“Hey.”
I jumped at the sound of Avery’s voice. My water bottle spilled down my leg, but it actually felt good. It was hot in the basement with a bunch of sweaty guys.
“Hey, yourself. I’m glad to see someone knows what they’re doing with these weapons.” I kicked the axe leaning on the chair next to me, and it toppled to the floor with a metallic clang.
“Yeah, I don’t think the axe is your kind of weapon.” He raised his eyes to meet Gabe’s. “I would’ve started with something a little less dangerous for your first time training—like a Genesis bow. At least she’s used them before.”
Gabe sat up in his seat. “Ella’s tough. She’ll be fine after a few more tries. Besides, she’s got a good teacher.”
I looked back and forth between them, feeling like I was smack in the middle of a power struggle.
I put my water bottle down on the chair next to me and stood up. “Ave, can I talk to you for a second?” I didn’t wait for an answer. I grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
“Something wrong?”
“Yeah.” I stopped in the doorway so we were far enough away that the others wouldn’t overhear us. Gabe stared in our direction. “Do you have a problem with Gabe?”
The floor must have suddenly gotten very interesting because Avery couldn’t take his eyes off it.
“Ave.” I lightly pushed his chest, and he finally looked at me.
“Gabe’s a player. I don’t like him hanging all over you.”
“A player?” I laughed. “He’s in a world where the female population is two. What evidence do you have that he’s a player?” Before Avery could answer, my insides twisted. “Did he hit on Melanie? Is that it? You don’t like him because he has a thing for the girl you like?”
Avery stared at me, his expression caught between anger and hurt. “For once, can you just listen to me?”
“What do you mean for once? You’re my best friend. I listen to you all the time.”
“Yeah, after you make me jump through hoops to get you to believe me.”
Ouch. That stung. I reached for his forearm since his arms were crossed. “That’s not true.”
He uncrossed his arms, making my hand fall to my side. “Ell, you always call the shots. You have since we were kids. You decide what we do, and when we do it. Our relationship is driven by you.”
So I was a decision maker. Why was that a bad thing? “I thought you liked that I always have a plan. You’ve never complained about it before.” Avery wasn’t a planner, but he was always game for whatever I came up with.
He sighed. “I do. It’s just—” He leaned his head back and ran his fingers through his hair.
I hated that I couldn’t read him. Usually we knew exactly what the other one was thinking. I couldn’t take it anymore, and I blurted out, “What?”
“Do you like him? Gabe?” Avery’s eyes bored into mine like he was a human lie detector.
What did it matter if I liked Gabe? Avery’s lived through other crushes I’d had. “I don’t even know him.”
He stared at me, not saying a word.
“Ave, you’re scaring me. It seems like you’re breaking up with me. Do you not want to be my best friend anymore?”
He shook his head. “You can’t break up if you never—”
The back doors burst open with a loud bang. I wasn’t happy about the interruption. I needed to talk to Avery, but it looked like the rest of our conversation was going to have to wait because a skinny redhead ran into the room. He headed straight for Bobson, which meant something was wrong. Everyone stopped what they were doing and listened. Avery and I crept closer, not wanting to miss what had this guy so freaked out.
The redhead was breathing heavily, and I knew it wasn’t from the jog across the room. “Sir,” he gasped in what sounded like an Irish accent. “Serpens. He’s attacking. At the north gate.”
Bobson didn’t hesitate. “Front line, take the axes! Back line, grab the bows and arrows! Fall out!”
Everyone scrambled for armor and weapons, following Bobson’s orders. The thought of these guys fighting Serpens was nuts. “You can’t send them out there!” I yelled as Bobson hurried by me.
“Watch me.” He motioned at the bows and arrows against the wall. “Grab one of those, seeing as you’re a pretty good shot. Besides, I’ve seen how awful you are with an axe.” He chewed furiously on his pen. “These constellations are lot scarier than those germs you were so worried about.”
The guys were all waiting at the door, and Bobson ran to the front of the line. At least he wasn’t sending them first. Still, I knew how deadly the constellations were. I’d seen it for myself.
