by Jaymin Eve
Try the animals, Talina said. I think they can take on any or all of our powers.
Fury immediately changed her focus. Instead of trying to join her flames to the girls, she sent them down into Crete, and the moment it connected with her guide, he sent it across to the rest of us. The flames now linked all seven half-Walkers. I could literally feel the hot element of fire burning through my center.
Now that’s more like it! Ria’s exclamation was loud. Let’s kick some undead ass.
I let loose a few peals of laughter; we were all a little drunk on the energy. We had needed the animals to link us, but control still rested with us. Let’s surround them from all sides, and then on my command we send the ring of fire into their group. I started to issue orders.
The girls didn’t hesitate. They ran, fast and agile. Nothing physical was difficult for us. We had the best of both our worlds in our bloodline. The strongest females of our home planet were our mothers, and one couldn’t forget our Walker fathers. We were also made of the original sevens’ energy. We were like freaking Olympians hopped up on steroids.
Within moments we had closed around the horde of zombies. There were probably about thirty in this bunch.
I gave a shout. Go.
And go they did. The fire energy which had been building between us ricocheted outwards from each girl. In a single circle of blue flames, it washed across us in a six-foot-high wall.
The zombies shrieked as their dry, leathery flesh came into contact with the overwhelming, volcanic-like power of Fury’s element. One or two who were near the edge tried to dodge out of the way, but there was no hope for them. Each girl sustained the push of elemental fire and I made sure the flow of energy continued to cycle between us. This was the very reason my well existed: to cycle massive loads of energy and not kill me or anyone else with an overload.
Delane was pleased with our advancement. It’s so strange. Fury’s fire doesn’t feel familiar like my wind, but I do have control over both elements right now.
Even though the girls were controlling the fire, they still had access to their own elements.
So whichever element the guides connect all of us with, we can control it, and then still our own if needed. That’s pretty powerful. It means we can make a big bang when needed. Sapha sounded excited, and she wasn’t the only one.
We continued to fire-bomb the zombies until there was nothing left. Just ash and scattered remnants of bones and clothing.
I was grateful that no scent of burning flesh stung the air here. This world was not real enough for that.
We also didn’t need to blow away the remains this time. They simply sank back into the white starkness of this world and were gone.
Awesome.
One threat down. Time to move on to the next one.
We battled for what felt like hours. We fought dragoonas; large ocean serpents; forest-dwelling animals, including a bera; energy-sucking Drones; Angelica; and other imagined predators.
We learned how to use wind, water, fire, earth, and plants as weapons. We learned how to wrap shadows around our group, which basically camouflaged us from our enemies, and we learned how scary-ass Eva’s new powers were, because she could see into our inner souls and lay out every single one of our weaknesses. Every time we used our powers the strength between us grew.
Our stamina never faltered. We required no food or drink, even though I knew I should be both hungry and thirsty. Of course, that would all change once we were back on the real world. There we’d have to be more careful about how we utilized the energy we expelled. The filing cabinet was full, but I was saving that in case we needed it to lock away the Seventine.
“This is beyond anything I imagined!” Delane was exuberant as she gathered the wind particles around us and turned them into raging tornados.
This allowed her to literally scoop up the enemies and throw them far out into the whiteness.
Talina let out a snort of laughter. “It’s incredible, but also scary. We’re very powerful. Should any beings be this powerful?”
I knew she was thinking of Gladriel, her mother, the evil sea-bitch.
Her pretty face fell. Sorrow briefly grazed her features and slanted her eyes downwards. She shook it off quickly, before focusing on her water again.
Using the liquid, she formed a shape, sort of like a spaceship, but with paper-thin and razor-sharp sides. Talina liked to use these water-discs to remove heads and limbs. Basically anything which could be severed was up for grabs. Even though Talina was the softest of the half-Walkers, there was still Spurnian blood inside her, and that coldness always manifested itself in battle.
“Do you think we’re ready to go back now and face the Seventine?” Sapha’s skin was very white at the moment; she looked almost albino.
Her camouflage ability was blending her into the Mother’s colorless realm. Even the red of her eyes and purple of her hair was peppered through with white.
“We’re definitely not ready,” I said. Not even close. “They have so many more years together than we do. They know and understand their power. But the Mother will surely be sending us back shortly, no matter our readiness.”
I had already started to sense the world around us beginning to crumble. We were going to be rejected very shortly. I knew it.
“Do we have the strength to join now without our animal guides?” Delane’s hands rubbed over the handles of her twin axes.
The females who liked to fight with weapons – Delane and Eva primarily – touched their blades all the time. Even if they weren’t particularly using them. I was sort of glad Eva had her Walker-born sword. She was like me, without an active power, so this gave her an extra protection.
“Only one way to find out if we still need the guides,” I said to Delane.
I severed the power from the group.
My body staggered back at the empty feeling which rattled around inside me. I missed the girls already. I missed the wash of energy and my well inside was not happy to be so empty and alone.
