Sacrifice Me, Season two

by Sarra Cannon

  When no one else appeared, she flew toward the ground. Just before she reached it, though, her body shifted in one effortless, fluent motion.

  I gasped, surprised to see a young girl, no more than fifteen years old, standing before me.

  She could have been Mary Anne’s twin with her shoulder-length, straight black hair and pale skin.

  “We need to talk,” I said. “I know you’ve been watching me.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” she said. “Unless you’re ready to join your real family.”

  I stepped toward her, but she was skittish and nervous. She stepped backward and glanced over her shoulder, her blue eyes wide and frightened.

  God, she was just a child.

  “Do you know what they did to my friend?” I asked. “The blond girl who’s usually at school with me? Were you a part of that?”

  She shook her head. “No, I wasn’t there,” she said. “But I know about what happened.”

  “Why didn’t they just come to talk to me about it?” I asked. “I don’t know why they had to hurt someone I care about. Katy isn’t like us, you know. She couldn’t even defend herself.”

  The girl shrugged. “If they had talked to you and told you to come home, would you have gone?” she asked.

  “Would I have been allowed to come and go as I pleased?” I asked.

  “No one is allowed to come and go as they please,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “You already know that.”

  “Then no,” I said. “Why would anyone want to live like that?”

  “Because the Mother Crow keeps us safe,” she said, sticking her chin out defiantly, as if trying to convince herself just as much as me.

  “Do you feel safe?” I asked softly.

  She hardened her expression. “What is it you want from me?” she asked. “I can’t help your friend. I don’t have that kind of power.”

  “I just want to know where the Mother Crow’s village is,” I said. “So, I can go there of my own free will and convince her to help Katy. I’ll do anything to make sure my friend is okay.”

  The girl didn’t say anything. She just studied me, as if trying to figure out if I was telling the truth.

  “What’s your name?” I asked. “I’m Mary Francis, but I’ve always been called Franki.”

  She swallowed and glanced behind her again. “I know your name,” she said. “I’m Mary Lola, not that I see why you would care.”

  “Because we’re going to live together, right? In the same village?” I asked, carefully taking a step toward her. “It’s going to be hard for me there at first. You guys have all grown up together. I won’t know anyone. I’ll have to leave all my friends behind. It would be nice to have at least one friend when I get there.”

  “I can’t tell you where the village is,” she said. “But if you come with me, I can let the Mother Crow know where you are.”

  I shook my head. “No, I need to know where she is,” I said. “It’s important.”

  I took another tentative step toward her, and she didn’t back away.

  “I’ve been waiting for her to activate this portal stone she left for me, but it’s taking too long. I just want to make sure my friend is okay,” I said. I took another step toward her, closing the distance between us. I could almost touch her. “I need your help, Mary Lola. Please.”

  I touched her shoulder, and she freaked out. She backed away and thrust a small knife out in front of her.

  “Don’t touch me,” she hissed. “What do you really want? What are you trying to do?”

  “I’m not trying to do anything, Mary Lola. I just want to talk to you.”

  I tried to calm the girl down, but the appearance of the knife had brought the others out of hiding. I cursed as tendrils of dark shadow swirled around us.

  The girl’s eyes widened in fear, and she dropped the knife, shifting quickly into crow form as she leapt into the air. Rend formed at my side a moment too late, just as Mary Lola flew away.

  “I’ll get her,” Rend said, shifting again and following her up over the roof of the building.

  I ran around to the front and looked up, trying to see if I could locate the girl as she flew across the sky, but there was no sign of her or Rend.

  “Dammit,” I said as Connery joined me. “I almost had her talking, but Rend freaked out and ruined it.”

  “He’ll find her,” he said. “I’m going to see what I can get from down here.”

  He ran into the shadows between buildings and came back with the small knife. “This is perfect,” he said, lifting the hilt of the knife to his nose. “Her scent is strong enough that I probably could have followed that alone, but having something of hers like this is golden, Franki. If she tries to hide out anywhere within fifty miles of here, I’m going to find her. Don’t lose hope.”

  But when Rend walked out of the space between buildings, shaking his head, I wanted to cry.

  “What happened?” I asked. “Where is she?”

  “I lost her,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense, because I’m much faster than she is. I don’t know what happened. She flew up toward the sun, and I lost her in the glare for just a split second. When I recovered, she was gone. It was like she just disappeared.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I shouted, anger boiling inside of me. “I had her, Rend. She was talking to me.”

  “She pulled a knife on you,” he said. “I’m not going to risk your life. That knife could have been laced with something to poison you. She could have had another portal stone and sucked you into it before I could get to you. I had to make a move to stop her.”

  “You should have waited,” I said. “I can take care of myself.”

  But I knew he was right. I still didn’t have enough control of my own power to really take care of myself in a terrible situation. I was acting childish, and I hated myself for it.

  “I can’t find her, either,” Silas said, stepping out of the shadows. “I searched everywhere. She’s got to have some kind of hiding place near here. Marco’s running around to the back of the building to see if he can find her in the trees, but I think we’ve lost her for now.”

