Warrior Everlasting

by Knight, Wendy

  Scout’s mom and dad stood in all their soul translucence, somewhat torn, exhausted, but beautiful. Scout sobbed, still on her knees, and they rushed forward.

  Behind them stood Trey’s family. “Dad, Mom,” he gave a strangled cry as his brothers appeared behind his parents, and he ran, arms outstretched, meaning to grab them all and hold them close and never let go. But he only succeeded in knocking them backward.

  It hurt. Not physically. Physically all he felt was cold. But his heart shattered a little more when he couldn’t even touch them. He’d been dreaming of this moment for a lifetime… or was it merely days? And he couldn’t even—

  His mother laid her hand against his cheek, tears in her eyes and a beautiful smile creasing her face.

  “Mom. I’ve missed you so much.”

  “You’ve made us so proud, Trey,” she said, her voice soft and wobbly and not quite firm.

  “So proud.”

  Brandon laid a hand on his shoulder. Trey couldn’t feel it, not through the cloak and the well-worn battle gear. But it didn’t matter. His dad. His dad was safe. He was here. Everything would be okay.

  “We knew you’d fight for us.” Was it possible that Tate had tears in his eyes?

  Trey swallowed hard, knowing he couldn’t break down and sob, but nearly doing it anyway.

  “Don’t think this means you’re tougher than us. Just because we don’t have bodies right now and get knocked over by butterflies.” Trey laughed, a watery, somewhat broken laugh.

  But it felt so good. His parents chuckled; Liam nodded, smiling. His family was back. It would be okay. Everything would be okay.

  “How did you avoid the soul stealers? How did you stay so high for so long?” Scout asked, scrubbing tears from her cheeks.

  Liam spoke, not bothering at all to hide his own tears. “It was Lil Bit. She wouldn’t let us doubt you. She wouldn’t let us lose hope.”

  They all turned to stare at the tiny little thing who was stronger than them all. She smiled innocently, batting her big, dark eyes, hands behind her back as she bounced lightly.

  “I knew Scout would come.” She shrugged.

  “And you did come.” Laila reached for Scout, fingers just brushing across Scout’s cheek. “And you danced, and I remembered what I had to fight for. Why I couldn’t give up. Your dancing, Scout. It saved us. It saved so many,” Laila said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  Scout’s jaw dropped, and Trey smiled. Of everything Laila could have said, he couldn’t think of anything that would heal Scout more.

  Scout sobbed, falling to her knees again to press her forehead to Lil Bit’s. Somehow, she had mastered the art of embracing their not-solidness. “I almost failed you.”

  “Almost is a dumb word. It doesn’t mean anything. Either you did or you didn’t.” Lil Bit pouted before her face lit up. “And… You. Didn’t. Fail.”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” Torz said, and he sounded genuinely apologetic. “I know how much you’ve been waiting for this, Trey. But we have to fight. Ashra and I can’t fight the creatures alone.”

  “You have to fight? Those things?” Julien’s voice was sheer panic.

  Trey turned to her, but it was Scout who spoke.

  “We don’t want to leave you. Any of you. We just got you back.” She glanced over her shoulder at Ashra, who watched them with an unreadable expression on her beautiful face. “But they need us. We’re the only ones who can help.”

  Laila nodded, pressing a kiss to Scout’s head as her shoulder shook with silent sobs.

  Julien reached for Trey, trying to hold on, trying to protect him, but her hand was knocked away from his physical presence.

  “We’ll be okay, Mom. I promise. Find somewhere safe.”

  “How will you find us if we hide?” Brandon asked, brushing at his cheeks, trying to be strong. “We need a signal—”

  “I’ll find them.” Lil Bit grinned. “I can find Scout anywhere.”

  Scout smiled, absently trying to brush Lil Bit’s hair out of her eyes. Trey saw the same pain flash across her face that he felt, when she couldn’t really touch her sister.

  “Scout.”

  Ashra was watching the sky, but by now Trey could smell them. The acrid, rotting corpses of the soul stealers.

  “I’ll be back, Lil Bit. Keep them safe until I return.” Scout brushed a kiss, feather light, against the top of Lil Bit’s head then laid her hand gently against her parents’ cheeks. It was all she could do, and Trey copied her.

