Range

by JA Huss

  "What'd he say?" Tier is gripping my arms so tight I think he might squeeze the life out of me.

  "He said that the swan was God's princess and the eagle was Jupiter's favorite and they were blessed and got to live together for eternity. And how would he know to soothe me with that new ending if that wasn't my Gideon, Tier?"

  He shakes his head and loosens his grip.

  "He's still my Gid. I know it. He told me that new ending for no other reason than to make me happy."

  "Maybe," he concedes. "Maybe he is, but you cannot take him in the Pillar with you, understand? He's a Seven, he will fuck everything up if he enters, Junco."

  He waits for me to say something, but I stay silent.

  "We have to go now, Junco. We have to go. Will ya do what I ask?"

  I take a deep breath and nod my head. "Yeah, OK. I won't take Gideon into the Pillar."

  He watches me, reads my mind probably, looking for any inkling that I am lying. But I'm not, so he straightens up and lets out a long breath of air. "Thank you. When this is all over, Junco, I swear, I'll make it up. I will make it up, OK?"

  "Don't forget about my HOUSE," I say. "She's just a little girl. Don't leave her there to die alone. I couldn't stand it if she had to die alone."

  "I won't, Junco. I promise. She's not gonna die. I won't let her die."

  I try and hide my surety of her approaching demise, but I fail miserably and Tier picks up on it. "I will not let her die, Junco. OK?"

  "Just do your best. That's all you can do. Take me, I'm ready." He holds me close in the timeshift and my prayer from the Fallen Archer church back in Fledge comes rushing back. Please let me accept my fate with courage. Let me be brave in the end.

  It might've worked this time as well, except for one small detail. The time for fate is over.

  Because this is destiny.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  We exit the timeshift on another mountain, only this time it's not covered in climbing rainforest vines, but the tundra grass that blankets the Rockies at high altitudes. The wind is fierce and there is plenty of snow on the ground.

  The valley below is a mess of charred landscape left over from the nuclear blast that marks our last foray into this land. There are no dead and smoking soldiers here—the entire perimeter of the valley is flanked by a bubble of transparent blue light that comes from several dozen avian ships that hover over the top of us.

  "It's freezing," I say as my teeth start to chatter.

  "Sorry, Juncs. I just gotta see who's down there first."

  I zoom in my avian vision and scan the area around my light column. It looks empty until I find a solitary figure.

  He's waiting for me.

  Tier jerks me. "Listen, Junco, don't go down there, OK? Just fly straight into the light. Do not let him have his say."

  My eyes never leave Gideon and I watch as he turns in a slow circle, searching. He can feel me. When his line of sight passes over me he does a double-take and smiles, then cups his hands to his mouth and yells. His faint words echo off the mountainside and my heart warms.

  He's calling for me.

  I look up at Tier and shake my head. "I have to see him, Tier, but I promise, I will not take him in the Pillar, OK? I won't."

  I feel him searching me for lies, like he's dropped all the pretenses that he can crawl into my thoughts and just doesn't give a shit if I find out. I might be dumb sometimes, but I'm not stupid.

  He watches my face as I wait, then finally accepts this promise as truth and we port once more and them I'm standing next to him.

  My Gideon.

  He comes over, completely oblivious to Tier, and takes me in his arms. "You had me worried, Snowbird."

  "I'm here," I say, hugging him back. "I'm ready."

  "She's not takin' ya in with her, Gideon."

  I pull away to watch the exchange and catch Gideon smiling. "No, she's absolutely not taking me in there with her, Tier. You got that part correct. I have no interest in that Pillar."

  "What?" Tier is confused. I put my arm around Gideon's waist as my eyes make the slow migration up to Tier's face.

  I expected anger, but all I see is hurt and I have a wave of hesitation, but Gid's hand reaches out and squeezes. It says, Be brave. So I put on the brave face.

  "I've sold this spot to someone else, friend. Someone who will make more of a difference than I ever could."