  I turned to Connery.

  “Looks like you’re up, wolf,” I said. “Find this witch. I’m ready to put an end to this, once and for all.”

  Above The Trees

  Rend

  Connery took a moment in the dark place between buildings, sniffing the witch’s scent. He couldn’t fly like I could, but I knew that he would be able to track her even if she’d flown a mile into the sky.

  We followed him on foot around to the other side of the building, across the street, and over to a small park filled with kids and families on this sunny spring day. I could tell from the agitated way he paced the area that he wanted to shift into his wolf form and run free, but a huge werewolf running around Chicago would draw some attention we really didn’t need right now.

  Instead, he walked around the park, stopping every once in a while to sniff the air before he continued. He circled around, taking us on a weird loop of the park as some of the nearby moms started to notice us.

  “Hey, guys,” I said. “Maybe we should walk over to that bus stop on the corner and wait for Connery to give us the next move. Right now, we look like we’re scoping out the place like a bunch of bank robbers. Or kid snatchers. I really don’t want someone calling the cops on us right now.”

  We made our way as a group to the bus stop and sat on the benches, waiting as Connery seemed to circle around the park again.

  Had he lost her scent?

  I’d never seen him follow such an indirect route before when he was tracking someone. His jerky, agitated movements worried me.

  Franki was right. I’d intervened too soon, but seeing that knife was too much for me. Using Franki as bait was one thing, but letting a weapon be drawn on her was something else entirely.

  I knew from past experience that even one second delay in a dangerous situation could be
the difference between life and death.

  And though I was willing to meet my own death head-on if it came to that, I was not willing to put Franki’s life in danger to save my own.

  A familiar whistle sounded, and I turned to see Connery motioning for us to join him.

  He stood beneath a small grouping of trees at the edge of the park.

  “Come on,” I said, taking Franki’s hand. She squeezed it, but there were worry lines etched into her forehead.

  “What did you find?” I asked when we approached him.

  He laughed. “I thought something must be off, because this doesn’t exactly look like the kind of place a bunch of witches might hide, but after I circled around a few times, I knew this was right,” he said. He leaned back and glanced up at the treetops. “This is where the trail leads, and if I had to guess, they’ve got some kind of hidden camp up there.”

  He squinted against the sunlight and motioned toward campus.

  “That high up, they probably have a nice view of the campus, too. I bet you can see Franki’s old apartment from here.”

  Franki turned around, putting a hand to her forehead. “He’s right. I can’t see it from here, but it’s just beyond those buildings,” she said. “From up there, they could probably see Katy walking every morning. I used to park in the student parking lot just through there. If they wanted to keep an eye on me coming and going, this would be a good spot for it.”

  I looked up into the trees. It certainly didn’t look like anything to me, but none of the crow’s villages had been visible from the ground. Without another crow showing you where to look or leading you inside, it was impossible to even know they were there.

  But if Connery said there was a village up there, I believed him.

  “Do you think this is where the Mother Crow lives?” Silas asked. “It seems way too close to civilization for it be safe for her, but maybe that’s why no one has found her yet. It would be unexpected for her to be right here in the middle of downtown Chicago.”

  “I have a feeling this is just a small camp,” Franki said. “That girl was scared, and she was young. Nothing but a watcher, I would say. It reminded me of the way they sent Mary Anne to watch out for Peachville’s Prima in that home for troubled girls. She might even be alone up there.”

  “Well, if she’s there, we’ll get the location of the Mother Crow’s village out of her,” I said. “Good work, Connery.”

  “Thank you,” he said with a bow.

  “So, what’s the plan, then?” Franki asked. “This park is packed with people. I think someone’s going to notice if we all just disappear or shift and fly up there. Besides, if there really is a whole village up there with lots of crows, there could be too many of them for us to handle.”

  “There’s only one way to find out,” I said. “And I’m not willing to waste an entire day waiting to see.”

  “I can surround us in an invisible barrier,” Azure said. “It will take some power to make it happen, but I can extend a type of bubble around this entire section of trees. To anyone looking, it will just look like no one is here. Then we can shift without gaining attention.”

  “Everyone has their armbands?” Franki asked.

  I held mine up, and everyone else nodded.

  “Then, we go now,” I said. “Connery, take my hand. You can shift with me, and I’ll fly you up there. Marco, grab hold of Silas. Azure and Franki, you can take care of yourselves. Once we’re up there, Franki can lead us to the entrance since she’ll be able to see it more clearly once she’s close to it. We’ll regroup on the platform at the entrance and walk in together.”

  My chest tightened as I looked up into the trees above. This was our one best shot at getting answers, and we needed this to go well.

  “Azure, are you ready?” I asked.

  “Give me two minutes,” she said.

  She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. When she opened her eyes again, they had taken on a prism of colors, almost iridescent in the sun’s glow. Shining wings extended from her back as she waved her hands in a circular motion.

  Seconds later, the sound from the nearby children playing in the park was muted, almost as if we had all gone underwater.

