The Keeper Saga: Wynter's War, Charmed, and The One (The Boxed Set Book 2)

by K. R. Thompson

  “I’m not the one who is still bleeding,” I said, holding a hand up to stop him from gathering me in a tight hug. I still held the book and though I wanted to be held tight more than anything, I didn’t want to wound him further with shooting flames.

  “I’m fine. It’s healing, just slow,” he said, taking my hand and squeezing it. “I’m the one least hurt. The others are worse. Are you okay?” he asked again.

  “Yes.” I nodded. “I’m afraid that I let Frollock get away, though.”

  “Don’t feel bad. We let Crow Woman get away. At least Frollock didn’t have magic and didn’t try to kill you before she escaped.”

  “I have a funny feeling that she’ll try to before it’s over. Did you find Tommy’s body?”

  “No,” Michael answered, appearing around the curve. He limped, holding his body at an odd angle in an effort to keep weight off his injured leg. A shadowy wolf stayed close by his side. “It’s not back there anywhere. I don’t know what happened to it. I don’t think she has it here.”

  Ed, Erik, and Brian came into view next, each of them bloody and moving slowly. I bit my lip nervously. I had never seen any of the Keepers wounded to this level and not immediately heal.

  “Swift Foot was right. She is stronger than anything we’ve ever dealt with before,” Ed said, holding a hand against his ribs. White bone showed in stark contrast between his bloody fingers.

  “We didn’t make a mark on her until the Deadland changed, and then she shifted from a bear into a crow and flew away,” Adam explained. He pulled off his t-shirt, grimacing as the fabric touched his face. Once it was off, he began tearing it into strips. First, he bound Ed’s ribs, and then he went over and began wrapping Michael’s leg. “What happened to the Deadland, anyway? It was attacking us as fast as Crow Woman was, and then it suddenly stopped. It was as if all the dark magic in it vanished.”

  I held up the Book of Skin in answer to his question.

  “I didn’t know that there was a page in there on Deadlands,” he said, finishing up his work on Michael and moving over to take a look at Erik and Brian. “I don’t remember anything about it.”

  “I don’t either. I’m beginning to think that it writes some of these pages, spur of the moment, depending on the situation.”

  “Well, that could come in handy,” he said thoughtfully, tightening up a strip of cloth around Brian’s forearm.

  Brian grimaced. “How close do you have to be before the book writes the pages? If we could get it close enough to Crow Woman, maybe you could take her magic, too.”

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I was standing directly in the Deadland this time. It didn’t start jumping around in my book bag until the trees began attacking me.”

  “I think you’re onto something, Brian,” Adam said, his voice sounding hopeful. “If we could get Nikki close enough to Crow Woman, we might have a chance in defeating her.”

  “We should stage a fake attack with an enemy we can defeat first. See how long it takes the book to write the pages,” Erik added helpfully as Adam began inspecting the wound on his neck. The blood had nearly stopped and had begun to scab. “I’m fine. Keep what’s left of your shirt, Florence Nightingale. We haven’t made it out of the forest yet,” Erik quipped.

  “Well, I guess the Woodsburls are out,” I said, thinking of Mr. Giles. “It’s already written a page for him when he came to the house.”

  “I’ve got a few ideas,” Adam said. “But first we need to head back and check on Tori and Emily. We’ve been gone for quite a while.”

  “You’re right. Is everyone going to be okay to start back?”

  Five heads nodded in unison.

  “I’m ready to get out of here,” Michael grumbled. “Let’s go.”

  IT WAS SLOW going. No one changed back into wolves, but rather opted to hike back to the cars as human. When I asked, I had gotten the reply that shifting while wounds healed was rather painful, and being as they were actually healing somewhat quicker now, everyone preferred the less painful route.

  We were nearly halfway back, when Adam suddenly stopped, his head whipping to the side so quickly that his long, black hair grazed me as it flipped over his shoulder.

  “What is it?” I whispered as his silver eyes narrowed. I felt his body tense next to me, as if he were readying for another fight. Not again, I thought. I’ve had enough for one day. Can’t we just make it back home without something else terrible happening?

