by Trisha Leigh
I turn away, unwilling to watch them destroy one another, and continue inching toward Pax. He still isn’t moving, but I have to believe he’s alive. Everything will be fine. When Lucas and I are about ten feet away, a huge shudder, one that lasts for minutes and rips trees up by their roots, thunders through the earth. Lucas and I curl around each other on the ground, holding on for dear life. The wrenching sound of tearing metal shoots adrenaline into my heart.
The jungle gym, at least eight feet tall, rips free from the dirt and topples, upset by a huge new crest pushing up beneath one side. It falls hard, smashing onto Pax’s prone form.
I scream, finding strength from nowhere, and race toward him. It kills me that I can’t reach him, can’t touch him through the metal bars, and there’s blood everywhere. A jagged arm of metal stabs into Pax’s side, another through the meaty part of his shoulder.
Lucas lands next to me, the horror stamped on his face sending me into a spiral of dread so deep it’s drowning me. A gasping fills my ears, and black swamps my vision until another round of shaking causes so much pain from my back that I wake up.
“Althea, stop. Stop! Get up. Help me lift this off him.”
But we can’t. No matter how hard we try, the jungle gym won’t budge. It weighs too much, and the fact that it’s putting pressure on Pax’s body terrifies me that we’re making it worse.
A fierce wind blows up from behind us, pushing me into the twisted metal at first. It reminds me of Pax, and sudden hope that he’s okay, that he’s using his power, springs tears to my eyes. Except he’s not. His eyes are closed, and Pax hasn’t moved a muscle since he landed here a few minutes ago. A lifetime ago.
The wind changes, swirling around my ankles and straight up from the ground. My loose, tangled hair reaches toward the sky, and Lucas and I have to fall to our knees and hold on to the metal toys to anchor ourselves to the ground.
The jungle gym lifts a few feet into the air.
I don’t have to look to know what’s going on, but I can’t help it. The bright blue pinpoints in the center of Air’s eyes meet my helpless gaze, the accompanying ache in the back of my head nothing more than a flicker after everything I’ve endured. Words infiltrate my mind, the reminder of my mental vulnerability rattling me.
Get him and go.
I nod, then turn back to my friends. Lucas and I lie flat on our bellies, both of us reaching as far as we can and wrapping our hands around an ankle. We pull Pax free, and the jungle gym slams back into the ground. He doesn’t groan. He doesn’t move at all, but his chest rises and falls in a shallow motion.
“Where are we supposed to meet Griffin?”
“It’s far, too far. We can’t make it with Pax like this.”
The frantic alarm on Lucas’s calm demeanor scares me more than anything else that’s happened today. We have to do something; our parents are fighting, but it’s three instead of four. According to Cadi, only with all of them together are they more powerful than the rest of the Others, which means eventually they will be subdued. And they will be punished.
Now’s not the time to worry about them. They know what they’re doing, and we all know they’re too valuable to be killed.
“Yes, we can, Lucas. We can make it. We will make it.”
Without waiting for him to agree, I bend down and grab one of Pax’s limp hands in both of mine. I tug hard, barely budging him. Then Lucas is beside me, his strong hands pulling on Pax’s opposite arm, and we manage to move him.
Wind and rain slash through the park. Thunderclouds, courtesy of Lucas’s father, darken the evening into a black night, interrupted by violent flashes of lightning. The rain increases until it’s hard to see, and I think maybe the Others won’t be able to guess which way we’ve gone.
Rain sluices down Lucas’s face, flying off his lips like spit when he talks. “This way!”
He jerks his head backward, then strengthens his hold on Pax. Together we drag him across the engorged grass, water soaking my jeans up to my knees. It’s over ten minutes before we see the pond, and Lucas stops at the edge. I can’t hear anything over the pounding rain and cracking thunder, and barely register what’s happening as Lucas bends and struggles to lift Pax over his shoulder then flings him into the pond, where he lands facedown with a splash.
“What are you doing?” I push at Lucas, trying to get his attention.
He shrugs me off and wades into the water, pulling Pax farther out. “Althea! Come here!”
I jump into the water, struggling to reach Lucas’s side, and am grateful the water is shallow enough that I can touch the bottom. When I reach the boys, I can see a glinting circle in the water, barely visible underneath the raindrops dappling the surface.
