by Meg Bonney
I took a step back. “Did you know that Sinder was pretending to be Lacy back on Greenrock Island?”
“Your cousin, the Witch? That was Sinder?” he said, genuinely surprised.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“But she was telling the truth about the part where you wanted to kill me,” I muttered.
“What?” Ren took a step closer to me.
“They lied about the Magics being freed and about my aunt. We have to go.”
Ren nodded. “Here come Ara and Jason. Let’s get some supplies, and we will go.”
“Wait, Ren.”
He stopped but didn’t say anything as he stared back at me. I undid one of my lightning bolt earrings and took a step closer to him.
“What are you doing?” Ren asked. I grabbed the top of his shirt, just under his chin.
“This way, I will always know it’s you and not a Witch. Just show me this, and I will show you the other half.” I stuck the earring through the fabric of his shirt and secured it with the earring back. “That’s how we will be sure.”
Ren looked down at it and nodded. “Okay.”
“Hey, guys.” Jason stopped and stood next to me. He gave me a half smile.
Ara smiled sweetly at me and tilted her head to the side. “Jason told me what happened to you in the cavern. How are you?”
“It wasn’t real, whatever she did to you,” Jason reminded me.
“Wait, what happened in the cavern?” Ren asked.
“Look, I just want to go to the temple and set the Magics free. I want to get Aunt Ruth out safely,” I said to Ara. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Ara nodded, and the shells on her necklace chimed as she swung her hair back. “Let’s go then. Ren, come and help me with the supplies.”
Ren turned to look at me twice before slipping into the tent behind Ara.
“Maddy,” Jason started. “I just―I―what happened to you?”
I chewed on my lip and didn’t reply.
“Madison, you cut off someone’s head!” Jason whispered, like someone might hear even though we were all alone. “I know she hurt you, but…wow.”
“It needed to be done.” I sighed.
“Kaya was kind to us. She would have helped you,” he said.
“You don’t know that. And Kaya is fine. If she wasn’t able to heal Sinder, she would have been much angrier than that. You heard them. Sinder healed herself when my father cut off her head.” I dropped my stare to the ground.
Jason stepped closer to me. “Just like you did.”
“Just like I did.”
He shook his head. “Madison, you are starting to scare me.” And he turned to walk toward the tent.
“That makes two of us,” I said softly to myself as I followed him.
CHAPTER 25
Ren walked alone ahead of us on the Temple Road. He had both daggers out and was scouting our path. We hadn’t spoken a word since our talk on the beach, but Ara and Jason chatted behind me. It was late afternoon, so the sun wasn’t as hot as we climbed the slight hill on the Temple Road, and the trees that lined the road on the left provided some shade. We were much more prepared on this leg of the journey. Ara had packed a satchel for each of us with food and water. I had a new scabbard with my sword firmly on my back instead of hitting my leg while I walked.
I reached into my satchel and began munching on one of the cookies that Ara had wrapped up. Since we had arrived in Everly, I hadn’t had a normal meal, a normal shower…or a normal moment.
I couldn’t shake that vision Sinder gave me or the feeling of rage that I felt afterward. And if I was being honest with myself, I hadn’t really thought about whether Kaya could heal Sinder, but it hadn’t stopped me from swinging my sword through Sinder’s neck.
I opened a canteen that I had grabbed from the table at Ara’s. I took a swig and began to cough. It wasn’t water; it tasted like mouthwash and smelled like paint thinner. I coughed again. The stuff completely cleared my nasal passages.
“It is a touch early for the troll swill, Madison,” Ara said behind me. I didn’t turn around as she and Jason laughed.
I spit what I hadn’t accidentally swallowed onto the sandy dirt path.
Ren slowed to walk next to me. He held out his canteen, and I hoped it was water. I smelled it before taking a drink.
“We will be at the temple before midday tomorrow,” he said in a rather chipper tone.
I nodded.
“We will have to set up camp in a couple of hours and walk all morning tomorrow, but we will get there, Madison,” he said.
I nodded.