  I heard the snorting and the familiar, aggravated harrumph before I saw him appear a few yards away.

  “Chewy!” I exclaimed. The enormous, hairy Sasquatch stopped his grumbling for all of two seconds, before resuming it in a louder, more earnest manner. Obviously, something was wrong. He turned, looking over his shoulder to see if we were going to follow him.

  “Come on, let’s go,” Adam said, taking my hand. “Erik, you’re in charge. Make sure everyone gets back to the school safe. We’ll meet you there.”

  Erik opened his mouth to protest, and then stopped and thought better of it. As he nodded, Chewy took off, his large, hurried steps, making at least three of my normal ones. I had thought Adam insane at first, telling the others to keep going, but now I knew there was no way that they would have been able to keep up, wounded as they still were.

  Chewy was still clicking and snorting, as if trying to explain what was wrong on the way to wherever it was we were heading.

  “Any idea what he is trying to say to us?” I huffed as we tried to keep up.

  “None,” Adam replied. “But if he is coming to us, it has to be bad. He wouldn’t search for us without a very good reason.”

  He’s right, I thought, with a feeling of dread. The only times I had seen the huge Sasquatch was when something terrible had happened. The first time, when he sought our help for rescuing his baby, and the second, when he rescued me. He tended to only show up when needing—or giving—help.

  I wondered which it was going to be this time.

  Chewy made a sudden left turn and disappeared behind a thick thatch of evergreen bushes.

  “Where on earth is he taking us?” The bushes were thick, tearing at my shirt and scratching at my arms. “We aren’t in a Deadland again, are we? I thought these things were supposed to recognize us as the good guys.”

  Adam laughed. “Not always, just most of the time. I see a cavern just beyond them. It’s very well hidden from these bushes. He just ducked inside. That’s where we’re headed.”

  We finally got out of the bushes and I took a look at the dark opening of the cavern. I heard snuffling and grunting and had I not known that Chewy was in there, I would have laid bets that a bear was on her way out to eat us.

  Chewy reappeared, with something cradled in his arms. At first I thought something had happened to his little one again, but then a tanned, human arm flopped out at us, dripping blood.

  We’ve found Tommy’s body, I thought as Chewy bent over to lay the prone figure at our feet.

  The same thought had been running through Adam’s mind, but then he added to it, “Blood doesn’t run and drip when you’re dead. He’s alive, Nikki, he has to be!” Adam knelt next to Tommy, and put his head on his chest. “His heart is beating…just barely. We’ve got to get him out of here and get help.”

  “Right,” I said, taking in Tommy’s bloody, torn body. His face was bruised and swollen. His clothes were in tatters, leaving his body open to view. His arms and legs were twisted at strange angles. I wasn’t a doctor by any means, but even I knew there were broken bones in more places than I could count. “How are we going to…” I stopped my question as Adam lifted Tommy up and settled him over his shoulder. “Never mind. Are you going to be all right carrying him like that? Are you sure we aren’t going to hurt him worse? Should we find some way to brace him?”

  “If we don’t get him help soon, he’s not going to make it. We’ve got to do this right now. Just stay behind me and keep an eye on his head, try to keep him from moving too m
uch, okay?”

  “Yep,” I said, nervously taking my place behind Adam as we started to head back through the dense foliage. Remembering Chewy, I turned and looked back at the cavern, but he had already gone back inside. “Thank you,” I called out, sure that we were still being watched.

  I heard a soft clicking sound, followed by a snort. “I guess that’s ‘you’re welcome’ in Bigfoot,” I said, hurrying to help Adam push through the bushes. As if they finally realized we were the good guys, the branches parted easily and let us walk through.

  “Okay, buddy,” I heard Adam whisper to Tommy. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  THERE WAS A mad scramble of activity when we made it back to the parking lot. While everyone was thrilled that Tommy was still alive, everyone was also afraid he wouldn’t stay that way much longer.

