by Lenore, Lani
“Don’t open your mouth!” Mech commanded.
Finn said nothing, clamping his lips shut. Mech’s eyes had narrowed, and he was looking even less tolerant than he had before. Finn and Toss tried to appear obedient, though they had no intentions of being so.
“Back away so I can see that you don’t open your mouths,” Mech ordered, and they began to do just that, very slowly as they thought the situation through.
How hard can it be to remember one little word? Finn wondered.
Why can’t I remember even the simplest things? Toss scolded himself.
They stepped carefully away, trying their best not to fall over the burnt pirate bodies, and after another moment, Finn was sure that he had it. The word was resting there in the center of his mind, and he threw caution into the wind.
“Dubiety!”
He saw Mech’s snarl just as his gun began to fire. One bullet hit Finn in the back before he managed to get behind a tree, and Mech’s focus on him allowed Toss to get to safety as well. If they had one thing on Mech, it was that the crystal-infused monstrosity could not afford to take his foot off his brother’s face. Mach certainly knew the word they were only trying to guess, and because of this, Mech was forced to remain stationary to keep his twin from saying it.
Finn winced, touching his back lightly. A few more of those and he might be completely black and blue.
“I thought for sure that was it!” he insisted over the sound of the shots.
“What if he kills Mach?” Toss asked, very concerned.
“He won’t. Not yet. Think of more words! Durable!”
The gunfire continued on, punishing the trees they rested against, splitting their bark.
“Duple!” Toss tried.
“Duplicity!”
Finn thought of words in every language that he knew – even finding some passing his mind that were hand motions instead of verbal expressions.
Toss tried to focus, but his thoughts wandered constantly. He thought of Mech and his mad frenzy of bullets. He thought of Sly and Calico being alone out there to battle the other pirate creatures. He thought about Rifter struggling with the demon imposter, and of Wren, who’d been left all alone. How could he focus with all that going on?
“Duel!” Finn shouted, even though he was sure that wasn’t it. It was a longer word, something–
Not Duel, he thought. Dual! It came to him then.
“Duality!” Finn yelled as loud as he could, listening to the sound as it echoed through the trees. He yelled it again for good measure. “Remember duality!”
2
The gunfire ceased. Finn and Toss were still unsure of their safety, but could not hold in their curiosity. They gradually turned to observe what had happened, breathing out their panic in slow breaths.
There was no mistake that Mech had heard the words, and he turned his face toward Finn before he froze. His body began to quake, and it appeared that Mech might have liked to open his mouth to curse them all, but his jaw would not unhinge. His joints began to lock, his guns unusable, but somehow he managed to look back down at Mach.
Mach was clenching his brother’s ankle that he’d built himself, and had been trying with all his might to remove the foot from his cheek. He could see his twin’s face as it began to turn a hot, red color, and he did not mistake the evil smile that passed across there – even as he was dying the death he should have only known once.
The metal foot began to burn into the side of Mach’s face, and he was sure that his twin was pressing it harder into his skin just for sadistic pleasure. He yelled out for the searing pain, but it did not do much damage before Toss had hurried over and crashed the hammer into Mech’s self-destructing body, knocking him away. The boy fell, jerking as the mechanics within him halted, and finally he passed away as he should have done long ago.
“Remember duality,” Toss muttered then. “What if someone had said it on accident?”
“What sort of respectable pirate uses a big word like ‘duality’?” Finn returned to him.
3
Mach rose up and touched the aching side of his face. It was blistered and swollen, and perhaps he would be scarred, but the pain would fade away with time. If he could have made one wish then, it was that he’d been strong enough to say the words to end his brother’s misbegotten life. At the same time though, he was glad he hadn’t. He looked over at his twin’s body – like watching his own body burn.
“We should go back,” Toss said to Finn. “Sly and Calico are alone out there.”
Mach sat still on the ground over Mech’s body, staring blankly. He understood that he had not killed himself, but he couldn’t help but feel that part of him was gone. Had he truly never become whole without Mech? If that was so, could he ever achieve completion? Somehow, he was aware of Finn’s approach.
“I didn’t want any of this to happen,” Mach said quietly – very much unlike himself. Mech had never taken to that blubbering very well. It was not how Mach was supposed to act, and it was not how any of them should be acting now.
“Hey!”
Mach’s eyes were blurry, but he somehow managed to focus on Finn’s face. Solid hands clamped his shoulders, urging him to get a hold on himself.
“He wasn’t your brother – wasn’t our brother anymore. He died a long time ago, and you know it. We are not finished yet!”
The reminder was laid down firmly, and Mach finally got it through his head. They had only accomplished one thing in a huge line of things to be done. He could not allow himself to stop for an old heartache.
Without anyone’s help, Mach pulled himself to his feet, retrieving his gun to settle it against his palm, back where it belonged.
“Let’s see to finishing it then,” he said resolutely.
4
The air rushed around Rifter on all sides as he traveled in the wake of the demon’s smoke. He carried Nix’s limp body, unable to bring himself to let it drop, even for Wren’s sake. His guilt over what had happened to his brother – what he had done to him – was much too strong for that.
