by Everly Frost
“It means a lot to me to have you here.” He took her hand in one of his, grabbed a lamp with the other, and tugged her away into the tunnel.
I followed, whispering to Michael. “We’ll tell him as soon as we can.”
He nodded and we ran on through the tunnel with Quake and Blaze on our heels. I had my brothers back and there was a way out. For now, that was all I needed.
Chapter Eighteen
THE TUNNEL LET OUT into a small pod containing nothing more than a trap door. Blaze was the first to reach it, but he stopped, signaling to us, a finger to his lips.
The opening was similar in appearance to the one we’d descended into when we boarded the monorail. There was a large wheel attached to the side of the pod to open the paneling. The problem was that the panel was already open an inch, sand streamed through the crack at the bottom, and it was wide enough for us to see movement beyond us.
“They must know we’re coming this way.” Michael’s disappointment was palpable. “That can’t be good.”
Ember shook her head, listening. “They’re Seversandian. They’re saying … they’ve been ordered to form a defense line a few miles out from the Coliseum. I think it’s just bad luck that they’re out there. I hope the person who’s supposed to meet us hasn’t been caught.”
Blaze said, “I’m sensing more than fifteen people out there.”
Ember was grim. “They’re saying that there are more warriors on the way. If they’re forming a defense line that means hundreds will be arriving soon.”
Blaze exchanged a look with Quake.
My oldest brother said, “We need to make a move before their numbers increase.”
Michael frowned. “If you still had your powers, fifteen would be nothing, but right now I’m the only one who can’t die. There’s a serious risk for each of you if we fight them.”
The awful truth sank deep into my heart. One wrong move could get my brothers killed. Ember too. I remembered her dagger. “Ember’s the only one with a weapon.”
She nodded. “I should go first. They won’t hurt me. I can distract them.”
“No.” Quake held out his hand. “Give me your weapon.”
Her eyes widened. “I don’t think…”
“They won’t let you go.”
She looked as if she was going to protest, but her shoulders sank and her tone became bitter. “You’re right. I’m the other girl. I can’t talk my way out of this.”
Quake exchanged another look with Blaze and handed him the dagger. The two of them threw back their shoulders.
Blaze said, “Follow close behind.”
Quake ordered. “Run when we tell you.”
I stared in disbelief as I realized what their silent looks with each other meant. They were going to fight the soldiers so we could get away. But doing that would get them captured—or worse, killed.
Anxiety rose like a sweeping tide inside me. “You’re not doing this!”
Quake bent all the way down to kiss my cheek as my eyes filled with tears. All he said was, “Sister.”
In that word was both admonishment and hope and I knew he wasn’t going to change his mind.
As he left me, Michael murmured, “I’ll protect them.”
“Michael, you’re the only one who broke through the solar grid. If you get caught, Starsgard won’t be able to keep us safe and we’ll end up right back here waiting to die. They shouldn’t be choosing to do this.”
There was a war in his eyes, but his voice was stern. “Ava, these are my friends. We have to deal with what’s in front of us right now. And right now, I’m telling you I’m not leaving them behind. I’m not letting them get hurt if I can stop it.”
“Well, I’m not either.”
A smile broke across his face. He pulled my face to his and kissed me. “If your brothers think they can sacrifice themselves for us, they have another think coming, right?”
I grinned, feeling like the world was spinning out of control, but I knew exactly where I stood in the middle of it. “Right.”
He took my hand in his. “I know we don’t have time, but I want to tell you something.”
I glanced at my brothers, checking their positions, unsure how long we had. Quake was ready to turn the wheel and Blaze braced with the dagger in hand.
Michael said, “I can still feel it.”
“Feel what?”
“The way I felt when I took nectar. It’s gone, but it’s not gone.”
I frowned.
“Did you notice what Blaze said before? He said he ‘sensed’ the soldiers out there. That’s what you used to do: sense things. Especially when you couldn’t see them.”