  We ended up putting him into the backseat of my Jeep, while all of the Keepers got into Brian’s truck.

  “They’re gonna get cold,” Emily said, from her place beside of me in the passenger seat.

  “They’ll be all right. They’ve dealt with worse,” I said, trying to sound optimistic. “We’ve got to get everyone to the hospital, though. All of them need to get looked over.”

  “Yeah, we’re going to have lots of fun explaining all of this,” Tori said. “I, for one, am not looking forward to telling my mother why my hand’s broke.”

  I looked into the rearview mirror. She lifted her right hand for my inspection. The two middle knuckles on it were swollen. “I guess now is a good time to tell you that Frollock is tied up and in your trunk compartment.”

  “You’re joking.”

  “Nope. I’m not. She came back without you guys. I guess she had forgotten Em and I were here or else she thought she could take us. Either way, it was a bad decision on her part. I did what I do best, only this time I hit her as hard as I could,” Tori said dryly. “I guess I overdid it. I felt something crack in the back of my hand this time.”

  “Your mom is going to kill us. Watching a Shrek marathon has never resulted in broken bones.”

  “Yeah, I know. I’ll have to come up with something.”

  I heard a thump in the back of my car, evidence that Frollock wasn’t as knocked out as I had thought. “Quiet down back there,” Tori ordered. “Don’t make me break my other hand on you.” Then, I heard her take in a sharp breath. “Nikki, you’ve got to hurry. This poor kid is starting to look a lot worse.”

  I fought the urge to turn around and look at Tommy. He hadn’t looked good by any means when we laid him in the backseat.

  “Hang on, Tommy. Give us just a couple more minutes. We’re almost there,” I said, following Brian’s truck into the emergency parking area in front of the hospital. I saw Adam jump out and run inside. Seconds later, he appeared with an entourage of hospital personnel.

  Although there was a flurry of white coats surrounding both vehicles, one doctor in particular seemed to be in charge. He was an older man with big, fuzzy white eyebrows and a pair of small spectacles. Having realized the most injured of all patients was in the backseat of my car, he immediately threw open the back door and looked inside. It only took one look at Tommy’s still form for him to order two guys with a gurney.

  Within seconds, Tommy was being wheeled into the hospital…still alive.

  We made it, he’s still alive, I thought, taking a deep breath. Now if they could just keep him that way. I spotted Tommy’s shadow sitting beside the truck, looking toward the big sliding doors, watching as the other guys were wheeled into the emergency room.

  “You’re next, my dear,” I heard a nurse tell Tori. “Let’s go check out that hand.”

  I waited until Tori went with the nurse, and then I pulled over into the side parking lot and parked. Then, my hands started shaking—fine tremors that I couldn’t get to stop.

  Emily reached over and squeezed the hand closest to her. “It’s going to be all right, Nikki. Everyone is going to be okay.”

  “I hope you’re right, Em.”

  “I am. I’ve got this feeling that everything is going to work out like it’s supposed to.” She gave me a bright smile, which instantly lifted my spirits. I flexed my fingers, trying to calm the shaking.

  “Besides, we’ve got the sheriff on our side, so everything has to work out,” she added.

  I glanced up to see a police cruiser parked in front of Brian’s truck, blue lights flashing. Adam and his dad were heading our way.

  “I hope they’re coming to get her out of the trunk,” Emily said. “She scares me.”

  I had completely forgotten about Frollock, but apparently Adam had not. I heard the back hatch click as he opened it up and they helped Frollock to her feet. Then I heard the click of cuffs being fastened and watched as the sheriff walked her over to his cruiser and put her inside.

  Adam leaned against the side of the Jeep, watching them. I rolled the window down. “So what all is happening? What is he arresting her for?” I asked.

  “He’s arresting her for assault. That’s all he can do legally right now. There’s nothing in the law that says he can arrest her for being a magical being bent on destruction,” Adam said with a wry grin. “Either way, though, she’s out of our hands for now, so that’s one thing less that we have to worry about. Without magic, she won’t be escaping a jail cell. I’m going in to check on everyone. Do you two want to come in with me?”