Lucas shoves Pax down through the middle of the ring, then grabs my hand and pulls me under, too.
CHAPTER 34.
On the opposite end of the portal, my head emerges from a much smaller pond, almost completely covered in ice. Pax floats nearby, faceup, still breathing.
Lucas bobs up beside me, spitting out water and gasping for air. “That was weird.”
Wolf barks at the edge of the pond, then splashes in and grabs Pax by the collar of his shirt, dragging him out onto the shore. Lucas and I join him. Wolf licks my face, so clearly delighted to see me it takes some of the sting out of the disaster of this day. I push him gently away, and he eyes Lucas suspiciously while I bend over Pax.
“Althea, let’s get him inside first. I’m sure you and he are freezing out here.”
Of course, Lucas would be perfectly comfortable. But now that he mentions it, my numb, purple fingers register, along with Pax’s blue lips and the water frozen in his dark brown hair. His face is gray, and it looks like his eyelashes are frozen to his face.
“Go inside where, Lucas?”
“Come on.” He hooks his hands under Pax’s armpits, looking at me expectantly.
My back screams at me as I crawl to my feet, joining the cacophony of aches and pains collected over the last day or so. Being slammed into that tree knocked something wonky, and I’ll be lucky if my back isn’t permanently damaged. For the first time, a house made out of logs catches my attention. The flickering of a fire glows through the windows, and a curl of smoke puffs from the brick column rising from one side. It looks impossible, so intact and functional. As though it couldn’t exist in this devastated world.
Lucas follows my gaze. “Griffin says this place is safe, although now that the Others know someone is helping us that might not be true for very long. I get the feeling that guy will sell us out if a better deal comes along.”
I think about Greer, about the way we sort of bonded in that prison, about how we might actually respect each other. What she said about her brother having his reasons for helping the three of us. “We’ll have to hope he doesn’t. Pax needs time to heal.”
I bend down and grab Pax’s legs, and Lucas and I walk slowly inside through ankle-deep snow, trying not to jostle him more than necessary. If only Griffin had found a perfect little hideaway where it’s warm.
The inside of the place is as ideal as the outside. Furniture, rugs, what looks like a clean kitchen. If there’s food in the cabinets, I’ll sit down and cry.
We lay Pax on the couch. His ragged breathing worms anxiety into my stomach, and the fact that a freezing plunge and being dragged through snow hasn’t woken him doesn’t help. I put a hand on his forehead, smoothing the wet hair back. Lucas clears his throat, then offers some blankets he found in the bedroom.
“We should take these wet clothes off him first, get a look at his wounds.”
“Okay.” I pause, trying to hide the red warmth in my face.
“I can do it, Althea.”
“No.” Pax wouldn’t want Lucas to take care of him. He wouldn’t want me to, either, but we’ve been through so much together.
This is serious. Getting embarrassed over seeing his naked chest shouldn’t factor in, especially since I’ve seen it before. I gingerly remo
ve his shirt, biting my lip when I slip it over his shoulder and he groans. Lucas helps with his soaked jeans, which we have to peel down his legs. We cover him from the waist down since there aren’t any injuries down there, and focus on his torso.
The wound in his shoulder goes clean through, but the blood weeps instead of gushing, and the edges are clean. It doesn’t worry me, not the way the gouge in his side does. The hole opens below his rib cage, above his hip, and is still bleeding freely. I have no idea if the metal tore muscles or something more important. An organ, maybe. I don’t like the way the skin is turning black around the wound, as though it’s bleeding from the inside.
Lucas leaves again as I stare and fret, chewing a hole in the side of my cheek.
He returns with a kit filled with bandages and a bottle of the same antiseptic Pax and I found in the ranger’s station in Wyoming. I dress the wound the same way Pax did Wolf’s injuries, then cover his clammy, shivering body with more blankets.
The silence overcomes me; it’s too complete. Lucas is here. Pax is alive. We’re safe, even if it’s only for a little while. We should be happier about the things that are going right.
In an attempt to do that, I smile at Lucas. “It’s good to see you.”
The heart-stopping smile that changed my life last autumn lights up his tired, lined face. “You have no idea. I’ve been so worried.”
