by Lola StVil
“I’m nervous about this,” she admits.
I take her hand in mine as she goes on.
“I’m scared I’ll do something wrong and someone will get hurt. Or worse.”
I take her hand in mine and give it a squeeze.
“Listen to me. You’re not going to do anything wrong. You don’t have anything to worry about. You’ve got me, and you’ve got the team. We’ll all be there with you, and we’ll find the piece of the pendant and be back home in time for dinner.”
Summit smiles.
“Seriously, Summit. You were born for this.”
***
We all stand together in the center of the sitting room. Emmy goes around to all of us one more time and wishes us luck. She pulls each of us into a tight embrace, but I think she saves the tightest ones for Summit and Dylann.
I’m amazed either of them can still breathe when she lets them go again.
“Good luck, team,” she says.
Parker glances around at all of us.
“Ready?” she asks.
We all reach out and firmly grasp each other’s hands. I’m standing between Summit and Nix, and I can’t help but compare the feelings I get from the hand that clutches Summit’s hand to the one that loosely holds Nix’s.
We nod, and Parker reaches out and takes Ryder’s hand with one of hers. With the other, she reaches up and firmly holds the locket.
We wait.
Just when I think nothing is going to happen, I feel the ground shake below us. I get a rush of dizziness that forces me to close my eyes against the light, which is suddenly too bright. I can smell wet trees.
I open my eyes again and I’m shocked to see we’re standing in a forest. A quick glance around confirms we all made it here.
The forest isn’t like any other forest I’ve ever seen. There’s no lush greenery, no rustle of leaves in the breeze.
The trees stand all around us, large and twisted. No leaves adorn their deadened branches, which reach up to the sky like fingers on a hand desperate to cling on to something.
Even though there is no thick foliage, the light barely penetrates the forest, and the air around us is dark and muggy. Not a breath of wind stirs.
I can instantly feel the oppressive feeling The Face warned us about. I feel lost. Totally alone. I can almost feel my soul blackening.
I look around at the others again. Anything to remind myself that I’m not alone. I have my team and they have me. I realize I am still holding Summit’s hand. The darkness recedes but I can still feel it lurking.
“What now?” Summit asks, letting go of my hand.
“This way.” Nix points.
“How do you know?” Summit says.
Nix shrugs. “I can talk to animals. The Rajas aren’t human anymore. I can sense them.”
I see a hundred questions flash across Summit’s face, but now isn’t the time and she knows it.
She nods at Nix and we all follow him.
We haven’t gone far when we spot the first Raja.
The Rajas are the physical embodiment of the tortured souls the Winter Queen has captured over the years, and they aren’t the sort of things you ever want to meet in person.
I’ve only ever seen them in drawings before, and it’s done nothing to prepare me for the real thing.
The Raja before us is skeletal, with graying skin pulled tight across its skull and ribcage. The skin hangs off in ragged chunks. The rest of its body is exposed bone. Just beneath its arms, two long tentacles flap around.
The Raja use their tentacles to paralyze anyone they can capture while they feast on the person’s flesh.
As I raise my hand to fire at the lone Raja, a large boulder flies through the air and crashes down on it. With a tortured screech, it breaks into a hundred pieces.
I glance admiringly at Milo, who threw the boulder with his power. Maybe he isn’t going to be entirely useless.
To further my thought, he points suddenly to a spot around fifty yards away.
“There,” he says.
I look where he’s pointing and see it. A Raja nest. At first glance, it looks like a harmless mound of earth, but I know better. And that’s before the hordes of Raja start pouring out and running towards us.
Nix and I glance at each other, nod once, and begin firing into the seething mass of Raja. All around me, the rest of the team burst into action too.
The Raja are going down, hit by alternating bursts of white and red laser streams and blue flames. Some get sucked up into wind funnels, others end up squashed below falling objects and impaled by branches made into stakes. Yet more claw their own eyes out.
For a moment, I think we’re winning. Over half of them are down and we’re getting through them quicker than they can advance on us.
I celebrate too soon. Before I know what’s happening, the entire nest bursts open and more and more Raja climb out.
We continue firing on them, lined up and blasting into them. It’s not going to work. With their huge numbers, they’re already advancing on us.
I want nothing more than to be able to unfurl my wings and attack them from above, but we’re grounded. They close in, and for every one we blast away, more keep on coming.
My heart is pounding as I realize what’s happened. They have circled around us and we’re trapped in the center of them.
“Get back to back. Cover each other,” Summit shouts.
We do as she says.
Two particularly large Raja run at me. I take one down, but my second shot only hits the shoulder of the second one. It doesn’t even slow it down. It just keeps on coming, its skeletal face twisted into a sneer.
Its tentacles shoot out. One wraps itself around me, pulling me closer to the Raja while the other flails around trying to land on me.
I fire at the flailing tentacle, and it’s gone in an explosion of white. The tentacle that’s wrapped around me squeezes.
I can hear my pulse in my ears as my breath is squeezed out of me.
With an angry roar, I wedge my fingers underneath the tentacle and pull hard in opposite directions. It doesn’t snap, but it causes the Raja to screech indignantly, and its grip loosens.