  It was the worst form of torture he’d ever endured, having to walk away from them. He paused to drop an almost-kiss on Lil Bit’s head, as well, before leaping onto Torz’s back.

  “Unicorns, Ride!” he yelled, just like Iros, praying that this was the last time he had to ride into battle without their mighty leader to take charge.

  Torz’s wings snapped out, flames engulfing them, and he launched them both into the air.

  Chapter Twenty

  Ashra followed Torz into the sky, which should have been Scout’s first clue that something was wrong. Ashra always led. She was faster. More insane. More holding-onto-a-secret-death-wish.

  She didn’t light her wings on fire until they were almost there, and then her voice, soft, in Scout’s head. “I don’t have much left, Scout. I don’t know how I’ll fight.”

  In all the time Scout had known her, Ashra had defied logic. They said she and Scout couldn’t do attacks because they weren’t bonded, but they did them anyway. They said Ashra wouldn’t have enough magic to hold onto the smothering cloud and then continue to fight, and Ashra did it anyway. They said she couldn’t outrun the soul stealers, that she couldn’t bond, that she couldn’t love. Ashra did it anyway. This was the first time that Ashra had sounded scared.

  But Scout felt alive like she never had before. She felt strong. Her entire body seemed to hum with an electric energy, and she was so angry. So determined to protect those she’d just got back. “It’s okay, Ashra. You’ve been strong alone long enough. I’ll take this one.”

  The fact that Ashra didn’t argue, didn’t make a snarky comment, nothing, worried Scout even more than the fear in Ashra’s voice. Those creatures had done this to her unicorn. They had brought Scout’s mighty Ashra to her knees. And they would pay.

  She grabbed her scepter, swung it up, pointed it at the one in the lead. “Leave my family alone!” she screamed, screamed, and screamed like a banshee.

  Across the sky, Trey met her eyes and nodded, raising his as well. Fire exploded from both scepters, both horns, winding and twisting together in a myriad of colorful sparks. It slammed into the first demon and knocked it back into the second. They both burst into flames, burning, burning, burning from the inside out.

  Apparently, though, they would keep fighting to the death. There were seven. Scout knew the odds were not in their favor. She knew they had barely escaped with their lives before when they had been full-on magic and strength, and there had only been seven soul stealers.

  Now, Ashra was fighting to just stay in the sky, let alone actually attack anything. Ashra had given up much to save Scout. She’d given up much to heal Scout. It was always Ashra being the strong one. The brave one. Always Ashra making up for Scout’s weakness.

  This time, Scout had to step up. Or they would all die.

  She rose to her knees to get better leverage and whirled her scepter like a baton, bashing the ends into the two demons’ heads over and over, knocking them back. Keeping their claws at bay until the fire burned them to nothing, and they fell from the sky. Her arms ached already, but it just fueled her anger.

  “Next one, Ashra. Can you get me close enough to jam this thing in its chest?” She expected Ashra’s snarky comment about Scout daring to doubt her. There was no reply. Instead, Ashra tucked one wing and soared closer, coasting on the wind instead of using her own strength. For just one brief second, it was as if the demons didn’t exist, and they were back in Paradesos, Ashra diving through the sky, trying to
cure Scout’s fear of flying by sheer force of will. The wind rushed through Scout’s hair, tangling it even more than it was, cooling the sweat at her temples. They were free.

  And then Scout plunged the wicked curve of her scepter into the soul stealer’s chest, lighting the creature up with an internal fire as its claws ripped at her face. From behind, Trey did the same, shoving his scepter into its back as if he’d read her mind and knew her plan, without Scout even having to speak a word. They blew it to pieces.

  “Three down, four to go! We got this!” Scout yelled.

  Trey gave her a lopsided smile over the demon’s falling ash and blood before Torz swung away.

  “What’s next, playmaker?” Ashra sounded tired. So tired.

  Scout bit her lip, scanning all the thoughts in her brain like they were files, desperately searching for a way to give Ashra her strength. There had to be something…

  She came up empty.

  “I can help, Scout. You just keep fighting. I’ve got Ashra.

