The Coalition (Coalition 1)

by Aria J. Wolfe

  She pushed Kael lightly at first, then with a sudden urgency. He broke away and she opened her eyes. Their hands still on each other. He smiled and she stared at his mouth, not believing what had just happened.

  "Um. Wow, I don't uh... you've never been kissed have you?" He sounded breathless.

  She licked her lips, but the feeling of his mouth on hers remained.

  The sound of someone coming into the kitchen made them leap apart.

  "Oh. I hope I didn't interrupt anything." Ava's face looked flushed, her eyes red-rimmed and bright. "Ace asked me to give this to you, Shai. He's waiting to see you. He won't leave until he does apparently." She dropped something on the table then turned to go.

  "Ava!" Kael called out and started after his sister. "Wait! You... didn't eat. It's getting cold."

  "I'm not hungry." The sound of her retreating footsteps echoed down the hall. Shai wondered how she had never heard Ava approaching.

  Kael stood silent near the door of the kitchen for a moment then turned around. "Shai, I have to go talk to her. I'll see you later."

  When he'd gone she picked up what Ava left on the table: a silver chain attached to a slender, silver tube. Eliana's pendant. Holding her breath, she pushed the cap off. The pale yellow grains of Eliana's Essence were still there.

  Her head seemed too heavy for her shoulders. She leaned against a chair and exhaled sharply, waiting until the room stopped spinning. Eliana was still alive and Aliah had come here to let her know. He'd been wanting to see her to tell her that and all this time she'd avoided him because she suspected him of having ulterior motives. I have to thank him.

  She returned to the bedroom and pushed her few belongings into a linen bag she’d found. She slung the long handle across her chest and let the bag hang against her left hip.

  She held Eliana's pendant in front of the bedroom window, the sun glinted off the pale stone on the front, so similar to her own. She put it around her neck with trembling hands. She knew that by doing so she'd become responsible for Eliana's life.

  She stepped into the hall and suddenly felt strange. She was torn. She felt alive with Kael's touch and didn't want to leave, but she also knew it wasn't safe to stay here. She forced her feet to move through the hall and out the front door. Voices coming from the side of the house gave her pause.

  "I don't care, Kael! You can't tell me not to get involved with him then go and kiss her!" Ava sounded frustrated and angry. Shai's heart hammered. The ‘him’ could only be Aliah. Her mouth went dry. Kael mumbled something in response. "Well if they're so dangerous why'd you do it?" Ava's voice rose higher and louder with each word. Footsteps sounded, coming closer. Shai hurried away.

  "I have a plan, Ava. Trust me!" The ice in Kael's voice made Shai sick. Kissing her was part of his plan? I should never have let him touch me.

  The memory of his kiss burned her cheeks.

  She began to run. The pendant bounced against her chest, keeping time with her heartbeats. Reminding her that not everything Lael believed was wrong.

  CHAPTER 44

  Aliah

  He sat with his back against a tree at the entrance to Conley. Sweat gathered on his forehead and he rubbed an arm across his face for the hundredth time. He gazed into the clear blue sky trying to decide which was worse, Lael's rain or Conley's heat.

  His birthmark flared. Shai came towards him. Even though she was still several feet away he could see her internal struggle. The defiance in the tilt of her chin. She stormed past him without as much as a sideways glance.

  "Let's go," she said through clenched teeth.

  Aliah grabbed his bag and stood up. "So, I guess you got the pendant." He walked behind her, staring at her back as he shielded his eyes from the sun. He saw her shoulders lift. Was she crying?

  "Guess I did." She wasn't crying. Her tone was void of emotion. He imagined a rock would sound like that if a rock could speak, cold and flat.

  "Then you changed your mind about letting me protect you?" When she didn't answer he sighed. They walked in silence for a while through the sun-dappled trees, Aliah always a few steps behind. He knew better than to press her to talk. She would when she was ready.

  In a dense thicket of trees Shai whirled around suddenly, her shoulders rigid, her lips a thin line. "You locked me up!" Her arms hung at her sides, but she had balled her hands into white-knuckled fists.

  "I..."

  "You. Locked. Me. Up."

  "Shai, it was for your protection. I had to."

