by E. M. Moore
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” I asked.
His lips thinned. “Does it look like I get nervous?”
I shrugged. “You’re wearing a hole in my carpet so…yes?”
He stopped his pacing back and forth and faced me. “I lied to you before.”
Unease and confusion crept over me. “What?”
“When I told you I probably couldn’t take you? I lied.”
“So you can take me?”
He ran his hands through his hair. When he looked up, he looked torn. “The problem is, I don’t want to take you. And before you make some sort of girl power comment, your ability as a fighter has nothing to do with it. I don’t want you near the fighting.”
I swallowed a heavy feeling building in my chest. “W-why?”
“I can’t explain all of it. Your brother wanted you to run and here I am probably bringing you to the last place he wanted you to be. General Etau told you it wasn’t safe. I know it’s not safe. You shouldn’t be there.”
Because he was earnest, and only because he was earnest, did I let him get away with saying what he did. Sure, it was cool that he was worried about my well-being. I was worried about everyone, too, especially since they were all doing this for me. That was a heavy weight on my shoulders. But I also knew that we were all adults and could make our own decisions. If they didn’t want to come, they didn’t have to. “I appreciate your concern.”
He laughed. “No you don’t. I can tell by the look on your face and the amount of time it took you to answer.”
“Fine,” I conceded. “I’m trying to appreciate it. I am. I just need to be there, Troian. If you all went and something happened to one of you because of me…” I shook my head.
“It’s okay. We’ll stick together. Don’t go off by yourself and—”
“Get myself kidnapped? Wasn’t planning on it.”
“Yeah, this time.”
“Shut up,” I said, slapping his shoulder.
“If you need me, call me. I’m serious. I can be there in an instant.”
I already knew that was the truth. I hoped I didn’t have to take him up on that offer, but I was glad he’d be there if I did.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Tomas and I waited at the top of Gallows Hill for Troian. The air was cool, calm. Very unlike the jitters currently twisting my insides. To me, it felt like this was the stillness before the storm. Something bad was about to happen, it was the when that was unforeseen.
Green Eyes explained to Tomas and I earlier that he wanted to use the ley line as a signal booster to help this all go as smooth as possible. So far, everything seemed to be going as planned. Jake, Sanders, and Troian were scoping out the landing spot near Stonehenge. As soon as Troian showed here, he’d take Tomas over first since he really was more important than me. I was next though. And I was going to make it.
As soon as the guys found a good place to transfer Tomas and I back and forth—where we wouldn’t be in the middle of a battle or right in the thick of a cracked out magical creature platoon—we would be fine. Waiting was never easy for me, though. I’d checked my gear over a hundred times making sure I wasn’t missing anything, and I’d started to wear a new path in the grass. Tomas had already told me a few times I was making him nervous. He’d just opened his mouth—no doubt to say it again—when the hair on the back of my neck stood. Troian, thank God, slowly appeared like he was an actor in the old Star Trek series where people beamed everywhere.
He smiled when he saw me.
“How is it?” I asked.
“It could be better. Command was right. It’s nasty over there. Tomas, I’m going to need you to stay tight to us. Cas, make sure you have your weapons handy. By handy I mean out and ready just in case. We’ve got a decent spot. We’ve only got about a mile walk to find the unit that’s stationed there currently.” He turned to Tomas. “Ready?”
The Necromancer looked unsure but when Troian held his arm out, Tomas grabbed it. They fizzled out right away, Troian not giving the elderly Tomas any time to think about what he was doing or the fact that he was trusting a fae with his life. Probably a good thing.
It was boring as hell on Gallows Hill by myself. It was the anticipation of things to come that drove me crazy. Even though Tomas and I hadn’t talked much while we waited for Troian, at least he was there and I had the knowledge that we were about to embark in this together. Standing here by myself, I didn’t even know if Troian would come back for me. What if something happened? What if the partner travel didn’t work? What if it did work, but a fight erupted right where they landed and they weren’t coming back for me?