Alone … SHIT!
I realized then that I hadn’t thought about Brace for almost the entire time I was here. My heart started to constrict and beat in a rapid manner. Why had I not felt him in my mind?
“Have any of you thought about your mates since being here?” I could feel my face screwing up. Brow was definitely furrowed. “Can you feel the connection?”
Fury was the first to react. She cried out. “Dune! No … I can’t feel him.”
Calm yourselves.
The whispered winds-of-power voice was back again. It was the Mother.
You needed time without distraction, without mates and fighting and squabbles amongst yourselves. You seven and your sacred guides are everything that stands between this life and the one which will destroy everything.
We could hear the reprimand.
We had spent too much of the past year acting like the teenagers and young adult females that we were. Sure, we had had moments of battle and loss and great hardships, but we were still girls. And love was still number one on most of our priorities. Still … Be diplomatic, Abby, just smile and agree …
“You’re wrong about them being a distraction. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without Brace. I’m strong, but he makes me so much stronger.”
“Hear, hear,” I heard Fury mutter.
Yeah, pissing off a god was not my best move. But I might as well stay true to myself.
I felt the energy of the Mother then. It shifted toward me. Before her power had been like beams of sunlight shining over us, and now it was like a blast of UV straight into my face.
You’re strong, and have shown so much more strength of character than I had expected. You broke the bond with your mate for the greater good. It was not the right path, because of lies and treachery, but it still demonstrated to me that even though you are the youngest in years here, you are worthy of the conduit.
Her words reminded me of something; it took me a moment to recall what it was. Youngest
and strongest. Right, the prophecy. Well, I had collected the half-Walkers and now it was time to see the rest of it play out.
I wondered for a second what my aunt was doing. Francesca was a soothsayer. Her vision had started this entire thing for me. She was in hiding now, her abilities broken, her soul broken. I was starting to wonder if she’d tapped into something she shouldn’t have. I didn’t know where she was, but Lallielle would know. She kept a pretty close eye on her strange sister.
Your time here is done now. I can no longer prevent the sands from slipping toward the end. There will be hard decisions. You must make necessary sacrifices. For what would this tale be, if not one of love and sacrifice, as you so rightly stated? These are the emotions which are both your strength and weakness. I will be watching.
The voice of a million energies faded away, and then right before the last speck disappeared we heard: You still do not have the strength without your guides. Keep them safe.
“Guess that answers your question, Delane.” Ria reached up and rubbed at her left bicep before wrapping her arm across her abdomen. She looked a tad creeped out.
An echoing boom thundered around us then, and we closed ranks. Our animals too. The ground split beneath our feet and there was no stopping the inevitable plunge downwards. I didn’t panic, trusting that this was simply the way back to our star system.
Back to Brace.
My hands found Cerberus’ coarse fur and I held on to his comforting presence.
I knew now things were real. The countdown to the final battle had started, and as I fell my mind and heart sent out a small prayer of hope. I needed the strength to make it through this, to make sure everyone I loved made it through.
Darkness clouded my immediate vision. We weren’t knocked out like the last time, but we also weren’t privy to the path from the Mother’s realm. We fell, and yet at the same time it was like floating. The strangest dueling sensations. I couldn’t speak with the other girls, but I could feel them there, beside me. The familiar energy continued to ebb and wane between us. Our time in the white realm had strengthened our power. Now, even when we weren’t tethered together, there was still a link there. We were irrevocably tied to each other now.
My contemplations were cut short as the darkness started to recede. A blast of white light rocketed across my eyes and forced them shut. I must have lost a few minutes, because when I managed to pry my lids open I was no longer moving. I was flat on my stomach, the rough rockiness of the cave floor beneath my body and face.
“Abby! Abbs … are you okay? Speak to me or I’ll pixie-dust your ass.”
We were back. My heart jolted into overdrive at the next voice.
“Give her a minute, Lucy. I can feel the bond kicking in again. Cerberus is here and awake. Abby is going to be okay.” Brace sounded calm but tense as he attempted to talk down my crazy best friend.
Still, I knew when I looked at him he’d have that rigid jaw thing going on.
Hey, baby.
He used our bond and called me ‘baby’. Insert massive sigh right there.
Hey, yourself. I wrapped his warmth and energy around myself.
An emotional resonance streaked across my soul as it reacquainted itself with its mate.
What happened?
The Mother had said that she’d slowed time for us. Brace hadn’t been here when we’d collapsed, so how much time had passed?
After your call, Jedi and I got here as fast as we could. But it was too late. You and the girls were down, and we’ve been trying to wake you for the last few minutes.
Okay, so we had only lost a few minutes. Brace reached down and hauled me to my feet. I knew he was running through the mental images in my mind of everything which had happened in the white realm. To speed things up I filled in the rest of the blanks. Brace seemed slightly impressed about my name-dropping; you know, just chilling with the Mother of All. Well, impressed and worried.
