau said. Laughter floated out of his twisted mouth as he pulled Melody to her feet. “I can make it so you will beg me to kill you, just to end the pain.”
His hand raised above her, inhuman claws flashing in the sunlight. Melody’s eyes closed against the inevitable as his hand began to fall.
I knew I was screaming. I could hear everyone else screaming, but my body kept moving, hurtling me to the Matwau’s side. My legs felt nothing. They pumped beneath me. Independent of any thought, they carried me toward her. I felt her heart beating in time with mine. Our eyes locked as she tried to run, but a great clawed hand swept in between us. Pain exploded across my chest and arm, but it was not mine. My legs wobbled as I saw her fall.
The physical shock of her pain hitting me was nothing compared to the terror of seeing her blood pool in the sand. Without knowing how I got there, I found myself doubled over on the ground. I could feel every drop of blood leaving her body, burning a trail of bitter anguish as it slid away.
Uncontrollable fury took hold of me. I pushed up from the sand and took the first step of a blind rush. I might have run to my death just as he wanted if Claire hadn’t grabbed my arm.
“Uriah, stop! You can’t fight him like this.”
“I have to stop him. I won’t let him kill her,” I said, venom dripping from every word. I gl
ared back at the Matwau still holding his gruesome pose. His eyes mocked me as he waited for me to decide, because he knew I would come. Destiny, vengeance, Melody, I would come.
Claire took a deep breath next to me. The sound drew my gaze back to her. I saw her hands shaking at her sides, a sight I found strange, though I couldn’t pinpoint why. “You can’t save her by dashing into the Matwau’s hands. Uriah, she’s dying! You have to help her.”
The agony of Melody’s pain when it hit me, when I saw her fall, it had consumed me. I hadn’t even felt the pull of the bond then. Now, it was all I could feel. Every cell of my body cried out for her. My breathing became labored as I tried to crawl over to her. Claire’s death grip on my arm held me back. I was shaking so hard I could barely form the word. “How?”
“You have to form the bond,” Claire said. “You have to touch her. The bond can heal anything. You know it can. You saw it happen with Daniel.”
“I…I can’t touch her without getting to her first. I have to kill the Matwau. Let go of me, Claire. I have to kill him so I can save her.”
“No. All you have to do is touch this,” Claire said, her hand extending toward me.
The strands of hair lying on her palm sent me back a step. That was why she had run by Melody without trying to pull her away. She knew all she needed was a piece of her to complete the bond. She knew I would need this. She knew, and she made it possible in spite of the agony it was obviously causing her. Tears slid down her cheeks.
“No, not that. Please. I can’t,” I cried. I had come so far. I had saved Claire’s life by finding her Twin Soul. I had given my own blood in an attempt to save her again, and save myself from a life of despair. I had given so much already. It was just too much to ask me to do this, too. I wanted to go home. With Claire. Go home to my mom and my ranch and live my life. I didn’t want to touch Melody and seal my fate. There had to be another way.
“Uriah, please,” Claire begged. “This isn’t just about Melody. It will get you the extra power you need, too.”
The power, only if we could walk away from the bond. I wanted to be at her side more than anything right now. Even with Claire holding onto me, touching me, talking to me, I wanted to hold Melody and soothe her wounds. My hands started shaking at the thought. “I can’t do it.”
“Please,” Harvey whispered. “You have to save her. The bond…it will protect her, won’t it? He can’t hurt her if the bond is made.”
Claire and I look at each other. The Matwau said he would kill everyone. With the dark gods’ power fueling him, all bets were off.
“Make your choice, Uriah!” the Matwau screamed. “Watch her die, or face me and end this futile fight!”
Looking up at Claire, I begged her to rescue me from this.
“You have to save her, Uriah.” Her chin quivered, but she refused to back down. “You can’t let her die. Whatever happens after, you have to save her and get the power you need to destroy the Matwau. If you don’t, we may all die.”
I knew I had to. I couldn’t let her die. Claire was right, but the pull to Melody was so strong. My belief in myself was fading fast. I would never survive against the bond as long as Claire did. I had to break the bond right here.
I just wished I knew how.
“Claire, I don’t know how to break the bond. Quaile said it was circular, giving up and getting power at the same time, but I don’t know what that means.”
Frowning, Claire didn’t say anything for a moment. She took in my words and held them for a moment before looking back up at me. “You will, Uriah. You’ll understand when the time comes.”
Her hand shook as she uncurled her fingers and held them out to me. The auburn strands laid in perfect stillness, waiting. My eyes met Claire’s. The steely determination in them gave me strength. She wasn’t giving up on me yet.
“I won’t leave you,” I promised.
And then I took Melody’s hair.
36: One Thing
The blood didn’t disappear, but the gaping holes in Melody’s chest and arm knitted themselves back together in the most fascinating way. The color that had drained out of her body along with her blood responded to the bond. Her cheeks flushed pink and her lips parted as a gasp was ripped from her body. I watched the phenomenon from the corner of my eye. As amazing as it was, I was more concerned with Uriah.