“What are you saying?” I peered deep into his eyes. When he’d run beside the vehicle and tried to rescue me, his eyes had been silvery as if flecks of starlight had shone from them. If I looked hard enough, could I still see them? Did his eyes still shine with a distant light?
“Get ready.” Quake’s muscles bunched as he shoved the wheel, forcing it into motion until it spun quickly and the panel before us slid all the way open.
Blaze shot through the opening with Quake on his heels. Rift and Ember sprang into action, sprinting through the door and out of sight. Michael shot away from me, trusting me to follow. I hesitated only another moment, flinging a prayer into the vast sky that opened above us.
Out onto the sand dune, my legs pumping, the breath caught in my throat as my eyes adjusted rapidly to the dark.
To my left, Blaze engaged in swift hand-to-hand combat with two warriors, both male. On my right, one Seversandian already lay unmoving in the sand with Quake’s boot on his chest, while another attempted to lash my brother with a mace.
Michael was locked in combat with another and it was with shock that I realized he was the only one I wasn’t in mortal fear about right then. Ahead, the remaining warriors ignored the rest of us and ran straight for Ember.
One of them swung a rope like a lasso, catching her around the neck and whipping her off her feet. She landed hard onto her back. Her cry broke short as her windpipe closed. As the rope tightened around her neck, she struggled to pull free and her attacker attempted to drag her through the sand.
“Ember!” I ran for her, snatching up a sword from the fallen Seversandian warrior at Quake’s feet. One side of the weapon’s blade was curved but the other sported two sharp points that mimicked the shape of the dunes.
As I raced to Ember, the sword was light in my hand, a weapon built for stealth and speed. I swung it downward, severing the rope. At the same time, there was a flash of movement from my right, and Rift rammed into the surprised warrior, knocking the man off his feet. Darkness engulfed them as they hit the sand and rolled off to the side.
I hurtled into another Seversandian before he could reach Ember, but I couldn’t stop them all. Another man grabbed her as she coughed into the sand. I ran at him, ready to defend her, but Rift sped back and hurled him into the sand.
Ember finally ripped the frayed rope from her neck and I dropped the sword to help her stand.
Behind us, Quake dodged another warrior’s sword. His attacker was nimble, but Quake was strong and tall. He managed to pull the man forward, force the weapon upward, and wrench it from him. Metal groaned as Quake bent the weapon in half in front of the man’s eyes. Then my gentlest of brothers took hold of the man’s head and broke his neck with his bare hands.
“Run, Ava!” Quake barreled into the warrior who was fighting Blaze, knocking the other man down.
“Stay down!” Quake roared.
I whirled, turning in a circle. All of the warriors lay on the ground but they’d recover within minutes. We had to move. I dropped the sword and broke into a run, calling to Ember, Michael, and my brothers. “Run, run, run!”
But as the words left my mouth, a shadowed mass rushed toward us from the south.
Warriors. Many of them.
The odds were suddenly very bad.
Quake and Blaze had already se
en them, but Rift and Ember hadn’t looked back yet. They disappeared into the night ahead of us. Michael, on the other hand, looked back for me—and he saw what was coming.
Quake shouted. “Go, Ava! We’ll hold them off.”
I shook my head. No, I won’t.
My heart thumped. Blood pounded through my body so hard I was sure I was going to burst out of my skin. The night sky brightened above me, the sand beneath my boots crunched far too loud in my ears, my fists burned, and I remembered…
Icy cold snow. Fire as hot as molten lava. Sun that lashed my skin and wind that whipped my hair. All of it mine.
Michael was right. Maybe it was just adrenaline. Maybe it was just hope or false bravado. But I could still feel it.
Quake roared, “Victah-Var-Soul!” Only the worthy.
The soldiers were a silent, seething mass of countless bodies. They reached Quake and Blaze, and smashed into them, but my brothers were an immovable force, fighting back with their hands and feet and hearts.
