Merlin's Children (The Children and the Blood)

by Megan Joel Peterson

  Snarling a curse, Ashe ran toward her.

  Chunks of siding pelted her as she reached the old woman, and she ducked, one arm protecting her head as the other snagged Thelma’s bony elbow.

  “Move!” she yelled.

  Gasping in pain, Thelma shook her head. “Can’t…”

  Ashe flung her magic at the approaching cars, propelling one of them sideways into a telephone pole, though the vehicle behind just kept coming. “You have to!”

  Thelma shook her head again. “Go.”

  “I’m not–”

  Light swelled from the old woman, and then Ashe was flying. Crashing backwards to the ground, she gasped as air rushed from her chest and the world shuddered back into place in a staccato of color and sound.

  She was beside the truck, Lily was shouting, and by the bungalow, Thelma was deathly still. Over her head, the rear door of the pickup flew open and then Cole was there. Leaning out, he grabbed her arm, hauling her from the ground.

  With a gasp, she scrambled up and tumbled onto the seat as Spider hit the accelerator. Scattering dirt in its wake, the truck whipped around and then raced for the road.

  A sedan was right in front of them.

  Spider swore and yanked on the wheel, sending the truck swerving wildly into the ditch. Snagging the headrest, Ashe pulled herself up from the seat, flinging magic at the passing car as she moved.

  The sedan went sideways, caught on its own momentum and barrel-rolled into the air. More magic rushed them, coming from the wizards struggling from the damaged cars ahead, and quickly, her defenses swelled around the truck, taking the blows.

  “What the–” Spider cried.

  “Just go!” Cole yelled.

  The girl didn’t hesitate. The engine roared as she sent the pickup surging out of the ditch.

  Cole looked from Ashe to the wizards on both sides of the road, and then threw himself to the floor.

  Her magic raced out and punched into the damaged cars, propelling them into the fields.

  The wizards fell behind them and the tires growled as the road began to climb. Spinning on the seat, she looked through the rear window.

  No one could follow.

  A gasp escaped her as she stared down at the valley. Cars and pieces of cars littered the ground in a path of destruction from the base of the hills to the crumbling bungalow. Wizards ran for the tiny house, and a few already circled the space where Thelma lay.

  And less than a mile from the chaos, an old pile of rubble marked her home.

  The adrenaline drained as her gaze lingered on the ruins till trees swallowed the view and the truck swerved onto the higher reaches of the mountain road.

  “A-are we okay?” Lily asked, clutching the front seat and staring between her, Cole and Spider as Ashe turned back around.

  She didn’t answer.

  “Ashley?” Lily pressed, and then tried again when a moment went by. “Ashley?”

  Wordlessly, Ashe looked away.

  *****

  Blood dripped from shrapnel wounds covering him from head to toe, and his dislocated arm dangled uselessly. Smoke billowed from the wreckage of the sedan before him, though it didn’t obscure the bodies of the two wizards inside.

  Grimacing, Brogan tugged a shard of fragmented car from his forearm and tossed it to the ground. Reaching up again, he gripped his shoulder, drew a short breath, and then shoved it hard.

  A snarl escaped him as the joint snapped into place.

  He scowled, exhaling as the pain subsided to a level he could more readily ignore.

  The day they were done with the Merlin queen couldn’t possibly come soon enough.

  Rolling his shoulder slightly, he eyed the destroyed vehicles scattered over the fields on either side of the road, and then turned back to the decaying house. They hadn’t given much consideration to the old woman six months ago, and certainly had never thought she could be like the Blood. How it was possible was a mystery, though thankfully, one the king would likely have the leisure to explore.

  Motioning the wizards aside, he studied the old woman propped against the crisscross siding. Thick blood plastered sections of her wild gray hair to her head and stained the colorless fabric of her clothes. Bony legs stuck out from beneath her tattered skirt, one of them twisted awkwardly. But past the survivable wounds, age seemed to be bearing down, till only the shortest of breaths moved her lungs.