“Time to bag a snake,” Gabe said, flashing me a smile. I hoped his fearlessness didn’t get him killed. “Feel free to stick with me. I’ll keep you safe.”
Avery tugged on my arm, and Gabe took that as his cue to leave. “You can stay if you don’t think you’re ready.” I hadn’t noticed when he’d changed back into his armor.
“How did you change into that so quickly?”
He bit his lower lip. “Promise not to freak out?”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “What could possibly freak me out after all I’ve been through in this place?”
“Things are different here. There’s no electricity. Everything is run by...magic.”
“Magic?” I motion to his armor. “So what, your armor magically appeared on your body?”
“You know the movie Iron Man?” He shrugged. “It’s more like the armor put itself on me.”
Oh great. Now we were the freakin’ Avengers! “Whatever. I’m going out there with you,” I said, not wanting to let him out of my sight. After all, I’d come to this place to find him. I wasn’t about to let him get killed by a bunch of giant constellations and leave me stranded in this awful world with only Gabe to get along with. Besides, even if he didn’t want to be my best friend anymore—which I hoped wasn’t true—I wasn’t giving up on us. If he was going into battle, I was going too.
He handed me a bow and arrow and some armor. After what Avery told me about the armor, I wasn’t eager to let anything magically wrap itself around my body—especially around my boobs of all things. Avery’s eyes lowered as if he was reading my mind. He smirked, and for a second, he was himself again. I smiled back at him as he tossed the armor aside.
“Ready?” he asked.
“If I say no, will you stay here with me?”
“Come on. We’re in this together. Like everything else.”
I smiled, relieved we were still Avery and Ella. The same Avery and Ella we’d always been. We ran to catch up with the army.
The north gate wasn’t exactly a gate anymore. More like a pile of rubble. And Serpens was slithering victoriously through it. Bobson and the front line were rushing toward Serpens, screaming their heads off. As if that would intimidate the world’s largest snake. It was like a bunch of gnats storming a glass door. This battle was going to end in a lot of squashed little boys.
Avery and I were behind the group, so we had a great view of the opening attack. The front line stopped about twenty feet from Serpens and lowered to their knees. It would’ve been funny to watch, a bunch of guys on bended knee as if proposing to the great serpent. Of course the fact that Serpens could have killed them all right there kept it from being funny. I have to admit, I was hoping Serpens would give Bobson a little squeeze with his tail—just enough to knock him down a size or two. The guy needed an attitude adjustment.
The back line raised their bows and fired a volley of arrows, aiming for Serpens’s head. Most of them missed. Still, the ones that did make contact sent Serpens into a violent spasm, allowing the front line to attack with their axes.
“Be careful and don’t get too close,” Avery said. “The bows are magically enhanced so we can hit our targets from further distances.”
I swallowed hard and nodded as if I understood how any of this worked. “You too.”
A
very took off at a full sprint, pausing to fire arrows along the way. He was an amazing shot. But then again, he was on the archery team—no doubt a huge reason why Bobson chose to recruit him in the first place. He sunk several arrows into Serpens’s head, body, and tail. I thought the fight was over. No way could Serpens recover from that. But he did something that made me realize things in Stellaris were a lot worse than I’d thought. He stretched his enormous body to its full length, and he split in two! Right down the middle. His head came back around and attacked the front line, while his tail whipped at the back line, sending kids flying through the air. Very few seemed to be holding their own. Luckily, Avery and Gabe were among the ones who were.
I didn’t know what to do, but I couldn’t just stand there and watch. Those kids were in serious trouble. I climbed on top of the rock fence and crept over to Serpens’s head. The rocks were all loose thanks to Serpens demolishing a good chunk of the gate. I remembered how I’d gotten his attention back when Avery saved me at the portal. I crept as close as I dared and aimed my arrow right between the snake’s eyes. Then I reloaded and aimed for his tail. My aim was pretty good. The first arrow made contact just under Serpens’s left eye, not quite what I was going for, but it would do. The second arrow, on the other hand, did better than I could have hoped. It went through the skinniest part of Serpens’s tail and sunk into a tree trunk. One part of his body was now trapped. It wouldn’t hold him for long, but at least it was something.
