Yes! That’s it.
Just when Cal thought they had him, Bannon reached up, grabbed Leeah by the ankle and slammed her down to the earth, where she lay in an unmoving heap.
But then, Stassi was there, diving through the air at Bannon, her long silver hair flying out behind her.
As strong as the Faedin was, her surprise strike caught him off balance and she managed to lift him off his feet and send him crashing to the ground flat on his back.
That’s it, Stassi! Three against three.
The crowd went wild, hooting and hollering. It was obvious that they had never seen novices working together in the trials before.
Gilad and the two remaining warriors, momentarily stunned, had skidded to a stop to watch in disbelief, just as Cal had thought they might. He snuck up behind one and tapped him on the shoulder. When the warrior spun around, Cal rammed a fist into his mouth, making him stumble sideways. A kick to the ribs made sure he didn’t recover his balance and the Faedin sat back hard into the dirt.
The spectators roared their approval.
Three against two.
Cal left the other warrior to Stassi and Abram and turned toward Gilad.
His nemesis’s eyes were narrowed to a dangerous squint and he started toward Cal in an aggressive jog.
Great plan, Taylor.
Cal swallowed. This was the riskiest part of the plan, of course, but in truth, he had hoped the others would have been able to intervene before he ever got to this point. That hope was long gone now, and he did something he had never done before in his life. He started to run — toward a fight.
I have to win this. I have to prove to Stassi and the Faedin that I belong here. Because if not here, where? All the shame he felt at the hands of others fueled his anger. His hesitant steps grew purposeful.
He dimly registered Stassi’s shriek of defeat behind him and realized she was out of the contest, but he didn’t let it stop him.
Two against two.
He had nowhere else to run, nowhere to hide. If he did nothing, it would brand him a coward to a race of people who valued bravery above all else.
Another wave of shouts rang out from the stands and out of the corner of his eye, Cal saw Abram and his opponent hit the ground at the same time in a plume of dust. Both out.
One against one.
The distance closed in a heartbeat and Gilad was there. With a reckless howl born of terror and rage, Cal threw himself in a clumsy lunge at the warrior, and… the world went dark. It felt like he had hit a brick wall. The impact rattled the teeth in his head, and he reeled back in a daze. Blinking rapidly to clear his vision, he swung his arms blindly through the air, hoping to connect, but came up empty. He opened his eyes to find a blurry Gilad standing before him.
“Is that the best you have, Rupa?”
Cal growled and drove his fist into Gilad’s stomach, hoping to bend the warrior over just enough to give Cal a shot at the back of his head.
Gilad didn’t move a muscle, but Cal grunted and cursed as he shook out his bruised hand.
A soft twittering could be heard from the stands and it took a moment for Cal to realize that it was stilted chuckles.
The distraction cost him.
His face exploded in pain as Gilad backhanded him. He staggered to the side, but managed to keep his feet under him. Gilad followed, delivering two heavy blows to Cal’s nose and mouth. A river of blood flooded from his face, and he swiped it away with the back of his hand.
Gilad raised his fist again, but Cal anticipated him this time and spun, the back of his heel connecting with the side of Gilad’s head.
The warrior pulled up in shock, surprised — as much as Cal — that he had actually been hit. Before Gilad could recover fully, Cal ripped off his coat and threw it over his larger opponent’s head. He grabbed the sleeves and squeezed them tight around Gilad’s head, spinning him in a circle. The Faedin’s arms flailed as he was whipped around and around.
The stilted chuckles turned into outright laughs. The spectators rose to their feet, shouting something, but Cal wasn’t quite sure what. All he cared about was that he was about to win. Victory was his. He could taste it. His heart soared. With one last Herculean effort, he yanked with every ounce of strength he had left in him to pull the Faedin off his feet.
It didn’t work.
Gilad wrestled out of the coat and snarled as he jumped into the air. He swept in close, clutched Cal at the shoulders and lifted him. Only this time, there was no coat to protect him and Gilad’s talons sunk deep into Cal’s flesh.
He screamed in agony. “Gilad! Let go!”
Unfortunately, the warrior did just that. From about thirty feet.
The sky above spun wildly as Cal fell, and he tried desperately to get his legs under him. The ground had other ideas and came up to meet him faster than should have been possible. He crashed back to earth with bone-jarring force.
Cal lay there in pain and exhaustion, wanting nothing more than to disappear into the ground beneath him.
I failed Stassi.
A flap of wings disturbed the dirt around him and Gilad landed next to him. “You are a fool! Despite all your tricks, I have something you do not. I can fly. That makes me a formidable foe.”
Cal lifted his head and opened one eye. “I have something you don’t, Gilad. I want to live. That makes me even more formidable.”
Gilad’s jaw clenched tight, but he stomped away without another word.
Cal wasn’t sure how long he remained there, but it had been several minutes. The Faedin were filing out of the arena. He felt Stassi’s presence long before she said anything and when she finally spoke, it wasn’t what he expected.
“You did well, Cal.”
“Well?” he snorted. “I lost!”
