We needed to turn around—now. Get out of here before suffocating to death.
I jolted up to run toward the wheel, but Jacen’s hand found mine, stopping me. “Relax,” he murmured in my ear. “You’ll feel better when you do. The mist is trying to make us want to turn around, but it’s not going to hurt us. The more you panic, the worse it’ll get.”
I recalled the mages saying the same thing before sending us off on the boat. As I thought back their words, I was able to suck in a shallow breath—one after another until my breathing was almost back to normal again. It still hurt, but it was bearable. I was also able to see clearer, too. Not incredibly clear—it looked like a foggy day—but at least everything wasn’t whited out anymore.
“Thanks,” I told Jacen once I’d gotten ahold of myself.
I thought it would have taken longer before reaching the mist. I’d been planning on checking out the weapons, but then I’d gotten distracted by the Northern Lights—and by Jacen. I’d figured we’d have time to grab them in the morning. But the boat was only protected by the mages boundary until we passed through the mist. Which meant we didn’t have much longer until we were vulnerable to anything that might attack.
“We need to get weapons.” I stood up and headed toward the storage room.
Jacen was at my side, apparently in agreement with my assessment.
I grabbed the first weapon that called out to me—a long silver sword in a sheath that I could strap around my back. Jacen went for two gleaming knives and sheathed them to his sides.
“You know how to use that?” He motioned to the long-sword that strangely enough, felt more at home than ever on my back.
“No idea.” I shrugged. “My instinct pulled me toward it, so I’m hoping that means yes.”
“Sounds good enough to me,” he said, heading out of the room. “Come on. We should get out there so we’re ready once the mist ends.”
We headed back up to the steering room. The mist pricked my skin this time, like tiny little needles. It burned, but once I relaxed and reminded myself what the mages said about how the mist wouldn’t actually hurt us, the pain subsided.
After a few more minutes, the mist got lighter and lighter, and then it faded completely.
Ahead of us was an island, and in the center of the island was a giant, blooming tree. The tree was tall enough that it touched the clouds themselves, and the branches hung so far out that the tips of them reached the end of the island itself. It gleamed with light—not a reflection of the sun, but a light that seemed to glow from within.
“The Tree of Life,” I breathed, amazed to be in its presence. Even though I hadn’t known about the Tree until recently, the sight of it was holy and intense.
Despite wanting to go full speed ahead, the sun was up, which was going to be a problem. But luckily not for long, since we were so far north that there weren’t many hours of sunlight.
“Maybe we should stop,” I told Jacen. “Wait for the sun to set. It won’t be out for long.”
“I’m fine undercover,” he said. “And once we get to the island, the branches go far enough out that they’ll provide shade.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
His only response was to press harder on the gas pedal, urging the boat faster to shore.
Suddenly, something thumped on the side of the boat.
I looked back in panic, but nothing was there.
“What was that?” Jacen asked, still focused straight ahead.
“I don’t—” I was cut off by another thump, this one so forceful that it caught me off guard and sent me tumbling into the wall.
The engine cut off, and the boat stalled.
“Damn it.” Jacen pounded the steering wheel and pressed harder on the gas. When nothing happened, he swiveled around and marched out of the control room, apparently going to figure out what was going on.
I followed him, since there was no way I was letting him go out alone. He shouldn’t be going out there at all, given the sunlight—but I doubted anything I said would stop him, so I might as well join him.
It didn’t take long to see the engine—or rather, what was left of the engine. It hung crookedly off the end of the boat, looking like it had been beaten with a sledgehammer.
I didn’t know much about boat engines, but it looked past the point of repair.
Jacen glanced over the side of the boat—I assumed to try and figure out what had done that to the engine—and his face fell.
“What is it?” I asked, although I saw the answer a second later.
Beneath the water was the shadow of what could only be a giant, eel-like sea creature. It went so far out in both directions that it seemed like it wrapped around the entire island. It was moving, and while it was underwater right now, I had a feeling it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Especially after what it had already done to our engine.
“There were some paddles in the storage room,” I said. “I’ll go get them.”
I doubted that paddling would get us anywhere fast, but Jacen and I were stronger than the average human, so that had to count for something. I hurried to the storage room, grabbed two of the paddles that were hanging next to some life vests on the wall, and ran back up to the dock.
I got there just as something large and slimy emerged from the water like a serpent—the creature’s head.
It looked like an alligator head, with a long snout, scaly skin, and beady eyes—but blown up to the size of a golf cart. Bearing down on us, it rumbled and opened its mouth, revealing rows of teeth like jagged nails.
Jacen was on it in a second, avoiding its mouth while using his knives to slash at its skin. But the skin was hard—so hard that his knives didn’t seem to be doing anything at all.
I hurried to join him, dropping the paddles and reaching for my sword. I aimed for the creature’s skin, but like the knives, my sword bounced right off. It was like its skin was made of metal.
Jacen reeled back his arm and threw one of his knives at the creature, landing right in the center of one of its eyes.
