Awake

by Riana Lucas

  I want to snap at her for taking over, and I am about to do just that when Thorne steps up behind her. The expression on his face tells me how bad I look. Suddenly the pain starts to set in. Looking down, I realize there is a puddle of blood on the ground at my feet, and then I stare at my hand. The tendons are peeking out of the skin, along with what I think is a hint of white bone. My ankle is beginning to throb, but I do not want to see the damage. If Holly had not stepped in, the unclaimed would have killed me. I was so caught up in my anger, as well as the fight, I lost sight of what was important: getting to Reed and Rho, alive.

  I should have asked for help or allowed my friends to step in sooner. It would have prevented the amount of damage done. Having friends and working with others is still so new to me. Instead of being angry with Holly, I nod a thank you. She nods in return before stepping aside to let Thorne approach.

  He approaches slowly and cautiously. By the way he is eyeing me, I almost want to ask if his cautiousness is because of the dead unclaimed or because of me. But I remember the pain in my hand and ankle once again. He is probably waiting for me to pass out. I pull my wounded hand up against my chest, giving him a weak smile. The wounds are bad, but for now they can wait. Thorne draws closer to the dead fae, who is lying face-down about two feet in front of me with the end of an arrow protruding out of his back. Weapon in hand, Thorne uses his foot to turn the fae onto his back. Because of the arrow, the fae does not fall completely back onto the ground. Thorne shoves him harder with his foot. There is a crack followed by another snap from the arrow as it breaks. Only then does the body thud to the ground.

  The lifeless eyes of the unclaimed fae stare back up at us. His eyes are still that blue-black color and dark as night, but the blood has begun to drain from his body, causing the deep red of his bloodshot eyes to lessen, giving the black a deeper, more sinister look. I feel rather than hear the others approach slowly, still aware of our surroundings and staying alert to any other danger that may present itself.

  Willow approaches on my left side, taking my cradled hand into both of hers. I do not protest, knowing she is not just concerned, but able make an herbal remedy to help me heal even more quickly than usual. A wound like this would take a good night’s sleep to heal well but, unfortunately, we do not have that kind of time. I’ll greatly appreciate anything she can do to speed the process and lessen the pain.

  She examines the wound gently and methodically. “We need to clean and wrap it as soon as possible. I can use some things in my bag for that. I also need to examine your ankle. We’ll need to set it so it can heal fast. Come with me—the sooner this is done, the sooner we can be on our way.” I stare at the fae lying lifeless on the ground, but Willow pulls my attention back to her, sensing my thoughts. “They can take care of him. We need to take care of these, or you’ll be of no use for the rest of the mission.” She knows exactly what to say to get me to listen to her when I would otherwise argue.

  Gideon hears her and speaks up as well. “We’ll dispose of his body and make sure there’s no sign we were in the area. Allow Willow to tend your wounds then we can go. This fight has cost us some time. We can’t afford to lose much more.”

  “Yes. You are right." I turn to Willow. "Make sure you spell the area so we are not sensed by any others. We do not need a herd of unclaimed fae after us.”

  “Very good.” Gideon pivots away, wasting no time to carry out the task, giving direction to both Holly and Thorne. I observe my group for a moment, watching Gideon lead the way any good leader would. He knows precisely what to do and how to go about doing it so the others do not feel as if they are being commanded. They work as a team, Gideon working as hard as they do. I make a mental note for later. I am sure the queen is aware of his ability, but it would not hurt to bring it to her attention. She would be wise, as a leader, to keep him close.

  Willow tugs at my arm, and I follow her to a nearby tree. “Sit,” she says in a no-nonsense voice.

  I sit.

  “Now, give me your hand.”

  I stretch my hand toward her once again.

  She has already pulled out a bottle of water and a strip of bark from her satchel. As she pours the water over my hand, I let out a small hiss in pain. Willow glances up at me out of the corner of her eye, lifting her eyebrow. I shrug, knowing I have suffered worse before, but it still hurts. Once she washes the blood away, I am finally able to get a good look at the wound.

  It is deep, revealing the bones in three of the four fingers. If there had been a bit more force behind the blow, it would have severed one or two of the appendages. I cringe at the thought. Willow tsks before going still. Her eyes close in concentration, and again I sense the magic she is pulling from her surroundings in preparation for a spell. Her skin glows slightly, cheeks turning a rosy pink. I hear her whispered spell.

  From a warrior's strength, to a warrior's pain, heal this wound, of a true warrior fae.

  She blows the spell from her lips onto my skin. Thankfully, in an instant, I feel the skin begin to tingle as the tendons begin to knit back together, and the skin regrows over the wound. Within moments, there is only a bright pink, puckered line running across my hand. It is still tender and sore, but no longer bleeding or painful. Within a few more moments, it will be gone.

  My ankle, on the other hand, will not be such an easy fix. This will be extremely painful, but the sooner she sets it, the sooner it will heal. Willow gives me a sympathetic look, reading my thoughts. I reassure her, “It is okay. It must be done. Just hurry, please.”

  Although I calmed her, I still want to scream in pain when she sets the bone. The adrenaline pumping in my body, the will to fight and live, overpowered the excruciating pain earlier when the bone was broken. Now, with nothing else to distract me, I feel all the pain, and it almost causes me to pass out. Willow whispers soothing words as she finishes, then whispers the same spell she used on my hand. The pain takes less than a minute to fade to a dull throb, a minute more for it to subside.