  Tier is shaking his head when Inanna appears. His incredulous look shoots back to me and I can only shrug. "Yer not serious, Junco!"

  I pull away from Gideon and walk towards my mother's outstretched hand and take it in my own. She throws her head back and laughs, a cackle that sends shivers up and down my spine like electricity, and then she turns me around like a prop and shows me off to the man I love.

  The man I am about to betray.

  "She is mine! I told you all that."

  Lucan appears and folds his arms against his chest, watching my face for the ruse.

  But this is not a ruse, this is real, and just to make sure we're all on the same page I enunciate it clearly. "I choose Inanna."

  I watch Tier start to form words but I turn away and begin to walk towards my light. Inanna keeps hold of my hand and follows.

  I have no idea how long it takes to cover that distance. Minutes? Tens of minutes? I can't tell, I hold my truth in my head, just on the verge of exploding, but in check. You can't ever trust the mind-reading skills of these aliens, that's for sure. You gotta hide that shit, but good, and if there's one thing I'm fucking spectacular at, it's hiding secrets. I can tuck a secret away like nobody's business.

  But it percolates there, just on the edge, and I feel Inanna's hesitation as the heat goes from inviting, to hot, to painful, to flames. But I squeeze her hand this time, just like Gideon did to mine. I squeeze and feed her the lie. "It's fine, Inanna. It's fine."

  And she calms down, her mind too wrapped up in her success to see my hand slip under my shirt and pry my weapon from the dock.

  And then the flames overtake us and we pass through the light and into the Pillar.

  She lets go of my hand and we twist and maneuver in the emptiness until we are on opposite sides.

  "Junco, please. Do you think I am this easy to trick?" She laughs.

  I smile, and I'm telling you right now, this is the biggest fucking smile. The happiest fucking moment of my entire existence. "Not at all. I knew damn well you'd put up a fight. I've been looking forward to it actually. I had a lot of time to think in that tank. Watching the hair drift across my face as you mutilated me, ripped my flesh from my bones, flayed my skin into shreds, sent the electricity into the gel to make me writhe in pain and then buckle up into the cold air and attempt to scream, only to find that tube was still down my throat and the only sounds I was capable of making were a half-hearted series of pathetic grunts."

  I pant hard just thinking about it. But the terror is gone now. I put it in the dark place, lock it there until I need it. I will need it, but not today. Today is easy.

  "You cannot kill me, Junco. Just as I cannot kill you. Those are rules that cannot be broken."

  I power up my SEAR knife and she does the same to hers. Inanna and I are both yellow. Yellow hair, yellow eyes, yellow light coming forth from our weapons. Gid told me rest of story about the SEAR knives. The part Lucan conveniently left out. One is as good as the next for killing any other Archer and the one I have now might not be able to dissipate Lucan, but it'll work just fine on Inanna.

  That was probably not what he was referring to out in the desert when he said I could kill her because I'm her daughter, but oh well. That's how I took it. And really—he should know me better by now. I take orders, not suggestions.

  "You're right," I say. "We're like Laelaps and the Teumessian fox, aren't we? What happens when an irresistible force meets an unmovable object?"

  "Nothing," she whispers.

  "Exactly."

  Her smile falters.

  "In a perfect
world, that's exactly what happens, you stupid fucking bitch." The words are seething with hate and I feel the change coming on. The itch starts slowly in my hands just like it did back in the Vegas lab. Then my mouth is on fire as the fangs come out.

  She's looking at me in horror but forces herself to continue the conversation. "The Laws of the—"

  "Universe, right. I got that part back when Sera told me about the loophole. I'll be honest, I was skeptical, since it was supposed to be an unsolvable riddle. Impossible to negate those conditions—not only impossible, but improbable as well. But we're not in that universe anymore, are we, Mother? We're in Pillar Seven now, a doorway, a portal, whatever you want to call it. Either way, we're not in that Universe right now."