I duck and writhe and manage to break free. I fire at the Raja and it’s gone.
It barely buys me a second as the next line approaches. I keep firing. I try to hit the front lines first.
All around me, the battle rages. A small Raja is suddenly thrown up into the air in a tornado, where it is hit with a blue flame. It screams, and the last thing I see before I look away is its eyeballs melting.
Another Raja breaks from the pack while I’m distracted watching Summit take on a Raja at close range. She blasts it through the stomach area and it breaks in two. Its two halves fall to the ground, where they twitch a little and die.
“Lucas, look out,” I hear Parker yell.
I turn just in time as the loose Raja’s tentacle brushes across me. It feels like I’ve been bit by a Sive. The stinging pain is enough to make me gasp. I take a step back to get out of its reach before I can kill it.
My foot catches on a small branch and I go over. I land on my back, and within half a second, the Raja is on me. I can’t move.
The tentacle has paralyzed me. I lay, my eye wide open in horror as the Raja moves its face towards mine, its white lips slightly open in a grotesque parody of a kiss.
Its lips peel further back, revealing a row of razor-sharp teeth embedded in gray gums. Its dead tongue lolls out and spittle drips on my face.
This is it, I think. Death by zombie.
Suddenly, the Raja evaporates in a cloud of dust. I cough and drag myself to my feet.
“You’re welcome.” Nix grins before he turns back and blasts away another Raja.
“What the hell?” I hear Dylann shout as a gnarly old tree beside her bursts into flames.
She leaps to the side, narrowly avoiding being incinerated.
I frantically look around me, but I can’t see anythin
g that could have caused the fire.
I don’t have time to ponder it as I take on another three Raja. I jump as high as I can into the air and rain white fireballs down onto them.
I hear a scream and I turn to the sound. Nix is down, the entire top half of his body engulfed in orange flames.
Ryder notices at the same time as I do, and he blows a stream of cooling air onto Nix. The flames die down, but the sight of his blackened flesh turns my stomach.
“Parker!” I yell. “Help him.”
Parker runs to Nix’s side and throws herself on her knees beside him. Nix is barely moving, the agonizing moans tearing from his lips almost against his will.
“Cover me,” Parker says.
I stand over her, blasting away the Raja as she puts her hands on the oozing blisters on Nix’s chest and stomach.
As she heals him, he begins to slowly regain his strength. He points weakly at the sky, and I follow his finger with my eyes.
A flock of Fire Swans is circling back, ready to launch another attack. Their white majestic bodies are at odds with their scaly heads and large, fire-breathing nostrils.
I am momentarily jealous that they can fly and we are grounded, but it’s not something I have time to dwell on.
I quickly dispose of another three Raja that are getting too close for comfort and then I turn my attention back to the sky as the Fire Swans dive lower, readying themselves for another onslaught of flames.
Summit sees what is happening and moves to my side. Together, we fire into the air and two of the Fire Swans promptly fall out of the sky.
The others pull back a bit, circling high up, out of the reach of our powers.
This presents a big problem. We have to watch the sky and the world around us at the same time.
A large branch crashes to the ground before me and I jump back, grabbing Summit and pulling her with me. Milo gives me a nod and turns back to fighting, and I notice multiple pairs of bony feet protruding from underneath the branch.
Nix gets back to his feet and immediately goes back on the attack.
I hear a strangled scream from behind me. Parker.
I turn expecting to see her in the grasp of a Raja. Instead, I see her grappling with one. She ducks below a tentacle, then springs up, jumping over the other and delivering a roundhouse kick to the Raja’s head that decapitates it and actually makes me wince.
She makes the sound again and goes for another. It’s not a scream. It’s a war cry…
CHAPTER TWENTY: THE WINTER QUEEN
The whole team is in attack mode. As we take down the Raja, more seem to grow up from nowhere. We can’t hold them off forever, and there seems to be no end to them.
I keep checking the sky in between attacking the Raja, and I can see the others doing the same.
“Alright, enough of this,” I hear Parker scream.
“Everybody get behind us,” I hear Ryder yell as he makes his way to Parker.
OH SHIT!!! I think.
He reaches his hand out and interlocks his fingers with his twin’s. I grab Summit and run towards Nix and Dylann, who grabs Milo on the way by. Once we are safely (well, as safe as we can be) behind the twins, they focus on their linked hands.
The twins smile sinister smiles as the ground in front of them begins to shake, violently cracking open. All around us hail and rain beat down the Fire Swans, taking them out twenty at a time. The rest desperately flee as the Raja fall into the cracks.
“What’s happening?” I hear Summit yell, grabbing onto me for dear life.
“It’s the twins, they are using their Heed,” Dylann yells to her sister.
I see Summit look on in confusion, but deciding this isn’t a good time, she lets it go for now.
A Fire Swan falls to the ground, its feathers engulfed in electric shocks, and the sky opens up and lightning begins to strike.
“Guys, over there,” Milo shouts, pointing.
I look where he’s pointing, wondering what else can go wrong.
“The opening,” RJ gasps. “We have to get to it.”