  "My protection? Aliah, you left me!" Her fists had begun to clench and unclench and her chin wobbled. He could see her resolve crumbling. He dropped his bag and came towards her, but she held up a hand.

  "No, Aliah. I don't know how you can undo this one. You've always played by the rules, but I see they've always been your rules!"

  Aliah’s palms grew sticky. She doesn’t really know. Does she? "Shai, I locked you in that room to protect you from the Leader after he ordered Sileas's death. You knew that. I had no intention of leaving you. It was only for one day. And Zev..."

  "Zev! He nearly killed me!" Her voice was getting higher, louder. She looked decidedly less like a Laelite by the second.

  "Killed you? I saw him when I got back to the Manor. It looked like it was you who did a number on him."

  "Not then. Last night. He came into my room." Her hand went to her throat and he could see the tremors in her fingers. He came to her and gripped her shoulders with both hands.

  She put a hand against his chest and the familiar heat spread beneath her touch. "I was so scared." Her wide eyes glistened with unshed tears.

  His knees weakened when he saw a small red nick in the hollow of her throat. How could Zev have gotten to her right under his nose? His stomach clenched like he had been punched. Zev had my knife. Went after her when I was distracted with… Remiel.

  Shai blinked and a single tear dripped onto her cheek. He pulled her to him and crushed her against his chest, expecting her to push him away. She didn't. Something had changed in her.

  He felt the heat of her breaths against his chest, but she didn't cry. He almost wished she would.

  She was rigid in his arms like she'd been wound too tight, but he was lucky to be holding her at all.

  "Zev came after me because of the Book. He told me to bring it to him." Her words were muffled against Aliah’s chest. He stiffened. A trickle of sweat ran down the middle of his back.

  Dammit Zev! And damn the Book!

  She pushed away from him then looked up with sad eyes. "You know. I can feel it. You know."

  Her accusation stung. He couldn't escape their connection. She knew when he lied like he knew when she was in trouble. Except for last night. Damn Remiel too!

  He sighed and retrieved his bag. How could he tell her that he suspected Zev's demand on her was likely just a fail-safe for Samael, in case Aliah failed to deliver Shai?

  "Aliah, is there something you’re not telling me?"

  Before he could respond, a twig snapped, catching their attention. Aliah turned around and instinctively pushed Shai behind him. He searched the trees, but saw nothing.

  "C'mon." He grabbed Shai's elbow and steered her away. Thankful for the distraction from their conversation. "We'll travel by night and sleep by day. We have to find a place to rest right now... away from Conley." He kept his voice low.

  "But where are we going?"

  He squeezed her arm gently before raising his voice loud enough for anyone nearby to hear. He hoped to throw any pursuers off their trail if they lost sight of them. "We'll go south."

  CHAPTER 45

  Shai

  Her anger subsided after she'd given in to it briefly. So much for telling Aliah thanks for the pendant. She blew an upward breath to push her hair off her face. Seems like Conley’s emotional responses are contagious. Or maybe it was because she was starting to let go of old beliefs. Either way, feeling every emotion was more exhausting than stuffing them down. She didn't kn
ow which was worse.

  She let Aliah lead her by the elbow until they came to a thick grove of trees, different from those they'd been traveling through. The trees here were short with wide trunks and a tangle of branches. Aliah hoisted his bag onto the branch of the nearest tree then took Shai's and threw hers up beside his.

  "What are you...?”

  Aliah put a finger to his lips and motioned with his head to another tree on their left. Shai flicked her eyes over Aliah's shoulder and caught movement behind a tree less than fifty feet away. Her mouth went dry. I hope that’s not Zev.

  Aliah threw his cloak to her, motioning her to put it on. She hadn't even noticed he'd taken it from his bag.

  The rough brown fabric hung to her ankles and the sleeves swallowed her fingers. But at least it'd be less noticeable than the bright yellow shirt she was wearing.

  Aliah pointed up and mouthed the word climb. She crossed her arms and shook her head.

  No way would she let him put her in another 'safe' spot again. She'd stand and fight, and die trying if she had to. Aliah grabbed the collar of the cloak and pulled her roughly to him. He yanked the hood on her head making the sunlight disappear, then shoved her backwards toward the tree. His no-nonsense attitude made her scrabble up the tree as fast as she could.