My hand goes to my locket, hoping for a vibration, for proof that Cadi survived Kendaja’s attack and can tell Lucas and me what to do next. When nothing happens, certainty that the three of us are well and truly alone loosens my strength, drops me to the floor beside Pax.
The last thing Cadi said, might ever say, rings in my memory.
“Time is running out. Reclaiming Deshi is already going to be difficult, considering—”
Considering what, I may never know. But it doesn’t matter. After everything that’s happened this season, all that we’ve learned and seen, she’s undoubtedly right about one thing.
Time is running out.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As always, a heap of people came together to make this novel so much better than it could ever have been with only me at the helm. My editor, Danielle Poiesz, who not only gently guides my stories in the best direction, but who calms my (frequent) bouts of authorly insecurity. Lauren Hougen, my copy editor, who asks the questions that never would have entered my mind, and by doing so, saves me piles of embarrassment later on. Nathalia Suellen, my brilliant cover designer, whose creativity and spirit are a constant source of inspiration. If you love Winter Omens, each of these ladies are as responsible as I am.
Again, I have to thank my family. Each and every one of you are beautiful people, and I feel blessed to share not only your DNA, but your lives. Particular thanks to Katie Martin, Kerstin Heinrich, and Kim Heinrich, who push my book into the hands of their friends and followers, and to my mother and my Aunt Cheryl, whose proofreading skills are invaluable.
I have some of the best beta readers and critique partners in all the land—a million thanks to Trieb, Kari, Diana, and Jen (the Amazing), along with of course Denise Grover Swank, who continues to amaze and inspire me with her stories and head for business. Also her ability to consume coffee and parent six children with little to no sleep.
Life would be decidedly less interesting and more isolated without my Twitter friends, who brighten my days, laugh with me, and are quick with support if that’s what I need. It might seem strange to some people, but I truly wouldn’t be where I am without you all.
Thanks, Mom and Dad, for your support not only in this endeavor, but in life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Raised by a family of ex-farmers and/or almost rocks stars from Southeastern Iowa, Trisha Leigh has a film degree from Texas Christian University. She currently lives in Kansas City, MO, where she’s hard at work on the remainder of the series. Her spare time is spent reviewing television and movies, relaxing with her loud, loving family, reading any book that falls into her hands, and being dragged into the fresh air by her dogs Yoda and Jilly.
To learn more about Trisha Leigh, please visit her at trishaleigh.com.
Contents
Title page
CHAPTER 1.
CHAPTER 2.
CHAPTER 3.
CHAPTER 4.
CHAPTER 5.
CHAPTER 6.
CHAPTER 7.
CHAPTER 8.
CHAPTER 9.
CHAPTER 10.
CHAPTER 11.
CHAPTER 12.
CHAPTER 13.
CHAPTER 14.
CHAPTER 15.
CHAPTER 16.
CHAPTER 17.
CHAPTER 18.
CHAPTER 19.
CHAPTER 20.
CHAPTER 21.
CHAPTER 22.
CHAPTER 23.
CHAPTER 24.
CHAPTER 25.
CHAPTER 26.
CHAPTER 27.
CHAPTER 28.
CHAPTER 29.
CHAPTER 30.
CHAPTER 31.
CHAPTER 32.
CHAPTER 33.
CHAPTER 34.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Table of Contents
Title page
CHAPTER 1.
CHAPTER 2.
CHAPTER 3.
CHAPTER 4.
CHAPTER 5.
CHAPTER 6.
CHAPTER 7.
CHAPTER 8.
CHAPTER 9.
CHAPTER 10.
CHAPTER 11.
CHAPTER 12.
CHAPTER 13.
CHAPTER 14.
CHAPTER 15.
CHAPTER 16.
CHAPTER 17.
CHAPTER 18.
CHAPTER 19.
CHAPTER 20.
CHAPTER 21.
CHAPTER 22.
CHAPTER 23.
CHAPTER 24.
CHAPTER 25.
CHAPTER 26.
CHAPTER 27.
CHAPTER 28.
CHAPTER 29.
CHAPTER 30.
CHAPTER 31.
CHAPTER 32.
CHAPTER 33.
CHAPTER 34.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