“Madison, are you ever going to speak to me?” Ren asked, shifting the large sack he carried over his shoulder.
I adjusted the new black shirt Ara had given me to change into.
“So, whatever they told you, whatever they said to make you upset, trust that it is simply that—to upset you,” he said, more harshly now. “You can trust me, Madison.”
I kicked a rock as we continued to walk, and I adjusted the strap on the bag that hung from my shoulder. It wasn’t lying properly because of the strap of my scabbard, and it pinched the skin at the crook of my neck.
“Hey, Madison.” Ren stopped walking right in front of me.
I sighed. “What, Ren? What do you want from me?”
Ren sighed, too, setting his large bag on the ground in front of him. “I get that you are angry that I did not tell you about my first plan, but I have told you nothing but the truth now.”
I did not answer him.
“Fine. Forget it.” He clenched his jaw and reached into the bag. “Here, put this on and hand out the others.” Ren shoved three dingy gray cloaks at me and slid his cloak over his head.
“Cloaks?” I looked mine over.
Ren nodded and adjusted his cloak. It looked a little short on him. He lifted the large hood over his head.
“Wolves in sheepskin,” I said with a nervous smile, trying to break the tension that I had one hundred percent caused.
Ren nodded. “Wolves in sheepskin.”
He took his canteen out of my hand and kept walking on the path to the temple. I stood there for a few moments until Ara bumped into me. She looped her arm around my elbow, and we walked with linked arms. Jason fell into step on the other side of me.
“Here you go.” I handed the cloaks to Jason and Ara. They put them on quickly. I clutched mine to my chest as we started to walk again.
“Jay, about before…” I started, smiling at him. Ara trotted up to Ren, and the scabbard on her back bounced as she jogged.
“Jay, I am—”
“Mads, it’s okay. I—”
“No, Jason!” I stopped walking. “Let me talk.” I held his hand and squeezed my eyes shut. “Just…just let me tell you how I feel.”
I felt a tug on my hand. I opened my eyes to see Jason fall to the ground, nearly pulling me down with him.
“What the hell? Jason, what are you doing?” I said, baffled, as I examined him. He didn’t look injured or anything.
Jason lay on his back with his eyes closed. He dropped his hand from mine and put it on his chest. His tongue fell out the side of his mouth.
“You said you wanted to talk about your feelings! I just died of shock,” Jason exclaimed, then let his tongue fall out the side of his mouth again.
“Shut it.” I kicked his foot, making his boot flop up and then back down again.
“Must be all that troll swill, booze hound!” Jason widened his eyes, shook his finger up at me, and laughed.
I snickered. It felt good to laugh.
“Come on, get up, you loon. We need to keep moving,” I said seriously, but still with a smile.
I looked up to see Ren trotting toward us, a concerned look on his face, but before I could tell them everything was fine, Jason pulled me down to the ground with a sharp yank at my hand. I fell on top of him
and screamed as Jason locked his arms around me in a bear hug.
I pretended to struggle a bit, laughing and play-fighting him off, but then I stopped. I relaxed. I slid my arms around Jason and I simply hugged him. I rested my forehead on his cheek as our laughter ceased.
“I am sorry, Jason,” I whispered.
“I know.”
“I’m glad you’re here with me.”
“I know.” Jason held me tighter. He took a long, slow breath. “She was showing you something, wasn’t she? The future, right?” he asked softly.
I nodded my head against his collarbone.
“Bad?” He sounded worried.
I nodded again. “Real bad.” It was so vivid, and when I closed my eyes for too long, I saw it all again. The vision. I shuddered.
“What is going on? Are you all right?” I heard Ren’s voice above me, but I didn’t look up.
I started to sit up when I heard the growling and rustling. The ground shook. My palm rested on the road, and tiny pebbles jumped and danced around it. “What the hell?”
Just as I lifted my head to assess the noise, a huge, hairy arm knocked Ren a few feet away, and he landed hard on his back.
“Ren!” Ara screamed.
I started to reach for my sword but was thwarted as two massive arms reached out and pulled me up off the ground. I flipped my head back in my struggle.