“No, you won.”
“Really? How did I win, Stassi?”
“You achieved something I have never seen in my lifetime.”
“Which is?”
“You gave the Faedin laughter.”
Cal stripped his pants off and walked down the steps of the grotto into the hot pool. He cupped a handful of water and splashed it over his face to clean the dried blood away. Stassi sat at the edge to dip her legs.
“The Faedin are talking about you.”
“I’m glad my inept fighting can entertain them,” he said, sinking low to soothe his tired muscles.
“You see it as that. They do not.”
“No?”
“They saw someone outmatched, but brave enough to continue. A man of ingenuity and guile.” She paused. “They see what I see.”
Her praise filled him, energized his body in a way that the heated water never could.
“Tell me, Cal, if you could change anything about your old life, what would it be?”
The vapor enveloped him, instilling a sense of comfort and safety around him. Enough so that he wanted to be honest. “It’s always been the same thing. At every bedtime prayer, every penny fountain, every blown-out candle. I always wanted my mother to be, well… a mother.”
“She must care for you.”
“No, she doesn’t. She puts her own needs above her children.”
“Perhaps she faces battles you know nothing about.”
The comment gave Cal pause. Yes, Evie Taylor did have her own battles, but he refused to allow them to excuse her behavior.
“What else?” she prompted.
“And I would want my…” He almost said real father, but stopped himself. There was nothing real about the man who gave him life. He had died in a motorcycle accident when Cal was just an infant, so Cal had never known him. Never received advice from him or tossed a baseball back and forth. They never went fishing or hunting. No, there was nothing real there. There wasn’t… anything. Not even a ghost of remembrance. He supposed he owed the man some sort of debt to keep his memory alive, but it was hard to do that for someone who wasn’t real. “Nothing. There’s nothing else.”
Stassi slipped into
the pool. “I have seen your scars, Cal. I have heard your cries. You have been broken by people in your life that you trusted. People that were bigger and stronger than you. But you have grown. I do not see that boy any more. I see a man. A survivor. Someone strong and kind. Someone the Faedin could learn from.”
Cal staggered to his feet and stared at her. The things she said… did she really believe them?
She held her hand out toward him. “Come, Cal. It is time.”
“For what?” he croaked out past the emotion building inside his throat.
“To show you the reason for the Faedin way.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the Tree That Will Not Die.”
CHAPTER 12
The Tree That Will Not Die
The enormous tree rose out of the forest like a misshapen giant. Twisted limbs curled in grotesque shapes poised to snatch unsuspecting victims off their feet. A ring of black, scarred earth radiated out from the base of the tree in a circle of death. Boiling, fetid smells rose from its surface.
The moonlight silhouetted the two Faedin creeping silently along the perimeter of evil.
“Is that it?” the younger asked with a shudder.
“Yes, child. It is the Tree That Will Not Die.”
“Let us go, Sire. I do not wish to be near this place.”
“Quiet,” the older Faedin hushed. “Listen carefully. What do you hear?”
The youngster obediently tilted an ear toward the tree. “Nothing.”
“I hear it. Gai’tan stirs.”
“What? We must tell the others!”
The young Faedin made to run off, but was stopped by a firm hand. “No.”
“No?”
“It is the time of the serpent, young one. We must give him what he wants.”
Blue eyes grew as large as saucers. “A human?”
“Yes.”
“Stassi’s mate?”
“No. That human is compromised by Faedin magic. We need another.”
“But Gai’tan is the enemy! We cannot give him what he wants. He will destroy the world!”
“Only the world as we know it. Who is to say the world that is remade will not be better?”
The tiny body began to tremble. “I am afraid!”
“Do not be afraid. This is what you must do.” He bent down close to explain exactly what he wanted.
“No! It is not the Faedin way!”
“You must. You are the only one I trust.”
The youngster began to cry. “I cannot, Sire.”
“You can and you will. Be brave.”
“But how will I—”
“You must fall,” he admitted sadly, and faster than the eye could track, he grabbed the child and swung with all of his might. A high-pitched scream rent the silent air as the small body sailed forward and landed in the middle of the pit.
The child hit hard, but immediately tried to scramble away. “No! Sire! Please, help me!”
The ground stirred in response to its ensnared prey, churning into a roiling sea of black. Putrid bubbles rose into the air. Long, shadowed fingers slithered from the earth and clawed at the Faedin.
“Noooo!”
“Remember what you must do!”
Ghostly hands slid over tiny shoulders and wrapped the child’s throat in a black noose, dragging the Faedin down. Down. Forever down.
“Noooo!”
“Be brave!”
“No—”
The screams were abruptly cut off as the youngster disappeared into the bowels of the serpent’s lair.
The older Faedin watched with a sigh of regret, unaware of the tall figure that approached from the trees behind him.
“You have done well, my friend.”
The Faedin flinched at the deep, raspy voice of the Fallen behind him. “I’m no friend of yours, Zakiel.”
“Gai’tan is pleased.”