  He nodded to the wizard crouching beside her.

  A short pulse of healing magic sped through the old woman.

  She gasped, her eyes flying open. “Firemen,” she croaked.

  The wizard glanced back, questioning.

  Brogan ignored him. “Do you know why you’re alive?” he asked her calmly.

  She nodded, certainty in the feeble motion. “Won’t tell you though,” she whispered.

  He paid no attention to the deranged response. It was enough at the moment that she was capable of giving one at all.

  “You will tell us everything you told them, why she came to you, and all that you know. Do you understand?”

  A strange smile crept onto the old woman’s face.

  “Yes,” she answered simply. “Do you?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Silence hung heavy on the truck cab, and through the shattered windows, the wind blew with the icy bite of altitude. Broken glass grated beneath him and, rising slightly from the bench seat, he brushed the blue-green bits toward their innumerable counterparts littering the floor.

  Several pieces flew haphazardly to hit the girl at his side, and Cole glanced over. Staring out the broken window as the wind tossed her hair, Ashe gave no more sign of noticing the glass than she had anything else over the past few miles.

  He hesitated. Whether or not the old woman was right about the spell didn’t really matter. He could tell Ashe believed it.

  And it kind of looked like it was killing her.

  The air seemed too thin and he turned away, suddenly working to take in a breath despite the wind whipping it away from him. Blinking, he scooted forward and wrapped an arm around the headrest to steady himself as the truck bounded over the rough country highway. In the seat below him, Lily glanced up, and then returned her gaze to the window like a small twin of her sister.

  “Where are we going?” he asked, his voice tight.

  Silence met the question.

  “Spider.”

  The girl’s eyes went to him briefly. “We need to lose the truck,” she said quietly.

  Cole tried not to scowl, despite the fact he knew she was right. A big, red pickup wasn’t subtle on a good day, and that didn’t even bring into it the resources Brogan had at his disposal. Half the state would probably be looking for the Chevy within the hour, based on God knew what ridiculous story the Blood came up with this time.

  He just hated what it would do to Ben and Sue, learning that not only were he and Lily hundreds of miles from where they said they’d be, but they were missing from a truck that looked like it’d gone through a war.

  “Yeah,” he agreed.

  Spider glanced to him and then returned her eyes to the road.

  Looking out the window, he studied the valley below. Farms were scattered across the landscape to the horizon, and the afternoon sun picked out the houses and the vehicles next to them in brilliant relief.

  He had no idea how they were going to get another form of transportation, short of theft.

  Again.

  Sighing, he shook his head. “So what’s the plan, then? Don’t suppose you know how to hotwire cars or something?”

  Spider was silent for a moment. “Yeah.”

  He paused. Of course she did.

  Minutes passed and gradually, the highway descended. Houses and shops appeared among the trees crowding the roadside, and traffic picked up as blue signs for the interstate came into view.

  “There,” Spider said.

  He glanced over as she steered the truck toward a small gas station set back from the road. A yell
owed marquee hung below the sun-faded station sign, and from the abbreviated words crowding the letter slots, he could only garner that something was on sale. Rusted siding dangled loose from one side of the pump shelter, and so many neon advertisements crowded the windows, it was almost impossible to see inside.

  His eyes scanned the lot again before he realized what the girl must have noticed.

  A dark green SUV sat in the shadow of the station, by the restrooms and far from any other cars. Meanwhile, only a single security camera was attached to the building, and it was pointed squarely at the pumps fifty feet away.

  Spider guided the truck off the road and through the parking lot. Pulling around to the rear of the building, she brought the vehicle to a quick stop, threw the gearshift into park and then pushed open the door.

  “Stay here,” she said over her shoulder as she climbed out.

  He didn’t bother to answer as she shut the door and strode toward the SUV, her gaze sweeping the surrounding area as she went. At the side of the vehicle, she paused, checking the interior, and then tugged the handle.

  The door opened easily.