The kids who could still walk started to attack again, but a terrible screeching sound from above made everyone freeze. Draco was nose-diving.
“Retreat!” Avery yelled. “Back inside the castle!”
I was surprised Avery was giving orders instead of Bobson, but the kids listened. They ran for cover. I did too. Avery met up with me before we reached the door. Unfortunately, so did Scorpius. And Scorpius was deadly scary.
Melanie opened the castle door and gasped when she saw we were trapped. I glanced over my shoulder. Serpens had freed his tail and was back in one piece. Draco landed a few feet behind me. Talk about too close for comfort. Gabe stepped closer to me, putting himself between Draco and me. We were trapped. There was no way to get out of this alive.
“Ah, Melanie. Glad you could join us.” Scorpius flicked his tail in the air. We all jumped, afraid he would strike us. But we couldn’t back up. Draco and Serpens had us blocked. Scorpius continued to address Melanie. “You’re just the person we need to talk to.”
“Why her?” Sure it was dumb to butt in when the constellations seemed more interested in Melanie than the rest of us, but we were probably going to die anyway, and since Melanie hadn’t answered any of my questions, I was hoping maybe these three angry constellations would tell me what she was hiding.
“Ella.” Avery stared wide-eyed at me. “Shh!”
Without even looking in my direction, Scorpius struck out with his tail. It hit the flowering maple next to me. My body stiffened, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if my hair had turned gray right there.
Avery grabbed my shoulders and looked into my eyes. “Are you all right?”
Gabe put his hand on my back. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head. Scorpius hadn’t meant to hit me. He was sending me a message. A warning. And I’d gotten it loud and clear. The constellations weren’t answering to a bunch of puny humans.
“It would be that easy,” Scorpius said to Melanie. “I can kill them all in seconds.”
Obviously Scorpius had no idea how little we meant to Melanie. She didn’t care about any of us. We were only there to fight. And we were replaceable. But why didn’t the constellations kill us? There had to be a reason. They had to be up to something.
“I command you to leave. Stellaris belongs to me. You must obey me.” Melanie’s speech was broken. Awkward. I realized she was fighting back tears.
“You and your family are to blame for what’s happened here,” Scorpius said. “You will pay for imprisoning us in the sky. This is only the beginning. We will return, and when we do, we will claim Stellaris for our own.” Scorpius flicked his tail at the castle windows, shattering them. We all ducked for cover as glass poured down around us. Avery and Gabe shielded me with their bodies.
When it was safe, we got back to our feet. The three constellations left—together. They were their own army, and they were so much more powerful than we were. I was more than a little worried about what they were planning.
Scorpius had cleared up one mystery. I knew why the constellations were attacking. They blamed Melanie and her parents for imprisoning them in the sky. I could see why Melanie’s family had locked up these three, but there was still something I couldn’t figure out. How did the constellations get to Stellaris? How did they break free? I wasn’t about to track down Scorpius, Draco, and Serpens to find out. I needed to talk to Melanie.
“Ella, come on,” Avery said. “We need to get everyone back inside. A lot of the guys are injured. We need to see how bad things are.”
“You go on ahead. I want to talk to Melanie. I have a few more questions for her.”
Avery sighed. “She ran off right after Scorpius and the others left. She’s probably locked herself in one of her rooms. That’s what she does when she’s planning her next move.”
“One of her rooms? How many does she have?” I’d seen the size of her bedroom. What could she possibly need more rooms for?
“Ella, please. We need to get these kids fixed up.” Avery tugged at my arm.
“He’s right,” Gabe said. “Some of the guys are in bad shape.”
I sighed and followed them both to a large sitting room.