  Scout nearly sobbed as Lil Bit’s voice whispered in her head — in every battle she’d ever been in, when she hadn’t had the strength to keep fighting, when she wanted to quit or when she was too scared to go on, her sister had been there, giving Scout her strength, her will, her courage. And now when Ashra needed her most, Lil Bit was there for her, too.

  Ashra’s head suddenly jerked, and her ears twitched as if looking for the sound, and Scout, scared, frustrated, and angry, couldn’t help but smile. Because she knew Lil Bit had just broken through Ashra’s barriers. It was as if someone had infused Ashra with just a little bit of light. Her horn burned brighter. Sparks flew from her wings and she nodded. “Okay.”

  There were four more. Torz and Trey had one of them on fire already. Scout thought of using a conceal cloud and letting Torz and Trey take them all on in the blackness, but she was pretty sure Ashra didn’t have the strength to hold it.

  “It wouldn’t work anyway. With their souls, they can see in the dark.” Ashra didn’t sound nearly so tired now. Not her usual, sarcastically enthusiastic self, but not on the verge of collapse, either.

  “Okay, so…” Scout said, feeling more hopeful than the situation warranted. “We’ll just have to work together with Trey. We’ve done it before.” She glanced across the sky at the boy she loved, torn because she didn’t want him in danger, but he was so hot when he was fighting, and, perhaps more importantly, they made a great team.

  “Yeah. Teamwork. Go team. Rah, rah, rah. Let’s do this already,” Ashra said drily.

  Scout raised her hand to get Trey’s attention. He glanced at her, at her scepter resting across her lap, and nodded. Just like that, he knew what she wanted. What the plan was. She was such an idiot. What kind of girl let that kind of connection go? A girl who got hurt and didn’t want to be stupid. You were just trying to protect yourself. But you didn’t need to. She wasn’t even sure who was in her head now. Her voice and Ashra’s sometimes sounded interchangeable.

  “That was all you, Princess. Get ready.”

  Scout nodded, realizing belatedly that Ashra couldn’t see her. She lifted her scepter and pointed it at Trey. Thankfully, unicorn magic couldn’t be used on other unicorns. Scout wasn’t as positive that it couldn’t be used on other people. So instead she started praying like crazy that Trey really had read her mind. Her scepter lit. Ashra’s horn exploded in sparks. A rope of flames wound its way through the sky, straight at Trey’s chest.

  Scout screeched.

  But Trey moved just in time, his magic and Torz's combining in a rope of their own, threading through Scout’s and Ashra’s rope, making it stronger, brighter. More powerful.

  And then the unicorns shot forward, galloping across air, fiery wings pumping hard. They hit the first two demons at the same time, clothes-lined them right in the stomach, and the force was so much it nearly knocked Scout off her unicorn.

  Trey, too, struggled to hold on as Torz and Ashra pushed forward, their necks lathering, wings and hooves pushing them ahead, one inch at a time.

  Scout’s arms shook. Her entire body trembled with effort, and sweat soaked her temples. It wasn’t going to work. The demons were too strong. They couldn’t cut them in half. It wouldn’t work. Scout wanted to hang her head in defeat, but she couldn’t because Ashra didn’t give up, and if Ashra wasn’t giving up, then neither was she. So she kept her chin up and her teeth gritted in determination, and she sent all her energy to Ashra.

  Don’t give up. I’ve got you.

  And then there was a snap.

  It wasn’t as loud as Scout had been hoping. For all that effort, she’d expected something that would make her eardrums bleed, or at least not be drowned out by the other soul stealers’ wailing. But it was a little thing, actually two little things, as the creatures split in half, their bent, mangled spines severed in two.

  Two more.

  Scout wanted to cry. She had absolutely nothing left. All her earlier enthusiasm and electric anger was gone. Ashra’s wings pumped weakly, but the mighty unicorn was done, too. Torz and Trey couldn’t stay in the sky, either. They were slowly sinking through the air.

  “What now, Princess?”

  The remaining soul stealers screeched, their keening throbbing at Scout’s ears and her brain, and even her eyes stung. They dove, shooting past the stalled unicorns, racing to the ground, leaving a trail of blood dripping through the sky like rain. Their claws stretched, reaching…

  Reaching for Scout’s family. For Trey’s family. For Lil Bit.