I began to kick my legs wildly as Jason climbed to his feet and pulled out his bat. Ara helped Ren to his feet. Ren shook his head, seeming a little dazed, but he quickly focused as our eyes met.
“Let her go!” I heard Jason yell.
I was being held around my waist with my back to the creature, my arms pinned to my sides by its incredibly muscular arms. The bag loosely hung on its back kept hitting my shins, making me wince. I hit it hard with my heels and swung my head back again, catching it in the chin. The creature groaned.
“No!” it grumbled in a loud, gravelly rumble. “No, garl!”
It was speaking?
It smelled like wet dog. Ren, Jason, and Ara charged the creature, each yelling. Ara did some acrobatic flips and jumped high, kicking the creature in the face. She moved quickly and elegantly, like a graceful ninja. She wasn’t delicate, though. Her kick jarred the creature and it took a few steps back.
“Whoa,” I murmured.
She flew through the air like a bird of prey, a combo of lethally precise energy and grace. She was striking the creature before it even knew she was there, while Ren kept its focus on him with his daggers and Jason hit it with his bat.
“Troll, I mean it—if you hurt a single hair on her head, I will rip your flesh from your bones!” Ren roared. He ducked the troll’s fist once again.
“Let…her…go!” he grunted as he ducked and rolled away from the troll’s swings. His cheeks were red, and his face shone with sweat.
“Troll!” Ren screamed.
But the troll bellowed loudly and caught both Ara and Ren with a low swing of its arm. They fell to the ground.
It turned toward Jason.
“Jason, run!” I yelled, muffled beneath the troll’s shirt draped over my face.
Ara jumped onto the troll’s back. It grunted loudly. It loosened its grip enough for me to pull my arms out and start hitting it.
Jason hit the troll in the legs with the bat, and the troll yelped in pain. Then it kicked its leg out, throwing Jason to the ground, knocking his bat from his hands.
“No!” I dug my fingernails into the sweaty, hairy skin of its armpit.
The troll grunted, picked up a boulder that was at least three feet wide, and hurled it through the air—right at Jason.
“Jason!” I screamed. He was reaching for his bat and did not see the rock flying at him. My entire body tensed.
Oh god…
But before the boulder could touch him, Ren dove onto Jason. The two slammed onto the ground, Ren covering Jason like a blanket.
“No!” I screamed. I crushed my knuckles into the troll’s gut and bit its side as hard as I could.
Ren’s screams cut through the air as the giant rock smashed onto his arm. Jason slid out from under Ren and tried to push the rock off as Ren moaned.
“Ren!” I punched the troll again. “Put me down!”
The troll winced. “No, garl!” it scolded me.
I bit it again, and grabbed a clump of its hair and pulled as hard as I could.
The troll groaned and dropped me to the ground. I rolled to the side and jumped to my feet.
“Ren!”
I bolted to Ren’s side. He was writhing in pain, his forehead pressed to the ground. Ara and Jason were on one side of the boulder, ready to push it. They started, and Ren screamed again.
I put my hand on the back of his head. “It’s okay, Ren.”
Ren yelled in agony.
“Wait, we need to lift it up and off, don’t slide it!” I commanded. I circled around Ren and wrapped my arms around the boulder to move it. Jason and Ara stood on the other sides and tried to lift with me.
“Run, garl!” The troll yelled. I looked up to catch a glimpse. It was standing a few yards away, looking incredibly confused.
Then it hit me. “Gullway?” I grunted as I struggled to lift the boulder.
Gullway nodded.
I lifted the boulder slightly but couldn’t get my arms around it enough to move it. I screamed in frustration.
“Hold on, Ren,” Jason yelled.
“Gullway!” I shouted. “Help me!”
I tried a different position to lift. “It’s okay, Ren. It’s going to be okay,” I said, my voice strained. Ara looked panicked as she and Jason tried to help, but even with my strength, I couldn’t get a good grip on it.
“Gullway, help me! Please!” I cried.
The mountain troll finally trotted over, meeting my eyes.