As one, we move into position. Now that the twins took care of the Raja, the entrance is open and clear.
Milo is the first to slip through the gap, followed by Parker, then Ryder. RJ goes through next, and I wave Dylann and Summit ahead.
They go in and I’m momentarily alone in the forest.
It’s as though I’ve been plunged into an icy pool of despair. Every nerve ending in my body cries out in desperation and I am filled with a feeling so hopeless that I’m floored.
I stand, staring into emptiness, the blackness of despair filling my soul.
I feel warm hands on my back, pulling me out of my daze and into the present. A cold shiver runs down my spine, reminding me. We need to find that pendant and get the hell out of here, and fast.
“Thanks, that was intense,” I say, looking into the concerned faces of my team.
I want to explain to the group how I felt, but I don’t have the words to describe such deep sorrow and we don’t have the time.
“What was that back there?” Summit asks, finally able to take a moment.
“That was our Heed,” Ryder says proudly.
“I’m sorry—your what?”
“Our Heed,” Parker answers, going into the scientific explanation.
“Every angel has their own powers, stemming from their parents and or family history. Sometimes angels have a twin Like Ryder and I. In special cases, you find twin angels with a Heed. A Heed is a combined power that activates when the twins touch. Thanks to the school, a special room was built just for studying Heeds. Every Heed is different—some are passive like they can heal each other or pass on energy. But then you have the active powers like Ryder and I. And because of that room, we were able to practice our Heed, starting when we were just toddlers before it became all this. Growing up we learned to control it. Most angels before us didn’t have that.”
She finishes, proud of her scientific explanation.
“That’s badass,” Summit says with a smile.
“The tile,” Ryder says, smiling back.
I push my hand into my pocket and go to bring the tile out when Parker stops me.
“Wait,” she says frantically.
I can hear the panic laced through her voice. Her hand flies up to her throat.
“The locket. It’s gone.”
No! This can’t be happening. We can’t be trapped in this place. I know now after spending a couple of minutes alone in the forest that if we have to trek through it, none of us will ever make it out alive.
“I know where it is,” Parker says. “As we reached the opening, I felt something touch the back of my neck. I thought I was being attacked, but I turned and there was nothing there. It must have been the clasp coming loose.”
Before I can react, Parker is back out of the opening.
“It’s here,” she shouts.
I stick my head back out of the hole. She stands a feet or so away from the opening and puts the locket back on.
She takes a step back towards us, and that’s when the remaining Fire Swans choose to attack. They rain fire all around Parker until she is surrounded by a circle of flames, trapped in the center.
Ryder jumps back out of the opening and runs to her. He blows the flames away.
I step back out of the hole and fire into the air, bringing down another Fire Swan. Hopefully that will be enough to keep the others back until Ryder and Parker make it back.
They are only steps away from me now. I can almost reach out and touch them, when a group of Raja appear, seemingly from nowhere.
They seem to have clawed their way out of the earth.
I blast one away and Ryder blows three away into a tornado. That still leaves seven. Three of them break away from the pack and advance on me.
I fire at them as I try to get to Parker and Ryder. It’s no use. The Raja push me back until my back is pressing against a tree trunk. I keep firing at them, but these s
eem to be stronger than the others.
My fireballs slow them down momentarily, but then they just keep coming with parts of themselves missing. The only way I can take them out for good is to get in headshots, but they seem to understand this too, and they use their arms and tentacles to protect their heads, batting my fireballs away.
I know eventually I’ll be able to remove the arms and tentacles and leave their heads vulnerable, but I don’t know if it’ll be in time.
I keep firing and two of them go down. The last one is almost dead, but it doesn’t stop it from coming.
Ryder’s shout catches my attention and I glance towards them.
“Go!” he urges Parker.
She hesitates and he pushes her away. Summit scrambles through the opening and catches hold of her, pulling her back to safety.
I fire at the Raja that’s still coming at me as its tentacle flies out towards me. Its tentacle makes contact and I feel the agonizing sting again. At the same time, its head explodes.
I am safe, but I will be held in place for the next ten seconds. Ten seconds that could mean Ryder doesn’t make it.
I watch helplessly as three Raja surround Ryder as he pushes Parker to safety. Before he has a chance to react, one of them shoots a tentacle out, catching him in the arm. He is frozen.
The Raja that froze him snaps its teeth together, biting at Ryder’s shoulder.
He doesn’t cry out. He can’t.
I can’t get anyone’s attention. I’m stuck here, unable to move or speak. I just watch on in horror as the Raja pulls its ugly head back and bites Ryder again.
I sense movement coming from my left but I can’t turn my head, can’t even call out a warning. I have an awful feeling I’m about to witness Ryder’s end.
I breathe a sigh of relief when the movement I sense materializes in my field of vision. It’s RJ.
RJ runs to Ryder’s side and puts his hands to his temples. As I watch, the Raja that is feeding on Ryder and its two companions all drop their arms and tentacles and walk calmly away.
Ryder falls to the floor without the Raja holding him upright to feed on him. His paralysis breaks, and RJ reaches down a hand and pulls him to his feet.
My own paralysis breaks and I take a step forward.