  Suddenly, Ashra was racing after them, so fast the wind tore at Scout’s hair, and the wind burned her already stinging eyes. Fire shot from Ashra’s horn, leaving a trail through the darkening night.

  Scout’s scepter lit without her even summoning it. She leaned low over Ashra’s back, hiding in her mane, and remembered a different battle when Ashra had nearly killed them to save someone else. When her speed had saved them all. As they raced through the sky, toward her sister, she remembered Ashra’s indomitable spirit…

  Scout had a horrible, horrible feeling she knew what Ashra was planning. It wasn’t possible. She couldn’t. She wasn’t brave enough. She wasn’t strong enough.

  “But I am,” Ashra said quietly.

  Scout swallowed hard. Dug deeper for whatever courage she had left. “How can we…?

  Ashra didn’t slow, nearing the leading soul stealers, where they had the unicorns trapped.

  “We’ll save hundreds of lives, Scout. There’s no other choice.”

  She really does have a death wish, Scout realized, her stomach sinking. Courage, where are you? “Are you fast enough?” Scout’s voice was surprising in its hardness.

  “For a while.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Princess, wake up! Not a great time to be daydreaming!” Ashra’s tail whipped her, snapping her back to the present.

  Holy snowballs. This really was a bad time to be remembering past battles.

  She could feel Ashra’s breath coming in gasps as her hooves cracked the air around them, fast, so fast, faster than Scout had ever seen her fly before. Smoke trailed after them from her wings, like a falling jet.

  The soul stealers were too far ahead. Too fast. Too close to Lil Bit, who was trapped in the canyon below.

  “No. They’re not.” Ashra lowered her head and put on a burst of speed, somehow finding the strength to give more when Scout had thought she had nothing left. They caught up to the demon, and Ashra’s horn lit with dangerously dark flames, nearly black with her anger, and Scout lifted her scepter, gritting her teeth and feeling her own rage fuel the fire. Their attack exploded, shooting through the sky and into the back of the soul stealer. It howled in pain, a shriek that felt like it would shatter Scout’s brain.

  “Again!”

  Scout found the strength she needed in her anger. “Stay. Away. From. My. Sister!” she screamed as they came parallel to the soul stealer, the attack hurtling through the air to slam into the creat
ure again. And again. It crumpled, collapsed, folded in on itself as it fell to the ground.

  By now Trey and Torz had caught up and were already shooting attacks at the other soul stealer, but it was too close. Tate and Liam stood in front of Lil Bit protectively, holding her behind them even as their transparent bodies shook with fear. But her parents, Trey’s parents…

  Scout’s head snapped toward them as she heard her parents scream.

  “Hey! Over here! Over here!”

  No. No, no, no. They were racing away from Lil Bit, waving their arms, howling, anything they could do to distract the creature. To get it to chase them, instead. Trey’s parents raced in the opposite direction, doing the same thing, desperate to protect their families.

  “Mom! Dad! No-o-o!” Trey screamed as Torz raced after the soul stealer.

  Ashra swung around to follow, giving Scout a clear view of the sky behind them.

  It was full of demons.

  The dead black eyes told her they weren’t souled, but there were so many. They didn’t have a chance. And they were coming right in through the valley.

  “Ariston has realized keeping you is more important than fighting Iros.” Ashra’s voice had a grim finality. “We’ve got maybe ten minutes before they get here.”

  Scout’s eyes snapped back to the demon they’d been chasing, to her parents.

  It was gone.

  They were gone.

  “Trey! Where’d they go?” she screeched.

  He and Torz were flying in big circles, searching. He looked at her, utter desolation clear on his face. “I don’t know.”

  Ashra flew closer so Scout’s screeching could be heard. “What do you mean you don’t know? You were following them!”

  “I know that, Scout,” he snapped. “But I saw the horde coming and got distracted. Just for a second. When I looked back, everyone was gone.”

  “There.” Ashra’s bright horn lit like an arrow. “There’s the souled one, joining the others. But he doesn’t have your parents.”

  “Torz, take me down. Maybe my brothers know where she went.”