  A flash of hot and cold ran down her back as she grabbed a fat branch and hauled herself up. In her periphery the shadow moved to another tree. Closer.

  Shai used her knee for balance and pulled herself onto the next branch. The cloak snagged and when she reached back to yank it free, she glimpsed Aliah standing below the tree with his arms at his sides and his feet shoulder-width apart. Waiting, like he had been expecting this moment.

  Why doesn't he grab a weapon of some kind? Even a stick would be better than nothing.

  She yanked the fabric and the cloak came free of the branch. She'd climbed hundreds of trees before with ease, but her thighs shook and her fingers felt numb with every pull. Finally, she rested against the trunk on a wide limb and watched Aliah on the ground. He stiffened and his hands curled into fists. Her chest flared with such a jolt of heat she nearly fell out of the tree. She couldn't twist around to see what Aliah was looking at, but she didn't have to wait long to find out.

  A shadow blotted out the sun and surrounded Aliah. The grass flattened, and stones overturned beneath a dark shadow like it had weight, a substance thicker than air. Shai hugged her knees. Aliah must have known what this thing was that had been watching them, waiting for the right opportunity to attack. She had a sick feeling that it couldn't be fought off with weapons.

  A long, low sigh erupted from below. Louder than a whisper, yet softer than a scream. It gripped Shai with ice-cold fingers. Her muscles involuntarily bunched, shaking and shivering with a violence she'd never experienced before. The sound filled her head. She wanted to close her eyes and clamp her hands over her ears but she couldn't tear her eyes away from Aliah.

  He stepped deeper into the shadow until Shai could only see his outline. He covered his face with his arms and dropped to his knees. His head yanked back by an invisible force and the low sigh grew deeper, louder until it vibrated inside her. She pressed her back harder against the rough bark of the tree. Aliah's face became visible through the darkness surrounding him. His mouth hung open, head tipped to the sky, eyes glassy and staring. The shadow began to disappear into Aliah's open mouth, streaming like a black vapor between his parted lips. The moans came from him.

  Horrified, she watched the shadow swallow Aliah up from the inside out. No! I can’t just sit here and watch this! The color seemed to have been sucked out of Aliah's face, his skin a frightening white-grey pallor, translucent like Conley's clouds.

  She tore off a small branch, making as much noise as possible, but the shadow didn't release Aliah.

  She threw the branch to the ground. "No!" She screamed. The shadow stopped then suddenly reversed and began to pour out of Aliah's mouth like black vomit. His mouth opened and closed in a gulping motion, then he fell backwards onto the ground.

  The vapor serpentined along the ground until it reached the trunk of her tree and swallowed everything it touched in its cavernous throat. Nothing was visible, in its wake, but deep darkness. Her fingers curled around the tree branch. The rough bark pressed into her palm until she was sure it drew blood. Suddenly the shadow stopped at the toes of her boots like it was looking for her. A damp chill surrounded her and soaked into her body through her clothing. She kicked, trying to knock it from the branch when it turned and came towards her.

  Terror clawed at her stomach. I have nothing to fight it off with.

  Then she remembered that Aliah had told her to be quiet before she climbed the tree. Maybe it couldn't really see her, only hear her. She sat straddling the branch, her bottom lip crushed between her teeth. Be quiet. Her whole body trembled, causing the tree branch to quake beneath her.

  The shadow draped itself around her leg then curled up her thigh, its weight heavier than a wet blanket. She crossed her ankles and gripped the branch tighter with both hands. The shadow slithered across her belly and up onto her chest. Its weight became a crushing pain that squeezed her chest. Her breath escaped in a whoosh. A sharp snap startled her. Was it her ribs or the branch breaking? She arched against the tree in a struggle to suck the air. The edges of her vision darkened.

  No! If she lost consciousness she would fall. She bit her lip harder and felt her teeth sink into her flesh. Icy fingers clawed at her chin, trying to force itself between her lips. She twisted her head away while fighting to remain upright on her narrow perch. Her lungs burned. Every cell screamed for air.