“Gullway!” I screamed desperately at him, tears streaming on my face as Ren continued to writhe in pain.
Gullway narrowed his large eyes and nodded. Jason and Ara moved away from the boulder as he bent down.
“Aye, garl,” Gullway said. He lifted the boulder and easily tossed it into the trees with a booming crash.
Ren rolled onto his back. His blood-covered arm was shredded. A bone stuck out from the skin, and his face was pale, sweaty, and covered in sand. The rocks and sand of the road were soaked with blood. So much blood. Too much blood.
“Oh, stars, there is so much blood.” I heard Ara say behind me.
I dropped to my knees, pressing on what looked like the source of most of the bleeding. My hands were shaking terribly.
“Perfect, Madison. Keep the pressure right there.” Ara said.
“Do you want to do it?” I asked.
“No, your strength is needed here.” Ara replied.
“Should I go get help?” Jason asked.
Ren grimaced.
“I’ve got you. I’ve got you,” I whispered, and plucked my black gloves off with my teeth, then pulled my sword. The grip shone blue. The tingle in my hand wasn’t transferring to Ren fast enough, and the blood circle grew larger.
“Just like in the cave. Remember, Ren? Remember the time in the cave?” I mumbled, shaking as I spoke.
Ara moved to Ren’s side in the sand, facing me. “Is it working?” I asked.
“Not fast enough,” Ara said. “Concentrate!”
“What?” I said, confused. “I’m trying!”
“The power comes from you. Concentrate,” Ara instructed me. I squeezed the sword’s grip tighter and pressed Ren’s shredded arm firmly with my other hand.
“Come on, Ren,” I whispered in his ear. Ren whimpered a bit.
I felt my arm tingle even more. Ren’s skin began to fuse around the edges of his injury, but it was happening too slowly for how fast the blood was coming out of his mangled arm. The pulse of blood flowing from his artery continued. The bleeding wasn’t slowing, and that was all t
hat mattered now.
A thought struck me: I had been hurt when my magic healed us before!
“Gullway, put your hand here.” I gestured to Ren’s artery and the mountain troll obeyed by pushing Ara aside, slumping to his knees and dropping his sack to the ground. He pressed Ren’s arm with his hand, keeping pressure on it. His hand wrapped around Ren’s bicep with ease.
I sat back and quickly pulled the blade of my sword across my hand, cutting my palm, and then touched Ren’s arm with my bloody hand. The blue of my grip glowed brightly under my other hand.
“It’s working, Maddy,” Jason said.
“The bleeding is stopping!” Ara exclaimed.
“It’s working, Ren!” I leaned over his face, looking into his green eyes. He wasn’t blinking.
“No!” Ara cried.
“Ren?” Jason rested a hand on his chest.
“No, Ren! No!” I buried my face into his neck and sobbed, not loosening my grip on him. I lifted my head to look at his face.
He was gone.
CHAPTER 26
No, no, no!
“Ren, please!” I pulled the sword across my palm again, cutting the freshly healed slice wide open. When I put my hand back on his arm, the blue light grew brighter again. “Please?”
I watched his eyes. Not blinking. No change. I pulled the blade over my palm and put it back on his arm a third time, not even feeling the pain anymore.
“Maddy, you have to stop,” Jason begged me, crying. I ignored him.
“Ren,” I managed to say. My voice broke. “I’m so sorry.”
“Maddy.” He gently laid a hand on my back. I shrugged his hand away and gripped Ren firmly with my cut hand, still holding my sword in the other.
Refusing to budge, I pressed my hand into Ren’s arm.
“Ren,” I whispered. “Please, Ren. I’m so sorry for before. I’m sorry that I got mad. I trust you, I do. It doesn’t matter how you got me here. I’m here. I need to be here.” My voice broke again as I began to sob. “So do you. Please, Ren.”
Ara and Jason stood on either side of us. Gullway stayed hunched over on the ground next to me, his giant hand on Ren’s arm. We didn’t speak. The only sounds that filled the silence were our muffled sobs as we surrounded Ren’s lifeless body. I laid my head on his chest.