The creature screamed in pain, and I thrust my sword forward, aiming for the softer, more vulnerable flesh inside its mouth. I nicked its cheek, but quickly pulled my sword back, not wanting it to get caught in the creature’s mouth.
Then Jacen threw his second knife, and it hit the creature’s other eye, blinding it. The hilts of both knives stuck out where its eyes had been.
“Score,” I said at the same time as it opened its mouth to scream again. I used the opportunity to go at it again with my sword, digging deeper this time. If I could just get through the roof of its mouth, then I could go straight through its brain…
But the creature jerked its head up, its teeth clanging against my sword—and my wrist—sending the weapon to the other side of the boat.
I pulled my arm back and cried out in pain.
The tooth had gone straight through my wrist. It must have hit a vein, because blood was everywhere—my blood.
“Watch out!” Jacen yelled as the creature lunged forward, and he threw himself at me to push me out of the way.
I toppled to the ground, turning around just in time to see the creature’s jaw crunch down on Jacen’s legs.
“No!” I yelled, watching as the creature pulled back, as if to drag Jacen out to sea. But Jacen grabbed onto the side of the boat, holding on for dear life.
If the creature didn’t open its mouth, Jacen was going to die.
In a split-second decision, I ran for the paddles, grabbed them, and shoved the narrow ends straight into the creature’s nostrils. I shoved them in real deep—deep enough that they were wedged halfway inside there.
The ends of the paddles were drenched in the blood that was still pouring from my wrists, and spots danced in front of my eyes from the blood loss.
The wound was healing, but not fast enough. To make things even worse, at some point during the fight, the creature had bit a hole straight through the boat. We were taking on wate
r—slowly—but it didn’t look good.
Hopelessness descended upon me, but then the creature opened its mouth, just like I’d wanted it to.
The ends of the paddles had blocked air from entering its nasal passages, giving it only one way to get in air—its mouth. As it took a breath, I snapped back into focus, grabbing Jacen’s arms and pulling him inside the boat.
His legs were bloodied, mangled messes—I couldn’t look at them without wincing in pain. There was no way he could stand, let alone fight.
But the creature was still there, and it was coming down again. I couldn’t get to my sword in time, and trying to get one of the knives embedded in the creature’s eyes would be near impossible.
If I didn’t try something, this monster was going to kill us both. So I used my uninjured arm to reach for my only remaining weapon—Laila’s stake that I’d been keeping strapped to my side—and threw it into the roof of the creature’s mouth, straight up into its brain.
The creature’s head snapped back, and it crashed back into the sea.
The water was still leaking into the boat, but other than that, all was silent for the first time since we’d come through the mist.
I hugged my wounded wrist to my chest, putting pressure on it to stop the bleeding. It seemed to be helping. The hole was knitting together, but I’d lost so much blood that I was sitting in a puddle of it.
I used my last bit of energy to glance over at Jacen and make sure his wounds were healing, and then everything went dark.
Karina
Mary had refused to allow a witch of the Haven to transport me to Ireland. My going to the fae had nothing to do with creating peace between kingdoms, so it wasn’t the Haven’s obligation to give me a ride there. And since Mary had already gone beyond what I’d asked of her by telling me how to summon the fae, I wasn’t going to push it.
Unfortunately, that meant flying commercial—again. This airport wasn’t as crowded, since I guessed winter wasn’t a popular time to visit Ireland. The taxi line wasn’t terribly long, but each second wasted was one more second I could have with Peter. So I sauntered to the front of the line and used compulsion to get the next taxi, just like I’d done in India.
The car reeked of alcohol, which I supposed must be somewhat typical for a cab in Ireland. How many drunken partiers must the driver have taken home after the bars closed?
Luckily, this driver was nice enough to stop and wait for me while I walked into a store for supplies. For a charge, of course—although little did he know that I had no intention of paying that charge.
I hopped back into the waiting taxi, smiling and placing my bag of equipment by my side. It was a long drive to where we were heading, and I stayed quiet the entire time, unwilling to participate in any chitchat.
The less I knew about this man, the better.
We finally arrived, and just like before, I used the moment after he requested payment to take a drink from his throat.
This man’s blood tasted slightly sour, like he’d recently had beer.
Blood never tasted as good when the human had been drinking alcohol.
But that wasn’t what concerned me. No—I was more concerned with how many lives this man had endangered by drinking while working. I doubted this was the first time he’d done this. One thing I’d learned in all my years was that when someone was acting a certain way, it was usually because it was a habit.
Someday, this man was going to get someone killed.
At least the fact that he was drinking and driving would help curb the guilt of what I needed to do next.
Because there was still one last ingredient I needed to call upon the fae—the blood of a human I’d killed with my own hand.
Once I’d had my fill, I pulled away, licking the remaining blood from my lips and watching as the wound sealed closed. The man was still blinking away the haze of the venom when I reached for my newly acquired knife and slashed it across his pale, fleshy throat.
The cut was so deep that he couldn’t even scream.
Guilt wracked my chest, but I only had to think Peter’s name to push the unwelcome feeling away. If this man had to die for Peter to live, then so be it.