  With a glance to the restrooms and the front of the station lot, she slid into the SUV and then ducked sideways, vanishing from sight. He waited, barely breathing as his gaze twitched from the vehicle to the restroom door and back.

  The engine of the SUV kicked over. Swiftly, the girl rose into view and put the vehicle into drive.

  “Come on,” Cole said.

  Ashe was already moving. Snagging the bags from the floor, she paused only long enough to be sure Lily climbed out before she pushed open the door and ran for the SUV. Quickly, he followed. Lily scrambled into the back seat after her sister, and he grabbed at the passenger door while Spider shoved it wide.

  The restroom door opened.

  Cole swung in as Spider hit the accelerator.

  The SUV surged forward, pushing him back into the seat, and suddenly, a spike of pain rushed past him, fading almost as fast as it came. He twisted in the passenger seat, looking back to the gas station. By the restroom, a scrawny teenage boy gaped at the lot as though he couldn’t see his SUV racing away.

  Cole glanced at Ashe. Staring out the window, she seemed oblivious to everything, but as the vehicle shot past the trees and left the station behind, he felt the faint buzz of magic disappear.

  He turned back in the seat and looked to Spider. Her eyes on the reflection of her friend in the rearview mirror, she said nothing.

  “You never answered my question,” he told her.

  She didn’t respond.

  “Where are we going?”

  Spider’s gaze returned to the highway. “I know a place south of here where we can stay.”

  He watched her for a moment, but something made it clear he wasn’t going to get more. And maybe it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like he had a suggestion for where to head anyway.

  Miles slid by in silence as the sun gradually sank below the horizon. Signs for Yellowstone began to dot the sides of the highway, growing more frequent the longer they drove. Cars sped past in blinding flashes as darkness took hold, and on the hillsides, light glowed from the windows of distant cabins.

  Spider kept driving.

  As the mountains fell behind them and the sky opened into an expanse of stars, he blinked tiredly, realizing they were leaving the country road they’d been following for longer than he could recall. A small town lay ahead, almost lost in the darkness and barely large enough to have a few streets to its name. A handful of decaying businesses peppered its sidewalks, joining the houses in having their windows darkened for the night.

  At a street like any of the others, the girl turned and, half a dozen houses later, she pulled the SUV to a stop.

  “Give me a second,” she said.

  Pushing open the door, she climbed out and headed for a two story block of house that could have been cloned from any neighborhood in America. Climbing the steps to the porch, she reached the door and then hesitated, almost as if preparing herself, before lifting a hand to knock.

  A minute passed, followed by another. She knocked again.

  Incrementally, the door crept open.

  The first thing he saw was the barrel of a shotgun.

  His hand went for the door handle, though he knew he’d never reach her in time.

  Spider didn’t move.

  Neither did the gun.

  Heart pounding, he watched as the girl said something to the person beyond the door. A moment crawled past after she spoke and then, ever so slowly, the barrel retreated into the darkness.

  Spider walked back down the stairs.

  “They’ll let us stay the night,” she said flatly as she reached the SUV.

  An incredulous noise escaped him.

  “It’s the best option,” Spider snapped.

  Roughly, she grabbed her bag from the footwell and then slammed the door.

  His eyebrows rose as she strode away. Exhaling, he glanced to the back seat.

  Ashe hadn’t moved. Her gaze on the middle distance, she gave no sign she’d noticed they’d stopped at all. Resting her head on her sister’s lap, Lily was asleep, and absently, Ashe was running her hand over the child’s hair.

  He paused, seeing for the first time something of the girl he’d rescued six months before.

  Discomfort grated through him. He turned and climbed out of the vehicle.

  A moment passed and then he heard her follow.

  Evenly cropped bushes fronted the house and a tall wooden fence blocked any view of the backyard. No light was visible through the thickly curtained windows and the porch was bare except for a faded welcome mat whose message belied everything he’d just seen.

  Carefully, he pushed past the front door, half expecting the shotgun to reappear.