  “Go,” I said, grabbing Connery’s hand and quickly shifting into smoke and shadow.

  Franki leapt from the ground, her body shrinking and changing as black wings extended from her body and took flight.

  Silas took Marco’s hand and joined us as we flew into the air, up to the tops of the trees.

  I knew Azure wouldn’t be able to hold the invisible barrier for long. The magic she was using was part of her fae heritage, and though she was able to use many of the same powers her mother possessed, they were not her strongest assets. Even five minutes of this kind of barrier would drain her power significantly.

  Franki flew around the area once before finally seeming to locate the village entrance. She cawed and flew forward, her body disappearing as she crossed over the barrier each crow village had at its entrance.

  I followed and quickly reformed at her side.

  Connery doubled over, grasping his knees as he caught his breath.

  “I really hate that,” he said. “It throws all my senses out of whack.”

  Silas and Marco appeared seconds later, followed closely by Azure, who dropped the barrier as she fell to her knees on the hidden platform.

  I placed a hand on her back. “You okay?”

  She nodded and took several deep breaths.

  The entrance to the small crow village lay before us, and I knew that whatever we found on the other side of it would mean everything to our search.

  “Since we don’t know how many crows we’ll find inside, what’s our best course of action here?” I asked. “Do we rush in and grab anyone we can see? Or do we sneak in one at a time and get the lay of the land?”

  “I vote for rushing in,” Franki said. “But let me go first. I can fly in using my crow form, which might confuse them for a minute. They won’t know who I am at first, I think. Rend and Silas, you can both use your shadow ropes to bind the witches inside, if there are more than one.”

  She looked to Marco.

  “I honestly don’t know what you’re capable of,” she said. “When we were at the safe house, you used some kind of light energy. Can you do that again?”

  He smiled. “Oh yes.”

  “Connery, can you tell from here how many witches might be inside?” I asked. “How many different scents are you picking up?”

  He stepped closer to the entrance and sniffed, lifting his chin.

  “Four distinct scents, only,” he said. “Maybe the hint of a fifth. Someone much more powerful than the rest.”

  “Maybe there are four younger girls, like Mary Lola,” Franki said. “And a fifth, older witch who watches out for them?”

  “Could be,” he said. “I definitely am picking up a strong scent of the girl who was with you on campus. She’s passed through here recently. Probably only a few minutes before we arrived.”

  “That’s good news, then,” I said. “As long as we have even one here to question, I can get the truth out of her.”

  “Let’s do this, then,” Franki said with a deep breath. “You guys ready?”

  I nodded. I didn’t like the idea of her going in first, alone, but it was a good plan to distract the witches inside.

  “I’m ready,” I said.

  And with that, Franki shifted and flew through the barrier, disappearing into the crow’s hidden village, our fate hanging there in the balance above the trees.

  Traitor

  Franki

  I flew into the crow’s village, my eyesight and hearing heightened in a way I was starting to love. Why had I been so afraid of this?

  The instant I crossed the barrier, I immediately saw the four witches Connery had smelled. They sat together at a small wooden table, their heads bent toward each other as if they were telling secrets.

  Startled, they
all turned to me, their eyes wide with fear.

  They were all just girls, really. If I had to guess, Mary Lola was the oldest. The youngest, a tiny little thing with two braids, couldn’t have been more than eleven.

  They stood as I flew toward them, each girl gathering her magic into her hands, ready to fight.

  Seeing them there, I wished we had made a different plan. If I had flown in here on my own, I might have been able to talk to them. Put them at ease or convince them to help me find the Mother Crow.

  Instead, the others followed me into the village, the demon smoke soaring past me.

  A bolt of pinkish-tinted energy flashed under my body, barely missing the first of the girls. Behind me, Azure cursed and fired again, her magic catching the arm of the youngest girl and slowly expanding across her torso and down her legs, freezing her in place.

  I glided to the ground, taking my human form just as Rend’s body came into view, black tendrils of smoke extending from his hands and wrapping around the neck of the second girl as she screamed.

  The third girl—a pale-skinned teenager with her hair in a single, high ponytail—summoned a towering wall of flames, cutting her and Mary Lola off from the rest of us.

  The encampment in the trees was so small, there was no room to go around or above the flames. Luckily, Marco seemed to have some skill with water magic, as well as light. He quickly took a silver flask from his back pocket and opened it.

  I watched in awe as a wave of clear, blue water poured from the flask. He manipulated it easily, focusing the water into a snake-like shape that flew through the air and slammed into the wall of fire, dousing large portions of it.

  The girl controlling the fire stood her ground, slamming her hands together in a thunderous clap that echoed through the small village. The wall of flames seemed to collapse in on itself at first, but then it roared to life again, stronger than before.

  She pushed her hands forward, sending a spray of flames out toward Marco and me.

  He grabbed my hand and pulled me down to the ground, covering my body with his as the flames passed over us. He cried out in pain, and I rolled out from under him, screaming as I saw the burns that covered his entire back.