For five blissful seconds he made no move toward his Twin Soul. In that brief space of time I deluded myself into thinking he had done it. He had resisted the pull of the bond. The fantasy ended when the bond sped from Melody’s healed body and washed over the entire valley. Everyone, the Matwau included, collapsed to their knees. It was literally breathtaking. I couldn’t force air into my lungs no matter how hard I tried. Their love was physically stifling.
I was still trying to get a hold on myself when I saw Uriah push to his feet. He stood facing her. The expression on his face was pure adoration, but I could see the trembling in his hand. The tremor gave me strength. He was fighting. I knew he was.
But he was losing.
Uriah took a step forward. His feet drug in the sand, but he kept going. One achingly slow step at a time, his soul pulled him toward its partner, right into the Matwau’s hands.
“Harvey,” I gasped, my fear finally springing my voice free of the cloying effect of the bond. He didn’t turn to look at me. His eyes were glued to Melody. He was crying. I yanked myself up off the ground and shoved him hard. He nearly fell over, but it was enough to steal his focus from her. “Harvey, we have to do it now.”
His eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, we don’t have much time.”
“But…but Melody’s safe now. The bond…it’s going to protect her. Can’t we just run?”
“Even if we run, he’ll keep killing.” I glanced at Uriah. He was a good ten feet away from us now. “Besides, I don’t think the bond is going to protect Melody, not here.”
As if he heard me, the Matwau snapped Melody in front of him. One powerful arm wrapped around her chest and pinned her in place. With his free arm he placed a clawed finger nail against her cheek, drawing it down slowly. Even as far away as Harvey and I were, we saw the trail of blood his touch left behind.
Harvey lost it. “The bond…no…she’s safe now! You said she’d be safe! He can’t kill her! What’s happening? Claire, we have to…”
I grabbed his face and forced him to look at me. “We have to go through with our plan. The Matwau has access to the dark gods’ power here. He can do whatever he wants. If you want to save your wife, do exactly what I told you to do. Now!”
As quickly as Harvey had fallen into hysteria, he snapped back out of it. He held his arm out to me and I clamped down on his flesh. He stood, but I stayed kneeling. The position helped me focus better. I was going to need every bit of help I could get. My hand never left Harvey’s arm, but my thoughts turned inward. I was terrified. All I had were some vague instructions and an even more vague vision of what I was supposed to do. I was filling in the gaps myself, with nothing but hope to guide me forward. Time slowed around me to the speed of a desert tortoise.
Reaching in to contact my soul wasn’t the first step like I had originally thought it would be. Trying to extricate my power while it was still tangled throughout my body would only rip me to pieces. Instead I started at my fingertips and my toes. My power was thin and wisplike here. If I tried to grab at it the bits fluttered away. If I coaxed my power, calling it toward my center, it responded more favorably. Inching my power up my fingers and toes was easy, but that quickly disappeared. The more substantial my power became, the harder it was to move.
I was focused on pulling in my power, but a small part of my consciousness was still tapped into the world around me. When I had moved my power in to my knees and elbows I squeezed Harvey’s arm. Immediately he started yelling at Uriah.
“Uriah, come back. Please!”
My eyes were closed, but the way his pleas kept rising in volume, becoming
more frantic with each word told me Uriah wasn’t responding. I kept working and trusted Harvey to come through for me. It wasn’t just Uriah he was trying to distract, it was Melody as well. They were both about to lose big if they didn’t turn away from each other.
I kept pulling in my power and Harvey kept yelling.
It would take time for both of our efforts to succeed, just not too much time, I hoped fervently. My power reached my shoulders and hips. That was when it started fighting me. I was prepared for it to pull away. What I wasn’t prepared for was Daniel.
I had suppressed my bond to him, but not broken it. I hadn’t understood before how I could break my bond if I had to give up my power, but as I had been pulling my power inward I felt the bond weaken. Sacrifice, Quaile had said. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen the answer before. Giving up my power to save Uriah’s life was a sacrifice worthy of the gods notice. The more I pulled the more it faded.
But the bond didn’t want to fade.
Daniel’s face burst into my mind, shocking me so profoundly I almost lost my hold on my power entirely. The image of his face expanded until his whole body appeared in front of me. I knew I had my eyes shut tight against distraction, but I saw him walk toward me. His grin held decades of laughter, his eyes a thousand joys. The way he walked toward me so eagerly told me every one of his happy thoughts had been spawned from us being together. I could do nothing to stop his approached. If I reached out to fend him off I would lose all my progress.
Confidence carried him to me. Daniel’s arms wrapped lovingly around me, and with his embrace came the worst assault yet. Images danced in front of my eyes. A garden wedding at the base of the mountains. Daniel’s parents and extended family welcomed me into their lives with such love and enthusiasm that every handshake and hug stole a little of my resolve. Even worse were my own parents standing nearby. My dad talked to Daniel…and laughed! He loved him. He welcomed him as a son. My mom fawned over him with delight. The bond pulsed, filling every bit of space around us with joy. Everyone around felt it and rejoiced with us.
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