  I nodded as a blast of cold air hit me full in the face. “Yes, let’s go.”

  THE THREE OF us ended up sitting in a small waiting room that sat off from the emergency area. Emily, completely worn out, fell asleep with her head on my shoulder. In turn, I leaned mine against Adam.

  “This has got to be one of the weirdest days I’ve ever had,” I murmured.

  “Nah, we’ve had worse. Everything is going to be all right.” Adam linked his fingers between mine. The air warmed, popping around us the same as it did every time we were near each other. It was something only the two of us ever felt.

  Curious if Emily had felt the atmosphere change, I lifted my head just long enough to look at my little sister’s sleeping face. There was a serene, sweet smile on her lips.

  Maybe our magical connection wasn’t as invisible as I had thought.

  “I will say that I bet this is one of the weirdest days that Dr. Oswald has ever had. Never have all of the Six graced his emergency room at one time. In fact, I can’t remember a time when any of us have been here once we became Keepers,” Adam said with a soft laugh.

  “I’m going to guess that he knows about you guys and that he has some kind of magic, too. Otherwise, we would have been bombarded with questions by now.”

  “He has forest magic—the good kind,” he reassured me. “Most of the emergency staff have magic of some sort. It cuts down on paperwork if you can think outside of the box and understand some of the weird stuff that can happen in this town.”

  Erik was the first to appear, wearing a gauze bandage around his neck. “I’m cleared,” he said, waving a sheet of paper. “Nearly healed up before they had a chance to wrap it.”

  “Have you heard anything on Tommy?” Adam asked.

  “No, but I don’t think it’s good. People keep running toward that back room where they took him.”

  I looked up to see Brian and Ed come through the door. “How about you guys? Do we know anything about Tommy?”

  They both shook their heads and found a seat.

  A few moments later, Michael came into the waiting room with only a slight limp, Tommy’s shadow by his side. His face was solemn as he took the chair on the other side of Adam. “I heard one of the doctors talking. He’s lost a lot of blood and they can’t find brain activity, either.” Fat tears rolled down Michael’s cheeks. “There is more that’s wrong, but I couldn’t understand it all. Tommy’s mom and dad are in there with him. I don’t know when they got there, but I could hear his mom crying.”

  “It is going to be okay.” It was my turn to say these empty wor
ds, and even though I was willing myself to believe in them, I knew they sounded hollow.

  We sat in that room for a long time, waiting for someone to come and tell us something—anything.

  At last, the door creaked open and everyone sat up straight in their chairs, fearing the worst had happened.

  “Sorry,” Tori winced. “It’s just me.”

  A collective sigh of relief whooshed out of everyone. Brian stood and reached out for her. “How is your hand?”

  “Hairline fracture. They say it should heal by itself as long as I don’t punch anyone else,” she said with a smile that didn’t reach her green eyes.

  “It’ll never heal. You love a good fight,” I joked. Tori shrugged, gave me a more genuine smile, and moved to sit next to Brian.

  No sooner than she had sat down, the same doctor with the fluffy eyebrows appeared. Dr. Oswald, his nametag read.

  “All right. I’ve come to inform you about your friend’s condition,” he said, not looking any of us in the eye. He studied the clipboard in his hands for a few seconds, before addressing Adam. “He’s in very bad shape. Something—or someone—is impeding his ability to heal. We’ve watched his blood pressure rise as his body attempts to correct the wrongs and each time it dives back down, as if something is siphoning that magic from him. It is rather remarkable—from a doctor’s point of view,” he admitted. “He is in a coma, so he isn’t feeling pain, but what I am concerned about the most is the loss of blood. He honestly doesn’t have much of it left and being as he has magic, a regular blood transfusion won’t work.”

  “He can have mine,” Michael spoke up. “We have the same blood type. I’ll give him as much as he needs.”

  Dr. Oswald nodded. “I thought perhaps you would. If you’ll come with me, we’ll see what can be done.”

  The two of them left, followed by Tommy’s wolf.