  I hear the bones cracking in my back as the wings take shape then push out and unfurl. I push away the pain. This pain is nothing—all this and more already happened when I was in the tank. That's what this bitch did to me for all that time. It didn't all fit together until Tier told me about the programmed memory of the change. Inanna wasn't morphing me up Archer levels in that tank. She was making me practice the demon change. She turned me into a demon, then back into Junco, then the demon, and then Junco. So many times that there is no difference anymore. I am the demon and the demon is me.

  And my body remembers who it is. What it is. The change completes and she simply stands there, her mouth agape. I bet that cunt never thought she'd be stuck between worlds with this thing, did she?

  Inanna comes back to her senses and makes her own change and my lip goes up in a snarl, like the wild animal I've always been. She charges at me with her SEAR knife because what choice does she have? She knows. She fucking knows she's not leaving here in one piece.

  I spin as she attacks, swiping the knives on my free hand across her back and making her scream out.

  Oh. My. Fucking. God. That felt good.

  She puts some distance between us and extends her SEAR out to full sword length and attacks again. I avoid the heat of her knife by mere fractions, and go crashing across the floor as she lands a kick to my stomach. My body skids to a stop and I'm back up on my feet in an instant. I dial my own SEAR down to a medium-length dagger and stand there to wait her out.

  She watches me with a smile but she's farther away than she was previously.

  "Not feeling so lucky now, are you?" My voice is not my own. It's a deep throaty voice that fits this monster's body perfectly.

  "Junco, I can wipe you off this planet with a swipe of my hand. You're boring me."

  "Then do it." I straighten up and drop my metal razor knives to my side. "Do it."

  She lifts her chin before she speaks, like she's got the fucking right to look down her nose at me. "You know I need you to work the Pillar, I cannot kill you. And you will not kill me, do you understand? It is insanity to even think you can."

  My head is shaking as the grin travels up my face. Again, I watch her expression change. And then I do something that surprises both of us. I walk towards her. "Don't make it too easy, Mother. Please, I expect a fight out of you. I expect—"

  She tries to port but her body just blurs into slow motion as she moves. She pops out of this new state, breathing hard and stunned that her powers are so diminished in here.

  "You're sad, ya know that? Weak, powerless, ugly, old."

  She circles me, her true fighting stance finally appearing as her eyes blaze gold.

  My own eyes are blurring the atmosphere with a bright red. I wonder, briefly, if I look like that thing in the Book.

  I sure fucking hope so.

  She is not as scary as I thought she'd be and I'm not stunned into submission like last time when I had no idea what the fuck these demons things were. I have an urge to speed things up so I play my last card before I fold and walk away. "Lucan never loved you, you know that right? But you wanna know what he told me?"

  "Lies?" she says, laughing nervously.

  "Maybe," I reply. "I'll let you be the judge. He said, Junco, I'm going to love you for thousands of years." Rikan was dead-on about envy. That shit works every. Single. Time. Because just like that, I've peeled away the armor that guards her one vulnerable spot. "I'm fairly sure he never said that to you, did he?"

  She attacks and I raise my throwing arm and hurl the knife straight at her face. I only catch the smallest fraction of a moment when it connects with her skin because her SEAR cuts me in half and I shatter into billions of pieces.

  Epilogue

  Where am I?

  Who am I?

  What will happen to me now?

  These questions have no answers.

  I'm pretty sure Gideon and Sera planned for me to win this fight, but that would require pushing away the possibility that I might lose. And losing a fight with Inanna had such big consequences that it just wasn't possible.

  So I embraced the worst-case scenario instead. But I left out one little detail about how this conquers fear when I gave Irin my secret.

  You must want the worst-case scenario as much as you want the best.

  They are equal partners and fear must be canceled out with acceptance.

  And I want this. No matter what you think, I want this.

  I want to float in the shower of starlight, empty and alone. Because at least I know that bitch Inanna went with me, I went down fighting, and there is nothing left to be afraid of. Ever. Again.

  I won

  I lost.

  I am.

  I am not.

  The heartbeat is still there. I am immortal and that will never change—it will never stop so I have no other way out. I can't change much. I have very little power, and I have no hope, or faith, or future.