But his mind was too busy with other things to give much thought to penance.
Even if he could reach Wren, how could he stop the demon from taking her? It was only a question of how, because he could not fail.
He reached the cliff easily enough, putting down Nix’s mangled body carefully onto the ground, even though he could not bear to look at his face any longer. The demon had aged Nix – more than abused him – but Rifter could not deal with this now.
I have to find Wren.
He could not see for the amount of smoke curling around the trees, thick and black. Where was she! He had told her not to leave this spot, but he secretly prayed that she had not listened to him. He crouched lower to the ground to get beneath the smoke – but before he could see clearly, something hit against him, knocking him back.
Rifter staggered back, reaching for weapons he no longer had, and when he could finally see again, he found that it was Wren herself who had smashed into him. The arms around him were clinging for dear life – not attacking him, and he drew his arms around her tightly.
“Oh Rifter!” she cried. “I was so afraid!”
He managed to urge her back from him so that he could look at her face. When she loosened her grip on him, he found himself looking into terrified blue eyes that were very familiar.
“I was after Whisper,” she confessed. “She got away from me.”
Rifter could not speak. Certainly, it would have been appropriate to console her, but he could not make himself do so.
“Where’s the demon?” she asked, looking frightened.
When he did not answer, a smile began to form across her face, and her lovely eyes grew sinister. Her voice dropped from its worried pitch and down to a taunting calm.
“Where’s the demon, Rifter?”
No… He shook his head in protest, but he could not change what had happened.
Sharp amber eyes peered back at h
im, and Rifter pushed her away. She stared at him with satisfaction and contempt, as if she wanted to spit in his face.
Not Wren. Anyone but Wren.
It had been much too easy for the demon to reach her, and now how would he deal with this? He needed to force the demon out of her, but he wasn’t sure he could do that without causing her harm. She was still inside there somewhere after all, for the demon seemed to desire a living body. Rifter had been through so much in the years of his life, but this was the worst thing he had ever been confronted with.
He saw the demon’s new face twist in discomfort – an expression he did not like to see on Wren – and instinct took over. Rifter shot forward and grabbed her shoulders in concern, feeling the sweltering temperature of her skin.
“What’s wrong?” Wren’s voice asked sweetly. She stepped toward him, holding out her arms. “Come to me. Let me hold you.”
Rifter backed away, shaking his head in disbelief. He was wounded by this, and his hatred for the demon could not override his sorrow. Finally, the demon gave up.
“Ah well, I tried. Still, it does hurt a girl’s feelings.”
With unexpected swiftness, Wren shot toward him, hitting him so hard that they flew up into the air, over the edge of the cliff to glean over the battle raging below.
“You want me back?” Rifter asked, growing desperate now. “Let her go and take me instead!”
“I couldn’t if I wanted to,” the demon mocked. “You covered yourself in runes! If only you’d thought to do the same to her, then it might have never worked out for me. I’m so appreciative of your neglect!”
Rifter was kicking himself inwardly, punching and beating and torturing himself inside.
“Do you still want to kill me? Do it then, if you think you can,” the Wren-demon hissed into his face. “I know you won’t.”
Instead of trying to push away, the demon in Wren’s body pressed closer to him, holding them face to face in the air. It used her beautiful eyes to gaze at him, and it softened her expression.
“It doesn’t have to change much,” the demon said. “I’ll still let you do things to her. She’s too delicate by herself after all. I can take so much more abuse – and pleasure.”
“Don’t make me do this,” Rifter said through clenched, bloody teeth, but the demon only smiled.
“You won’t,” Wren’s voice whispered with certainty. “Your love makes you weak.”
Those pretty lips came forward to touch his, tasting the blood on his mouth, but Rifter had already made his decision. It was not an easy choice, but it was the right choice; he was sure of it. He felt the demon’s kiss, and he accepted it, only for the time it took to get the dagger from his leg strap into his fingers.
I’m so sorry, Wren.
Taking care, Rifter drew back his knife and plunged it into Wren’s side.
The demon winced as the blood began to flow, and her eyes looked at him with contempt. The demon had thought he wouldn’t harm Wren’s body, but he hoped it wouldn’t have enough time to see his bluff. He drew the knife back again, but had no intention of another blow if he could keep from it. If the demon wanted Wren’s body, it would let her go to fight him before it could claim her shell again. It had to! Then, he would scoop her up and carry her some place safe.
“You bastard!” the demon made Wren scream at him. “Why couldn’t you just let me have what I have earned? But if you wish for it to be this way – for you and your friends and this place – so be it!”
Just as Rifter had seen before with Nix’s body – and just as he had seen when he’d released the demon from inside himself – black smoke began to billow out from Wren’s mouth as the demon exited her body. It passed up into the sky above them, and immediately Rifter moved away from it.
The last tendrils of darkness passed out of her, and he cradled her head with one hand so that he could look into her eyes. It was only Wren looking back at him then; he was sure of it. She was there, safe in his arms. She would heal slowly, but he had not damaged her beyond repair. She would live.