“Don’t move,” I said with compulsion, reaching for the other item I’d purchased—a plastic Tupperware container.
I held it under the man’s neck, tipping him forward so the blood flowed into the container. I let it fill until there was no blood left to drain—far past the point when his heart stopped beating.
“Thank you.” I placed the lid on the container, sealing it to make sure it was tight. “I’ll make sure your sacrifice wasn’t in vain.”
Then I put the car in neutral and rolled it into the forest.
The man would be found, eventually.
By then, I’d be long gone—and Peter and I would finally be together again.
Karina
I followed the directions Mary had given me, and it wasn’t long until I arrived to the mystical garden of the fae.
Despite the majority of Ireland being dead and covered in snow in the height of winter, this garden was green and alive, with a sparkling pond in the center. It was like stepping into a bubble of summer. But that wasn’t what surprised me about it.
What surprised me was that I wasn’t the only one there.
A young girl in a short, green dress sat perched on a rock. She reminded me of Tinkerbell, but full sized—and without the wings.
Her lips turned up into a small smile when she saw me. “Hello, Karina” she said calmly. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
I didn’t move toward her, not wanting to startle her. Also—while I hated to admit it—I was slightly spooked. The girl didn’t look older than ten, yet she spoke like an adult.
“Who are you?” I asked. “And how do you know my name?”
“My name is Fiona,” she said. “I know your name because a friend told me you would be here. I’ve been quite anxious for your arrival.” She paused, patting the rock next to her. “Sit down and join me. We have so much to discuss.”
I took a deep breath and did as she’d asked, since this was why I was here—to meet with the fae. I’d never met a fae before, but this girl seemed to fit all of the qualifications for being one. Still, it was better safe than sorry.
“Are you a fae?” I asked, doing my best to make myself comfortable on the rock. It was a bit difficult, since it was lumpy to sit on. I placed my pack and container of blood on the ground, but kept my knife in its place in my boot.
No matter what this girl was—a fae or some other type of supernatural—I couldn’t let my guard down.
“I am.” She giggled, sounding like a little girl for the first time since I’d arrived. “Although I understand why you’re wary. This is hardly the typical way my kind operate.”
“No,” I agreed. “I’d been told I needed to wait for the full moon, and then come here to call on you.”
“Yet the moon isn’t full,” she said.
“I know.” I glanced up at the silver crescent gleaming in the sky. “But I was going to try anyway, just in case it were possible to call on you during other times, too.”
“Interesting.” She tilted her head, studying me. “It’s true that we can only journey to Earth from the Otherworld on the nights of the full moon. However, a dear friend of mine has the ability of omniscient sight. He was called to Earth on the most recent full moon, and while here, he had a vision that you would come here before the next full moon—and that you would have something I desired. He owed me a favor, so he told me of his vision… and now I’m here.” She smiled and shrugged, as if it were as simple as that.
“Wow,” I said. “So you’ve been waiting here for me for days?”
“I have,” she said. “Although when you’re immortal, a few days hardly feel like much time, do they?”
I nodded, although I had a sneaking suspicion that she’d seen many more centuries than I.
“My friend also told me that if I waited
until the next full moon to see you, it would be too late,” she added.
“What does that mean?” I shifted in place, not liking the sound of that.
“I don’t know.” She giggled again, and the hairs on my arms prickled. “But it hardly matters, because you’re here now. So let’s get down to business, shall we?”
“Okay,” I said. “I came here because—”
“You’re jumping ahead of yourself,” she interrupted, holding a hand in the hair to stop me. “We have yet to discuss your payment for my passage to Earth.”
“I never officially called you here.” I glanced at the container of blood, guilty that I’d ended up killing that man for no reason.
Although… maybe it hadn’t been for no reason.
I picked up the container and held it out to Fiona. “Will this human blood be sufficient payment?” I asked. “I brought it here specifically for you.”
She swatted it out of my hand, and it hit the ground with so much force that it split open, the blood leaking out and soaking into the ground.
“The fae do not crave blood as vampires do.” She scrunched her nose, as if vampires disgusted her. “I mean no offense, of course,” she added with an innocent smile.
“None taken.” I sat straighter, thinking of only one thing—Peter’s return. His coming back was worth keeping my cool with this petulant fae girl. “Since you don’t want the blood, what do you want?”
“As payment for my passage to Earth, I’d like the portrait you carry with you.” She looked to my bag and lit up gleefully. “The one of your true love.”
I jerked back, shocked by her request. “Why do you want a faded old portrait?” I asked, truly confused about her reasoning.
“That object is more than just a portrait.” She focused on me again, her eyes gleaming with desire. “I can feel its energy from here. You’ve carried it with you for so long that you’ve imprinted some of your most intense emotions upon it, making it quite valuable indeed. Surely it’s worth giving up?” She brushed off her skirt and moved forward on the rock, as if preparing to stand. “If not, I’ll be on my way.”
The Vampire Wish: The Complete Series (Dark World) Page 57