  "Shai!" A voice filled her head and took the edge off her panic. "Shai, focus on my voice."

  Remiel? Her vision grew darker. Every emotion other than fear had been sucked into the vacuum that was suffocating her. Nothing but darkness deeper than midnight filled her vision.

  In desperation, she opened her mouth to inhale a shuddering breath and the vapor filled it. She gagged as it scratched the back of her throat like filthy fingernails. A sulfuric taste filled her mouth as the shadow consumed her from the inside out.

  Remiel…help…me.

  CHAPTER 46

  Aliah

  What died and rotted in my mouth? He coughed and spit into the dirt. His body ached like he'd spent the night sleeping on a bed of rocks. When his vision cleared he pushed himself up, his chest squeezed with panic.

  Shai.

  She was lying on the ground, her hair fanned out around her face, her eyes closed. He leaned over and rubbed his finger across her cheek. Warm. She breathed through slightly parted lips.

  "She saved you." A voice behind him startled him. He scrambled to his knees and moved protectively closer to Shai. Remiel emerged from the trees carrying a load of sticks and dry moss. He knelt near a circle of rocks on the ground a few feet away and began to arrange the wood and moss into a little mound inside the rock ring. Aliah's insides quivered. Remiel's movements were peculiar. Deliberate. Almost like he was actually alive and not just a vision.

  "What are you doing here, Remiel?"

  Remiel's dark head stayed bent over his task. He rubbed a stick furiously against a piece of bark with a clump of moss on it.

  "Aren't you glad I'm here?"

  Aliah groaned. He'd always hated the way Remiel answered a question with a question.

  "I mean, you appeared to me in Conley and now here. What are you doing?"

  "You believe I appeared to you? I've always been here, Aliah. Watching the Watchers as they watch Lael. You just couldn't see me."

  Remiel blew on the moss as it started to smoke before a small flame burst from it. He smiled and placed it inside his mound of sticks.

  "Right. I saw you die, Remiel. That day on the bridge. I saw your body get washed away. If I didn't… kill you then why did I go through so much trouble to...cover it up?" Aliah hissed and glanced down at Shai. She seemed to still be asleep.

&
nbsp; "Guilt." Remiel stood and moved nearer to Shai. "It makes you believe strange things." He put his hands under Shai's armpits. "Help me move her closer to the fire."

  Aliah grabbed Shai's feet and they moved her to a spot near the fire. Remiel took Shai's bag which he must've retrieved from the tree branch, and placed it under her head. He tossed Aliah's bag to him.

  "Then where have you been all this time?" Aliah licked his dry, cracked lips.

  Remiel squatted near the fire. "I've been around. But mostly I've been with Elchai in Kent."

  Aliah watched him poke the fire with a long stick before turning to rummage in his bag for his canteen. After a long swig of water he looked at Remiel again.

  "Then what made you come back here?"

  "Her.” Remiel nodded in Shai’s direction. “I had to save her, after she saved you."

  Aliah stood across from Remiel watching as he coaxed the flames higher while Shai laid restlessly beside him, breathing in gulps of air. A pang of jealousy hit him. It wasn't Remiel's job to protect Shai.

  "Why do you keep saying that? What do you mean Shai ‘saved’ me?"

  "You don't remember?"

  Aliah tossed his bag on the ground then collapsed beside it. "If I remembered I wouldn't be asking you, would I?" He rubbed his face with trembling hands.

  "The Hunter had you, Aliah. Why do you think I told you to give up your pendant back in Conley when I saw you? I knew Samael would send his Hunter after you. That thing followed you here."

  Aliah shuddered. "So how did she save me?"

  "She yelled. Drew its attention away from you to her." Remiel sighed then sat back on his heels, his arms around his knees.

  "Then how did she survive it?" Aliah glanced at Shai who'd begun to thrash.

  "She fought it. She's still fighting it. But it will keep coming back for both of you until you get rid of the pendants."

  Shai arched her back and moaned. Her arms flailed and her mouth opened and closed like she couldn't breathe.

  "Do something!" Aliah stared at Remiel as though by sheer will he could force his enemy to help his best friend. But Remiel just looked into the fire, rocking back and forth on his heels.