  Instead, there was only a couple who, like their house, could have been cut from a mold for stereotypical white, middle-class Americans from anywhere. A terry-cloth robe of pale pink covered the woman, with a corresponding one of dark blue hanging off the man, and while their hair was neither curly nor straight, it was such a completely unremarkable shade of brown, the effect was a bit incredible.

  He suddenly found himself thinking that his adoptive mother, Melissa, would have been jealous as hell.

  Tension charged the air like an electrical hum, though the yawning golden retriever lumped in the corner didn’t seem to care. As Cole and Ashe came in, the couple ran their eyes over them in mirror image of one another, and when Lily peeked around her sister, their faces went rigid with alarm.

  “Annie, Gary. Summer, Snake and Flower.”

  Spider motioned between the two groups by way of introduction, and then crossed the entryway to the stairs.

  “We’ll be gone by tomorrow,” she called tersely as she climbed the hardwood steps.

  Uncomfortably, he followed Ashe and Lily after the girl.

  The couple’s gazes tracked them the whole way.

  A small lamp sat in the bedroom at the far end of the hall, casting dull light on the flowered wall paintings and providing the only illumination for the corridor. Ignoring it, Spider rounded the landing and headed into the first room by the stairs. Bringing Lily, Ashe trailed her, while by the doorway, Cole paused.

  Holding aside the edge of the curtain, Spider swiftly scanned the neighborhood, though from the way her gaze flicked back to her friend almost immediately, he could tell her attention to the street was on autopilot. In the glow of a nightlight, Ashe led Lily to the bed and helped her climb beneath the cream-colored quilt. As Lily situated herself, Ashe sank down beside her and, when the girl’s eyes finally closed, she gently resumed running her fingers over the kid’s hair.

  There wasn’t a trace of expression on her face the entire time.

  Stepping farther into the room, he glanced around, searching for somewhere to be. The staid block of a dresser met his gaze, with closet doors framing it on either side, and except for the additional blankets hanging from the b
ed’s footboard, the rest of the room was bare. Without options, he crossed to the second window and joined Spider in watching the sleepy town.

  Minutes passed. Outside the door, the floor creaked as Gary and Annie crept to bed.

  “I need you to do something for me,” Ashe said softly.

  He glanced over to see her watching Spider in the darkness.

  The girl’s brow drew down. “What?”

  “Take Lily.”

  Spider’s expression cleared. “No. Ashe, no. You’re not doing what I–”

  “I have to stop him.”

  “So stop him!” the girl hissed, trying to keep her voice low. “But not like this. Not without any backup or–”

  “You’re not coming with me.”

  “I’m not letting you do this alone!”

  “You’re not coming with me, Spider.”

  The girl made an incredulous sound. “And you’re going to stop me?”

  He saw Ashe’s gaze twitch toward the door.

  Spider scowled. “You…” she started furiously. “You can’t do this, Ashe. Just because some old woman–”

  “He’ll kill her, Spider. And you. And everyone I…”

  Ashe grimaced, looking away.

  “He can’t.”

  She turned back sharply.

  Cole blinked, the words feeling like they’d come from nowhere. Uncomfortably, he hesitated.

  She had to know. If he wanted to keep her from going after his father, if he wanted to stop his dad from doing what he thought he needed to do, she had to know.

  Because she wouldn’t ever have done the same.

  He shivered. She wouldn’t, and he should have known it. Trusted it. Seen it at all, when it’d been in front of his face so many times. But he just hadn’t wanted to risk it. To believe he’d been that horrifically wrong.

  To believe he’d actually given a girl who was just fighting to hang on in this nightmare, a girl who was just struggling to survive the same as he was, up to die.

  For things she’d never even done.

  He blinked hard, trying to find words and not be sick at the same time. She never could have done it. Not what she’d been accused of, nor what the old woman insisted she had to do to end the war. He’d read it on her face the moment Thelma told her, and watched it in the way she bolted at the words.