  Or tears.

  But I can still count.

  My pieces travel up and out like a comet dragging ice across the galaxy. I watch it from every angle, from the inside and the outside. From Earth and from space. I am my own scattered pieces. I am like starlight, I am all of me and none of me at once.

  I am like light.

  I am not Junco.

  I am just light.

  I am nothing but my own shattered pieces.

  ~

  To my Junco readers…

  "The path to paradise begins in hell."

  ― Dante Alighieri

  The story continues with The Magpie Bridge…please read on.

  Join the Junco mailing list to get first dibs on advanced chapters and goodies for the final book in the series!

  Other books by J.A. Huss

  Clutch (I Am Just Junco, Book One)

  Fledge (I Am Just Junco, Book Two)

  Flight (I Am Just Junco, Book Three)

  The Magpie Bridge (A Tier Novella, Book 4.5)

  TRAGIC: Rook and Ronin, #1 (May 2013)

  Losing Francesca (July 2013)

  I AM A PROUD MEMBER OF INDIE INKED

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  EXTRAORDINARY AUTHORS & BOOKS:

  Alivia Anders ~ Illumine

  Cambria Hebert ~ Recalled

  Angela Orlowski Peart ~ Forged by Greed

  Julia Crane ~ Freak of Nature

  J. A. Huss ~ Clutch

  Anna Cruise ~ It was You

  Cameo Renae ~ Hidden Wings

  Alexia Purdy ~ Reign of Blood

  Tabatha Vargo ~ On the Plus Side

  Tiffany King ~ Meant to Be

  Beth Balmanno ~ Set in Stone

  Lizzy Ford ~ Dark Summer (Witchling Saga #1)

  Ella James ~ Stained

  Tara West ~ Visions of the Witch

  Heidi McLaughlin ~ Forever Your Girl

  Melissa Andrea ~ Flutter

  Komal Lewis ~ Falling for Hadie

  Melissa Pearl ~ Golden Blood

  L.P. Dover ~ Forever Fae

  Sarah M. Ross ~ Awaken

  Brina Courtney ~ Reveal

  The Magpie Bridge Preview

  This story is far from over - so if you skip The Magpie Bridge, you're missing a whole bunch.

  CHAPTER ONE

/>   THIS NOVELLA IS ALL TIER'S PERSPECTIVE

  The high-altitude wind whips past my face, leaving it raw and dry as I watch the scene play out down below. I cross my arms in front of my chest and ask my pupils to dilate and then contract, trying to keep Junco in focus as she makes the walk to the waiting pillar of light.

  "What's she doing?"

  I look over and see Arel and Annun, looking at me and down at the valley, respectively. I sigh in the general direction of my brother, although my eyes never find his face, and shrug. "I'm not sure, Arel."

  "Was this part of the plan?"

  "Not our plan."

  "Gideon?"

  Sometimes Arel can really piss me off with his questions. It's like he's got no internal filter. Just spews out words without thinking. "Do I look like I know Gideon's plan?" I hiss at him.

  He ignores my mood, as per usual, and just lets out a long whistle. "This is about to get interesting."

  It's hard to upset Arel. Even with the existence of our entire race on the line, he can shrug it off. "Interesting?" I scoff. "That's one way to put it."

  Annun spits on the ground and comes around to the other side of me. "You think she knows what she's doing?"

  I want to rip his fucking head off and my hands are even reaching for his throat when I stop. Annun just spits again and pretends it never happened. I think he's been spending too much time with Arel.

  "I mean," he continues, "she's typically got a handle on stuff, right? Even when you think she's fucked and lost her mind, she pulls through, right?"

  He's right. On most days Junco pulls through. She's tough. She's powerful. She's a force.

  "She's Junco, for fuck's sake," Annun continues, more to himself than any of us.

  But today is not most days. Today was her day. The day she's been waiting for.

  Lucan appears by my side and we let out a collective sigh as her body begins to glow, then Inanna's follows suit. Seconds later they are gone.