For a moment, Blaze glowed against the darkness, shadow flames blurring at the edges of his body.
For a moment, Quake was a thundering hammer, breaking everything in his path.
Then, there was a shout and both of them froze.
The warriors parted and a single figure ran through them, shouting in Seversandian. Immediately, Blaze’s body became dull and dark. Quake’s fists lowered.
They dropped to their knees as the figure reached them.
I screamed, fear lancing through me.
The crowd of soldiers swallowed my brothers like a hungry wave, churning toward me. I couldn’t see Quake or Blaze and fear and panic consumed me. What made them stop fighting? Had they been killed? Were they captured?
As the soldiers glided through the sand, I recognized their red armor and realized I’d made a terrible mistake.
These were women. All women. Spears and arrows held aloft, they were ready to unleash their weapons. They slowed their approach when they were twenty feet away, keeping a distance, treating me with caution.
Michael grabbed my hand. “Ava! Give me permission to shield you.”
“You have it.”
He positioned himself in front of me, keeping his arms wide in case an arrow flew in from the side. We backed up while the warriors inched forward.
For a hundred feet, we eked out our freedom, step by backward step, the sand sliding and moving beneath our feet as the warriors prowled after us.
Then, one of the warriors shouted, flinging out a hand to stop the others. I recognized her from the President’s hall. She wore her hair in a waterfall plait across her head and down her chest. She appeared to be the leader of the group. I took another step, holding Michael’s shirt so he’d know I was still moving.
A glow pooled around my feet and I, too, stopped moving because the light was racing in from behind me and I suddenly didn’t know what I was walking into.
As the circle of light grew wider, the warriors shuffled and for the first time, they edged backward, as if the light were poison. It slid across the ground to their feet, lighting up their faces and wide eyes. They lowered their weapons, many of them placing their spears behind their backs and holding their free hands up, palms outward in a gesture of supplication.
“They’re afraid,” I whispered.
“I think that means we should be too,” Michael answered.
Along with the light, the movement of sand swooshed behind me. It was followed by a soft growl, the kind that reminded me of mountain bears, only deeper, more lethal. Worse, the growls weren’t just to my left, but also to my right, as well as further behind me.
It wasn’t just one animal.
I squeezed my eyes shut as a body brushed against the back of my legs, following by the firmer whip of a tail.
At the same time, a piercing shriek broke the silence—not a scream of pain but a cry of challenge. A woman carrying a burning torch shot into my field of view, her feet plowing the sand, skidding to a stop in front of us. What I could see of her back told me she was dressed in fine Seversandian armor, her long hair tied in a high pony tail like the President’s, but she wore even more jewels across her armor than the President did.
Despite her attire, she didn’t appear to carry any weapons—except for the lion that ran beside her.
The beast raced forward in a wide circle, speeding toward the Seversandian warriors like a warning before circling back to his mistress. It too wore armor—leather crisscrossing its body decorated with golden gems that captured the light in the woman’s torch and dispersed it around us, lighting up the area like the sun’s first rays at dawn.
With her back still to us, the woman placed her hand on the lion’s head, holding her torch high above her. Sparks dropped to the sand, showering her in golden flames.
She cried out to the warriors, “Do you know who I am?”
A murmur took up in the crowd of women.
The woman with the plait in her hair called out. “We see you, Daughter of Eve.”
As she spoke, the beast that had been prowling directly at my back revealed itself, along with ten others. Lions padded out of the darkness. Each sported jewels and armor. Their growls and purrs surrounded us. So did their bodies, not more than a few feet away from us.
The woman—the one they’d called the Daughter of Eve—shouted. “My sisters, you will retreat!”
The woman at the head of the army looked left and right, seeking the reactions of each woman beside her. They nodded and that seemed to make up her mind. Without speaking, she signaled the army. As one, they shuffled backward in the sand, still facing us. A hundred feet away, they turned and ran into the darkness, their bodies a retreating mass.