How would I know?
One of the worst block of minutes in my life passed…slowly. I stared into the blank space in front of me where Troian and Tomas had been and nothing happened. There was no shimmer or disturbance. Every second that passed felt like an hour, every minute a day. I kept running my hands through my hair, waiting. If they ever did come back to get me, I might not even have any hair left.
Finally, Troian blinked into existence in front of me again. He was cool as a cucumber, as usual. “Ready, Princess?”
My whole body sighed at the sight of him. I jumped a little on my toes to expend some of the pent up energy I’d been building. Then, I flashed Green Eyes a smile. “Beam me up, Scottie.”
He shook his head. “Just make sure you stay with me, Mr. Spock.”
“Spock? No way. I’m totally Captain Kirk.”
“I’m Captain Kirk.”
“Shut up and beam me to Stonehenge, Green Eyes.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me to him. In an instant, I was weightless.
Partner traveling with Troian was a lot like floating. I closed my eyes, afraid of what I would see if I looked down because it felt as if I were suspended in air. Nothing below, nothing above. I was nothingness swaying on the breeze, only tethered by Troian’s hand in mine.
When I did feel solid ground beneath my feet, I didn’t even have to open my eyes to know what I would see. The air was thick with electricity. I felt as if I’d just rubbed a balloon on my head with the way my hair spiked out with static. Magic. It was everywhere and on full bore.
Troian squeezed my hand and I finally opened my eyes.
“Was it bad?” he asked.
I smiled at the concern in his voice and the way a few worry lines folded the skin between his eyes. “It didn’t really feel like anything. It was cool. Are you okay?”
“A little tired, but I’ll be fine as soon as we hook up with this unit and I can relax for a bit.”
Jake, Sanders, and Tomas walked up to us. Jake and Sanders were decked out in tactical gear. Tomas, however, just had on a pair of pants and a plaid shirt. He reminded me of my Grandfather except he used to call his pants slacks. Whatever they were.
Sanders motioned to the compass in his hand. “This way,” he said.
“They’re not going to try and kill us, are they?” I asked. “The Elite unit?”
“Nah,” Sanders said. “If they do, we’ll sacrifice the fae.”
“No way,” I said, laughing at Sanders frankness. “He’s my ticket home.”
“Oh right. I guess we’ll worry about that when, or if, it happens.”
“Don’t worry,” Troian whispered in my ear. “They’ll be able to tell we’re Elite. We have this weird kind of awareness around each other.”
“Sounds—”
“Awful?” He suggested. “It is.”
The grass was higher here than it was in Salem. We had to walk through knee high lengths until we got to the forest. We skirted around the edge of huge, old trees until we broke into another clearing. Sanders pointed at a cross piercing the sky. “See that church? That’s where they’re holed up.”
I squeezed Troian’s hand. “Do you think you can make it?”
It wasn’t until he squeezed back that I realized we’d been holding hands this entire time. I pulled my hand from his, embarrassed. It had been co
mforting but I didn’t want any of them to know that I was a little scared. Even though the tension around this place was nuts, being scared was so un-Guardian-like. Especially with three Elites around.
The walk to the church was slow. I was beginning to think the building was one of those illusions where it always looked closer than it actually was. On top of that, Tomas was pretty damn slow. Yes, he was ancient, but that didn’t mean he had to act like he was too.
When we were close enough to the church to throw a dagger into the side, Sanders held his hand up. We halted behind him.
The air was still. There were a few birds chirping off in the distance, but for the most part, it was silent. Anyone who spent time near a forest knew that wasn’t usually the case. “Ho there,” Sanders called out. “I’m Elite Specialist Sanders. I come with two more Elite’s, one Necromancer, and one kick-ass Ley Line Guardian.”