“He better be. I was quite fond of that child.” The Faedin turned, letting his gaze roam over the legendary Fallen. At the ragged clothes hanging limply on a shrunken frame, the unkempt white hair and the abhorrent white eyes. His nose wrinkled at the smell of sulfur. “I still do not understand why you could not turn the child yourself, Zakiel.”
“Trust me,” he said with a long swipe of his tongue over a thin lip, “there is little I enjoy more than Faedin blood.”
The Faedin crouched. “Keep your fangs in your mouth, Fallen!”
Zakiel giggled, a crazed and demented sound. “As I said, I would have enjoyed the blood of your child, but my bite would have compromised her understanding. She needs to retain her wits for what she must do and Gai’tan will see to it.”
“I suppose.”
“The time is near, Faedin. Be ready.”
“How near?”
“Much sooner than you are prepared for.”
“Did you hear a scream?” Stassi asked Cal as they ran through the woods.
“No, but my hearing isn’t as good as yours. Yet,” he added with a wink.
“Keep alert and stay behind me.”
He grunted. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m bigger than you now.”
“A tree is bigger than me. I am still smarter.”
“Oh, I’m a tree now?”
She laughed and it felt good — to just let go and allow her body its natural response to enjoyment. She never imagined how freeing it could be. She also never thought she would see the day that a Faedin expressed such an emotion. It felt like she was standing on the precipice of change. A new Faedin. One she instinctively realized Cal would help shape somehow. There had to be a reason he had found his way here. Of that much she was certain.
He continued to grin as he ran alongside her through the trees at a steady trot. Although Cal’s physical changes were more pronounced, hers were there as well. Even without her full wings, she felt she could hold her own against the warriors now, and had already proven that fact in her fight with Bannon. The look on the warrior’s face when she defeated him was one she would not soon forget.
Cal passed her with a wiggle of his eyebrows and she let him. How carefree he was! Despite all the hardships he’d had to endure, he still loved life. He actually believed that life was his Wonder and not death.
Dear Maker, how absurd! Right? Or, she thought with distress, is it possible that the Faedin have it wrong? Do we truly know everything or only what we’ve been taught?
Up ahead, Cal came to a stop and Stassi, lost in her ruminations, slammed into his back.
“Holy crap, what is that?” he asked in horror.
She peered around him at the Tree That Will Not Die. At the epitome of all wickedness. “Pure evil. It is what the entire earth will look like if the serpent gets free.”
Cal took an involuntary step back.
“Do not worry. The serpent needs a pure human. You are no longer a threat.”
He heard her words, but she knew he didn’t completely accept them. In his mind, he was still pure human. Still had the same feelings and thoughts as before. Still felt like the old Cal. Time would prove him wrong.
“That is why the Faedin are so guarded,” she continued, “both physically and emotionally. Only the strong can prevent this from spreading to your realm. Only the brave. The weak do not belong.”
He turned to face her with a weary smile. “It’s not weak to love and to laugh. If anything, these connections with others make you stronger.”
Love? Was that the pesky little word responsible for her recent maladies? The racing heart whenever Cal looked at her? The longing to laugh with his joys and cry with his pain?
“That is why I chose you. To teach me these things.”
“Ah, yes, your broken little human.”
“Your scars make you who you are. You would not be Cal without them.” He did not respond, just turned to stare back at the tree. A look so innocent still. “But you are changing,” she reminded him.
He surprised her by nodding. But even if he truly was starting to
believe, his troubles lay deeper. She knew he still struggled with his place here and often thought of his family. She sensed that these attachments he spoke of were hard to break. Even the ones that hurt the most.
“You are human and you are Faedin. The best of both, and I accept you as you are.” She grabbed his coat at the chest with both fists. “Accept me, Cal! Accept your life here. Help us contain the threat that endangers us all!”
Her heart ached at sight of the lone tear that fell from his eye.
“No one has ever accepted me before,” he told her, scrubbing his face. “Not that I can remember, anyway. I… I don’t know if you can understand what it feels like to be shunned and beaten and ridiculed every day. Every. Single. Day.” He shook his head, ridding himself of unbearable memories. “It just shrinks you. Makes you feel small and worthless. Like… you don’t deserve to live.”
“That life is over, Cal! You will never suffer again!”
He made a keening noise deep in his throat and pulled her close against his chest. His mouth crashed down on hers and he worked his lips over hers with the desperation of a man dying of thirst. His hand twisted into her hair, holding her captive, giving her no room to resist. He need not have worried. She met every thrust of his tongue with one of her own, wanting nothing more than to assure him that he was wanted. His free hand slid gently over her bare shoulder, leaving a trail of heat that awakened every nerve in her body.
“I want to hold you forever,” he murmured against her lips. “It all makes sense here. You make sense.”
Stassi didn’t know how long they held each other, only that it felt better than anything she had ever experienced. The irony in the fact that she could find such solace in the presence of such evil was not lost on her. Worlds were converging. Old ways questioned. New ways explored.
All because of Cal.
He linked his fingers with hers and lifted them to his lips. “Yes,” he whispered. “I accept.”
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