“Rifter,” she gasped in confusion, tears running down her face for the pain she felt.
He wanted to apologize to her for what he’d had to do. He wanted to assure her that she would be alright. But he didn’t get a chance. Sharp pain took that opportunity away from him.
He was hit by something large and heavy, and there were great, jagged ridges all around him, breaking into his flesh and crushing one of his arms. When he managed to raise his head, he looked into the gleaming yellow eye of a black-scaled monster. It was larger than any creature Nevermor had seen – even greater than the Ren. Its eyes alone were each bigger than Rifter’s head, and the slit in one of them narrowed as it focused on him.
The demon had shown its true face, and it was just as Rifter remembered. Through the pain, he understood. He was clenched within the demon’s teeth, dripping blood as the beast tore through the air.
And Wren was gone, plummeting down through the sky, away from him.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
1
Wren was falling. It was not the first time the Pack had watched her fall. Years ago, the Scourge had thrown her into the volcano when the High Mountain had erupted, but they had never doubted that Rifter would deliver her from that fate. Now, there was only to count the seconds before she hit the ground. There was nothing that they could do.
“Wren!” Finn yelled, more to alert the others than to draw the girl’s attention.
He’d glimpsed her upon reentering the clearing, and had been baffled to see her in the air, struggling with Rifter. He’d seen Rifter thrust a weapon into her; had watched billows of black smoke rushing out of her body. The smoke had become a large mass in the sky that had turned into the biggest creature Finn had ever seen – far greater than any nightmare that even the Scourge could have summoned.
Finn had faltered in his step when he’d seen it. The beast was black and sleek – a flying serpent, if such a thing existed. It had emerged from nothing but a grainy cloud in a matter of moments. Somehow, it had been able to focus on Rifter as he was trying to fly away with Wren, but the nightmare demon – as he could only assume the beast was – was quick to come back on him.
Then, Finn had watched her fall. Rifter was attacked by the demon, and there was no one to help the poor, unfortunate girl.
As battle allowed, the other boys caught sight of this atrocity, and they rushed toward her if they could, as if any one of them could have caught her to much merit at the speed she was dropping.
If only they could fly. But alas, they could not.
Was Wren coherent as she fell? Could she see the demon gnawing on her lover, or feel his blood splattering on her face as the drops fell from the sky? Could she feel the air around her, and was she aware of the limpness of her own body? Or was it simple bliss without complications? No one knew other than Wren herself, and it was over so quickly that she could not think deeply on it.
Her body hit the ground before any one of the boys reached the spot where she was destined to fall, and the only thing that could be heard was a sickening crunch as her bones broke.
Finn and Mach were the first to arrive at the edge of the circle that would eventually form around her. The girl’s body was twisted, one of her shoulders, crushed. Blood pooled out around her, soaking her stained gown. Her eyes were open, and the expression on her face was not of horror, but confusion, as if she could not possibly understand that she was dead.
Dead.
Finn, Mach, and Toss stood around her, staring down at her body in disbelief. Not one of them said a word, completely unaware of each other. This had not been meant to happen. It wasn’t safe to stand around as they were, but they could not break away. Wren – their elected reason for fighting – had died in front of them, and they had not been able to stop it. They had failed.
The monsters advanced around them – hideous, smoldering things that had once been men – and without hesitation or caution, the boys
turned and began to fight. There was hardly any calculation or skill in their attacks, only rage. What sort of guardians were they? They had let Wren die – the one that each of them would have laid down his life for, even before Rifter.
They hadn’t considered what might happen if she’d died, for they were all determined to do everything in their power to prevent it. If they had been able to register cognitive thought as they drew blood from their enemies, they would have debated what Wren would have wanted, even beyond her own life. She would have wanted them to keep fighting for what they loved, and not stop until Nevermor was theirs again. Somehow, they knew that, even without thinking.
They had to save this place now. Later, there could be grief.
2
Large jaws were chomping down on Rifter, sharp ravenous teeth sinking deep into his flesh. He had seen Wren fall when the demon had come free of her, but he could do nothing to prevent it. He was caught in the creature’s mouth, and he could not break free, despite his struggling and the power of his fist.
“Let me go to her!” he commanded, ignoring the blood that had come up in his mouth. “Then you can have me!”
The demon could not speak for its full jaws, but it shifted its teeth as it smiled, shredding his flesh. The forsaken beast did not seem to care that it might not have a body to go into if it killed them all. It was much too angry to be bothered. Rifter could hardly feel his own pain, looking down desperately as Wren fell away from him. She was bleeding from the wound he had given her, and that seemed to make her unaware that she was falling to her death. She did not even scream, and when she hit, her body broke like a twig.
“No!” Rifter roared in protest, as if it would do any good, but as it had in the past, the world reacted to his pain.
The clouds swirled overheard, gathering to swell with lightning. The earth shook and thunder crashed. Nevermor felt Rifter’s agony to its inner core, just as it once had. After being blinded for so long, it had finally recognized its master.