“Damn straight,” I said even though I had no idea who Sanders was even talking to, or even if he was talking to anybody. Maybe they were using that freaky awareness thing that Troian had just told me about. Come to think of it, that was probably how Troian knew to leave my house that day Jake and Sanders came through the portal to tell him about the hearing.
That information would’ve been nice to know earlier.
A leaf off to the right shuddered and a body moved out from around a huge trunk. “State your business, Specialist.”
“This Necromancer has been trained to quiet the ley line from a ‘Mancer who put Salem’s ley line back to sleep. I suggest you let us through. We might just be your only help.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The stone church was musty and filled with Elites. Not that it took very many bodies to fill the small one-room worship hall. The soldiers were all in varying degrees of dress and health. The ones who’d been injured had been nursed well, but it was a shock to see the Elite in anything but less-than-stellar shape.
Jake felt it too. Scorpio, the guy who’d let us pass, had been answering question after question from Jake since we’d entered the dank space. When had this happened? How long had they been here? Where and how many targets were nearby? I kept flashing my eyes at Jake. He’d pretty much asked every single question he could except the one that really meant the most.
Had they seen Damen?
Finally, I cut Jake off after Scorpion answered a question about which magical creatures were fighting against them. “Elite, I’ve come looking for my brother. He’s Salem’s Ley Line Guardian. He was brought here by one of Stonehenge’s Ley Line Guardians in the beginning to help look at the line. Have you seen him? His name is Damen Marston, he’s a little taller than me, dark hair…”
Scorpion was already shaking his head before I got the full description out. “Sorry, Guardian. But we’ve not seen any humans around here. Just magical folk. Crazed, anger-filled magical folk.”
Troian stepped forward. “Sounds familiar.” He pointed to Tomas who’d taken a seat on a wood pew in the back. The surroundings must have made him nervous because he stared at the floor, his hands clasped together. “The Necromancer we brought knows how to turn them normal again. We just have to be on the line. How far away from the line are we?”
Tomas’s stare rose from the floor. He stared ahead at the lectern. “We’re approximately a kilometer away.”
“Translation to American please?”
“That’s a little over a half mile,” Troian answered me with a quick shake of his head.
Troian took Scorpio over to Tomas after the Elite unit leader asked what they needed in order for the Necromancer to be able to work his magic. I sat down in a nearby pew, dejected. They hadn’t seen Damen. I wanted to think that was a good thing. At least he wasn’t involved in all this fighting. However, if he wasn’t here, where could he be?
Jake’s lithe body sat next to me. He was silent for a few moments and then he sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, Cas.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what I was expecting. I guess it was naive to think that Damen would just be here with these guys just because these are the first ones we came across. I should’ve known. He’s got to be somewhere though. Where did he go after the fighting started? I’m sure his instinct would’ve told him to meet up with other Guardians, especially Elites.”
“Agreed.”
I looked over at the huddle now forming around Tomas. Some of the Elites had started to look more positive since we’d showed up. Scorpion, Troian, and Sanders, along with some other Elite’s who weren’t wounded, had put their heads together. No doubt forming a plan to heal the ley line and stop the creatures from freaking out. “That doesn’t help us now though, does it?”
“The calmer it is here, the sooner we’ll find him.”
Troian jogged over. “We’re suiting up in ten.”
***
For only the thousandth time that day, I checked my gear. A few of us were heading out to test the perimeter. The last battle had taken place that morning. It was a minor—very minor—victory for the Elite. Afterward, Scorpio was sure the magical horde had retreated further than they ever had before. The group heading out would see how close to the ley line they were. Fingers crossed they were past the ley line, which would give us a good shot at taking Tomas next time around.
Scorpio didn’t like the idea of me going with them. In fact, he’d said no when I was brought to his attention. It was too bad for him that his unit leader status meant nothing to me, and since Troian was already breaking his probation, neither one of us minded disobeying the stern Elite. Jake also stood up on my behalf. “She has as much stake in this as we do. Plus, I’ve seen her fight. Helped train her too. She’s good. She won’t be a hindrance.”