I looked for Quake and Blaze, terrified I’d see their bodies lying in the sand, but they were gone too.
The woman lowered her torch.
I crept level with Michael, daring to tear my eyes away from the prowling lions.
The woman turned, her face aglow with torchlight, jewels scattered in her hair and a small red rock decorating her nose.
Shock raced through me as I recognized her.
Michael froze. “Mom?”
Chapter Nineteen
HELEN BRADLEY CROSSED the distance between us.
Despite Michael’s exclamation, she headed for me first, taking my hands, her expression earnest. “Ava, I’m sorry I can’t help your brothers, but I can assure you that they aren’t hurt.”
I stared, unable to process her presence there, let alone her certainty that Quake and Blaze were safe. “How do you know that?”
“Because the woman who ran to them was Quake’s mother. She hasn’t seen him since he was a boy and she’ll do anything to keep him safe.”
I frowned. “How can you be sure?”
“Because I told her where to find her son and she made a promise to keep him safe. Her heart was broken when she left him behind all those years ago. She won’t let anything happen to him.”
Michael ran a hand across his eyes, glancing at the prowling lions as if he expected them to disappear like a bad dream. “Mom, how are you here?”
His mother was supposed to be in Starsgard with his younger brother. For years, Michael hadn’t seen his mother after she left Evereach to take Jason to safety. Alexander had threatened Michael’s family because Jason was born a slow healer. After Michael and I made it to Starsgard, Michael had found it hard to bridge the gap between them. He understood his mother’s reasons for leaving without him, but the pain of being left behind was still raw.
Helen Bradley stared pointedly at me. “I got a message through Sarah.”
“Wait … that day…” I remembered Mr. Bradley leaning in and whispering something into Sarah’s ear after we left the room where my brother lay. Sarah had told us she was a walking, talking broadcast back to Starsgard.
Helen said, “He said that the only way to defeat Alexander is to take you to Mother. Unfortunately, he’s right. There’s a lot more to tell
you, but right now we need to get back to Rift and Ember. They’re waiting for us over the next dune. We need to keep moving, because the warriors will be back.”
Michael snagged her arm. “Mom…”
She took his hand in hers. Her voice took on an edge. “I left you behind once, Michael. I know you can’t forgive me, but I want you to know that I will never abandon you when you need me.”
She let go of his hand and gripped my shoulder instead. “The warriors won’t retreat for long. We need to make a head start. Let’s go, please.”
I gestured at the beasts around us as I trudged as fast as I could through the dunes. “Um … the lions?”
“Don’t run,” Helen said with a gleam in her eye. “Otherwise, the cubs will think you’re playing and knock you over.”
“These are cubs?” The smallest one reached Mrs. Bradley’s hip.
“A fully grown Seversandian lion is a lot bigger than this. Its head is level with mine. You’ll soon see.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to see. “Alexander wears a lion’s skin that isn’t as big as that.”
“It was a cub.” The distaste on Mrs. Bradley’s face was visible even in the torchlight. “Only a coward would choose to kill a cub.”
So far the lions hadn’t show any aggression, but I was wary. “Will they follow us all the way?”
“They need to. They’re the only reason you aren’t captured right now. The warriors may respect me, but it was the lions that swayed them. They couldn’t risk killing one if we fought.”
We plowed through the sand until we reached two figures in the darkness. I ran to Rift and hugged him.
“Quake and Blaze?” he asked straight away.
“They’re safe. Quake’s mother came for them.”
Rift didn’t look happy. “But they aren’t free.”
Ember stared hard at Helen as Michael’s mom held the torchlight over us. Now that I had the chance to study Helen’s armor, I realized that the jewels formed a crest across her chest: the image of a tree.
“You’re Helena Rivera,” Ember said.
Michael couldn’t seem to contain himself any longer. “Mom, you’re…”