There were couches and chairs everywhere, just perfect for a bunch of beat-up and bruised kids to relax on. During all the fighting, I hadn’t had time to notice how badly some of the guys had been hurt. There wasn’t a single kid who didn’t have blood pouring out of one limb or another. Bobson was wrapping the skinny redhead’s right leg. Another kid had his arm in a sling. As much as these kids needed real medical attention, the blood and sprains weren’t the most disturbing things in the room. Some of the kids had strange discolorations on their arms and faces. I’d thought they were bruises at first, but as I helped Avery hand out gauze and bandages, I got a closer look.
“Oh, no. It’s starting already.” My voice was barely more than a whisper. I didn’t want to freak these kids out anymore than they already were. And I wasn’t even sure if Melanie or Bobson had told them what Stellaris would do to people like us.
“Avery.” I tried to keep my voice from shaking. “Can you come here?”
“What’s wrong?” the youngest boy asked me.
I was no mother figure, but my heart was breaking for the kid. His face was mostly a shadow. He was fading away into nothing.
“What’s up, Ell? I need to—” Avery stopped as soon as he saw the boy’s face.
“How long have they been here?” I didn’t take my eyes off the kid, afraid he’d fade into the chair if I looked away.
“I’m not really sure,” Avery said. “I got here after them.”
“Could you stop staring at me?” the boy asked, shrinking in the chair.
I bit my lip and nodded before turning to Gabe sitting in the corner. His hands were on the armrests and one of them was discolored. He was fading like the rest of them. I didn’t know what to do, so I turned to the one person I always went to for help: Avery. I assumed taking my eyes off the fading kids would make me feel better, or at least let me breathe again. But when I saw Avery’s left arm, I thought my heart would stop.
“Ave, you’re—” I choked on the words. “You’re fading too.”
7
Avery looked over his limbs, and his eyes widened at the sight of his left arm. He raised it, squeezed his fist, and tested it against his other hand, seeing just how much he could feel with his faded arm. After a few seconds, he lowered his arm again and met my eyes. I’d thought I’d lost Avery once, when he was kidnapped. I
t nearly tore me to pieces. I couldn’t possibly lose him for real this time. I had to get him out of this place. And fast.
“Come on.” I tugged on his good arm. “We’re getting Melanie to open the portal, and we’re sending you home. Bobson said people go back to normal in their own worlds. We just have to get you home. Then everything will be fine.” I dragged him to the doorway before he dug in his heels and stopped, jolting me back with him.
He grabbed me by the shoulders, which felt weird since one of his hands wasn’t fully there anymore. “Ella, slow down. You’re talking so fast I can barely keep up.”
“We don’t have time to slow down.” Why wasn’t he more freaked out? This wasn’t difficult to understand. You fade away to nothing, and that’s it. You’re nothing! “Do you really want to risk fading away completely? ’Cause I’m not about to watch you die.”
He wrapped me in a hug. “I’m not going to die. We’ll figure it out. I promise. But please calm down. You’re going to send everyone into a panic.” He nodded slightly toward the boys who were starting to stare at us.
I pulled away and stepped right outside the doorway so they couldn’t see us. “We should be panicking. This is serious.” I tried to lower my voice as best as I could, but it wasn’t easy to freak out in whispers.
“I know.”
“You’re not acting like it.”
“We have a job to do, Ell. I can’t think about this right now.” He raised his hand, squeezing his fist again. “I have to come up with a plan to fix things here so we can get back home before it’s too late.”
I couldn’t believe he still wanted to stay and help Melanie. It was absurd. Why would he risk his life like this for her? I was about to let him have it when I saw Melanie walk by. No doubt she was heading to her room, away from the unsightly injured and fading boys. I let go of Avery’s arm and ran after her.
“Ella,” Avery called after me, but I ignored him. If he wouldn’t listen to me, I’d make Melanie listen to me.
“Melanie!” I yelled. “We need to talk. Now!”
Melanie turned, looking annoyed. “What is it, Ella? I’m very busy. And there’s no need to yell.”
Magic and Shadows: A Collection of YA Fantasy and Paranormal Romances Page 41