Around the room, the other girls were helped up by their mates, or other Walkers. I reached out and grasped Lucy’s hand, before pulling her in for a hug.
“If I get gray hair, Abbs, I’m totally kicking you in the ass,” she said against me. “And why the heckers do all of you have permanent marks now? What happened?”
I laughed and pulled back. Then the half-Walkers and I quickly explained what had happened to us. I wasn’t sure they all believed our story; some of them were probably wondering if we’d smashed our heads a little too hard.
Ria had just finished telling them of our journey home when I realized that something was bugging me about this room.
I swiveled my head before taking a step into the stone area. “Where are the Seventine? And what happened to the prison?”
The purple light was gone. The area where the opening to the prison had been was closed over now, and only stone remained. Not to mention that I couldn’t sense the first.
“Uh …” Lucy quickly glanced at Brace before coming back to me. “When you all tried to join, the energy blast knocked us all down. Even me. And I was almost out of the mountain. Brace found me, and by the time we got back the Seventine ... they …”
“They freed the seventh. They’re no longer spirit but solid form, and they’re out there leading their army.” Brace picked up where she trailed off.
Shit!
The Mother must have known that our joining had given them enough energy – combined with what they already had – to free their brother. I wondered why she hadn’t told us they were all free. Probably thought we wouldn’t be able to concentrate long enough to learn our abilities. In her own way, she had given us the only shot we had to beat them.
I turned to Jedi, my eyes focusing on the handsome princeps. “Is the ritual still the same now? I know you said it was going to be more difficult …” I trailed off.
Dark eyes, with that unusual ring of silver around the pupil, remained unblinking as he hesitated to speak. “Yes, it’s going to be much harder now they’re free and in physical form. I believe the basis of the ritual is the same, but I need some time to double check. I feel we’re missing something. When the Seventine were still in the prison, that essence would draw the rest of them in. That’s what the ritual did. But now, how does it work?” He muttered a few times. “I need to speak with Nos. He’s our best bet for information.”
Ria’s face perked up at the mention of her father. Nos retained the memories of all past clan members that had held his position. If he decided to share, he could be a veritable well of information.
I took a few deep breaths. “Okay, well we get one chance at this, Jedi, so please hurry and figure out each step. Find me as soon as you know what we need to do. Until then the rest of us will try and keep the Seventine from destroying everything.”
Jedi bowed his head toward me. “I just wish … you were going into this battle with more of the original energies. To lock the Seventine away now. It will take too much from you.”
I knew that, but we had no choice. The rest of the original power was with Que, and as far as I knew he had not been released yet.
I changed the subject. “Come on, girls, it’s time for us to go and kick some ass.”
No one shouted or whooped.
We were not celebrating this shit today. We were just pulling on our big-girl panties and doing what needed to be done.
A calm sort of rage had replaced my fears. I was pissed off, and the Seventine were going down. Sure, Jedi’s dire warning about the increased chances that we were all going to die was spinning through my head. But I also knew that we still had to fight.
It was what we were here for.
Chapter 14
We ran from the dark mountain, in a long line of ancient power. We’d picked up Grantham along the way. He strode along next to Jedi. Colton, Brace and Lucy stuck close to me, along with Cerberus. My mind was focused on the seven of us half-Walkers and our animal guides. But it was comforting to have my loved ones close by. I needed these last moments of security; we h
ad no idea what was awaiting us on the outside, but it was going to be big.
“Jedi, how long until the convergence?” I shouted along the tunnel.
“We’re just a few days out.”
I heard his reply clear as anything, even with the space between us.
“So what are the Seventine going to do between then and now?”
There was no real reason for them to bother traveling between the worlds and severing tethers. They would consider this a waste of time when they could soon take them all in one big bang.
An awkward silence descended over the group.
Eventually Grantham spoke. “They’ll seek to punish the Walker clans, punish us for their imprisonment. They’re angry with the originals, and I know that they’ll want to make the next few days a living hell for every single entity here.”
Shit! Shit! And double shit! I picked up the pace. I would not let those asshats garner any pleasure through tormenting and torturing my people.
I felt a tapping then on my shields.
The energy was familiar and a smile creased my face. I didn’t even get a chance to drop my barriers before he was in my head.
Aribella.
His familiar voice flooded through me.
Dad, are you okay?
Somehow he could always get around my shields. I had thought it was the lalunas’ powers which allowed this, but apparently he was kickass all on his own.
I’m fine. Your mother and I are heading back to the dark mountains. I’ve lounged around long enough and it’s time to fight.
The Seventine are free. I tried not to let my fears seep into my voice, but I wasn’t sure I was very successful. I’d almost lost him so many times recently. I couldn’t go through it again. I couldn’t fail. Grantham said they’ll seek to punish Walkers for their imprisonment. It’s going to be a bloodbath.
The Seventine held elemental powers too. Not exactly the same as ours, but still more than the clans could handle.
We won’t let them win, Aribella. We’ll fight until the very end – and we’ll win.
I liked his confidence.