Hindrance? Really? Now I knew why I didn’t see any females on the wall of awesome Guardians in Command.
I stayed near Jake and Troian as we set out for the ley line. It was dark, only the stars and moon in the sky to help us see—the perfect time for a perimeter check. Since we could barely see anything, there was a good chance they wouldn’t be able to see us coming.
We halted every few minutes where a tall, large shifter was called to the front. He stuck his nose in the air, smelled, and then his ears perked for any signs of life. If I had to guess, he was a wolf shifter like Jake. They had incredible senses that would come in handy for a mission like this.
We broke through the woods and came to a small clearing. “It’s here,” Jake whispered. “I can feel it.”
“The line?” I asked.
He nodded. When the shifter was brought forward again, he agreed with what Jake had just said. They were in the right place. And with no sign of trouble as of yet, we’d be able to bring Tomas back tomorrow to fix the ley line.
Hope surged just as an arrow pierced the tree above my head. The feather waved with the force of the impact. Before I knew it, I was face down in the forest floor, Jake’s heavy body on top of mine.
“Arrows? Who the hell shoots arrows anymore?”
“Faes,” Jake said, his head twisting back and forth, trying to find the location of the threat. “Especially old school ones from Britain.”
“Warning shot,” Scorpio said. “Fall back.”
“Warning shot?” Troian questioned.
I was on the same page. Who the hell gave warning shots during a fight? I sure as hell didn’t. If they were like me, I was pretty sure that arrow had been aimed at my neck. It just missed its target. Thank God.
Jake got off me and I crouched low, hiding myself in the underbrush of the trees. Troian caught my eye and jerked his head toward the other retreating shadows. We crept slowly back since we’d been the initial target. They knew our location so staying hidden was a priority. A radio beeped in the distance and the whine of an arrow splitting the air above our heads sounded.
“Return to base. Return to base.”
Scorpio swore. I wanted to say No shit, Sherlock. Jake grabbed my hand. “Something’s happening. They never would’ve gotten on the radio to tell
us to return if it wasn’t important.”
“They just gave away Scorpio’s position.”
“Exactly,” he said.
The night sky lit above the canopy of trees. A bright circle blocked out the stars like a spotlight, but it wasn’t an ordinary spotlight. The number ten flashed in red in the middle. Then, nine. Eight.
“What the fuck?”
In the trees next to us, a portal appeared. The hazy darkness distorted with swirling pixel-like smoke.
“A temp portal,” Jake breathed.
“Get to the portal!” Scorpio yelled.
Thrash of boots through leaves and sticks filled the air around us as the Elite soldiers trampled the undergrowth to get to the temporary portal. Jake squeezed my hand and we made a run for it. Trusting Jake to guide me, I looked around for Troian. I couldn’t find him. He wasn’t anywhere. Then, when I looked back at the portal, he was there. A swath of blond hair gave him away as he stood off to the side.
“Four,” someone yelled.
Troian waved us through the portal. Jake and I jumped.
For a split second I was floating and then I bounced into a tree trunk and landed hard on the rocks surrounding it. Jake no longer held my hand. He’d gone through.
I hadn’t.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The portal faded out so I could see the red numbers clearly now in between the tops of the huge trees surrounding me. The red two blinked five times and then paused. One.
I closed my eyes and held my breath. I never thought I would go out like this. I wasn’t sure what “like this” was, but it couldn’t have been good if Command opened up a temporary portal to get its soldiers out of here. The ground rumbled beneath me, and then a bright, piercing light shone through even my closed eyelids. It was as if my eyes were open.
Then, nothing. I was weightless. The world was dark again behind my eyelids and I wondered at which point would I cease to think anymore. Before that happened, a picture of Jake flashed into my head. Then, Mom and Dad. Grandpa. Jake and Damen riding their bikes down the sidewalk next to our house. Damen pulling me up after he’d just flipped me on my ass. He was always pulling me up.