  I flex my hand and my ankle before turning back to her. “Thank you, Willow.”

  “You’re welcome. Now, let’s go.” She puts her supplies back in her satchel, stands, swings it over her shoulder, and looks at me expectantly because I am still sitting on the ground, leaning against the tree, and watching her with a smile on my face.

  “What?” she asks with a bit of exasperation in her voice.

  I glance down at the ground, shaking my head as I get up, my smile growing wider. “You are one of the bravest fae I have ever met.”

  Her eyes widen in shock, and her mouth opens to say something, but she snaps it back shut. She tilts her head to the side, brow furrowing before she finally speaks. “How am I brave? You’re the one who fought against a crazy fae and almost died. I stood behind the tree over there, because Gideon threatened to tie me up if I didn’t. Even if he didn’t, though, I still would have been there hiding and scared.”

  “You stood up to not only me but the queen as well. You demanded to come along on this mission. You did not care that you could get into serious trouble. You did not run when danger approached. You may have been behind a tree during the entire fight, but you stayed. Once everything was over, not only did you not cringe in fear at the sight of the dead fae, but you demanded I listen to you so you could heal my wound. You faced all of this and only thought of others.” I shake my head again. “That was very brave of you, Willow, for a fae who has spent all of her time in the kitchen or as a servant to me, and for a fae who has never faced danger or trained for battle.”

  She lowers her face, but it does not hide the blush rising in her cheeks. “Thank you, Poppy. That means a lot to me.” She looks up, smiling, then launches herself at me in a hug, which almost knocks me on the ground again. I hug her back. Only then do I feel the tremors shaking her body. I squeeze her tight and whisper, “It is over now. It is all going to be okay.”

  “I was so scared, for all of you.” Her voice quivers slightly.

>   “I know, but we are all fine. Now we must get moving. We cannot waste any more time.” Willow would not like for the others to witness her being upset, so I hug her until she can compose herself.

  She finally pulls away and gives me a weak smile. “Thank you, Poppy.”

  “Thank you, Willow.” I smile at her as I pull her toward the others.

  Gideon eyes us curiously as we approach the group. His eyes wander, taking in my healed hand and the slight glisten in Willow’s eyes. He moves to the other side of Willow, leaning close to whisper something in her ear. She giggles, and a light blush appears on her cheeks. He winks at her when he pulls back, causing Willow to lower her head. I give him a grateful smile over her bent head. He smiles back but quickly turns his attention back to her. There is a tenderness and softness in his eyes when he watches her I have never seen when he looks at anyone else. Smiling, I glance up to see Thorne and Holly both notice Gideon’s actions too.

  Thorne gives me a sly smile before turning serious. “I think we should get moving. It’s not a good idea to stay in one place for too long, especially after what just happened.”

  “You are right. Too much time has been wasted here. We will need to travel quickly the rest of the way if we want to get in, out, and back home before dawn.”

  “Are you well enough to continue?” This comes from Holly, and I glance up to see her regarding my hand with genuine concern. She looks up when I do not answer and scowls at me before turning away. “I just want to make sure you can hold your own in our next fight.”

  “I think I will be fine,” I reassure her with a bit of my own briskness, aware that she may have just started to show me some concern on accident. With no time to dwell on this new development, I say to everyone, “Okay, same formation as earlier, but quicker. We are running out of time.” I gaze up through the treetops into the starry sky, gauging the time by the moon’s height. My heart rate picks up as I begin to walk swiftly and quietly toward our destination. My friends need me and time is running short.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After what seems like an eternity, we finally reach the edge of the forest and the border that will lead us to the unseelie court. Although it seemed to take forever to reach this point, we were fortunate enough not to encounter any other fae over the remainder of our journey. Now with us so close to Reed and Rho, I hope we do not encounter any here.

  I close my eyes, taking a deep breath. The horrible stench of the unseelie court and all of the fae within is familiar and makes my stomach roll in revulsion. This place is saturated with sinister thoughts and evil intentions that usually would only tickle my conscience but now almost make me sick. Having a problem with the way things are done in the unseelie court is not new for me, but this was my home and who I was, so I knew better than to question what I was taught. It was just the way of things.

  The others line up next to me, and they too can sense the change in the air around us. Their noses wrinkle and brows furrow at the difference. At home in the seelie court, there is a sense of comfort and rightness, brought on by the bright colors and cheerfulness of the fae. Here they can only sense the wrongness that permeates the air. This dark and depressing place has nothing but sinister and evil feelings swirling in the air. Hopefully things will go as planned, and we can get out of this uncomfortable land quickly.

  We all pushed hard to make up for the time we lost when fighting with the unclaimed, and the fatigue shows on their faces as well. Gideon notices me watching all of them closely and schools his features, squaring his shoulders. The others do the same. They do not want me to be aware that they are tired or uncomfortable, but I know they are. The only thing I can do now is get them back home as quickly as possible.

  “All right,” I say while still gazing in the direction of the unseelie court. “We will stay together but travel as quickly as possible. Follow my lead, in the same formation we used to get here. Stay quiet, and hopefully we will go unnoticed. Keep Willow safe, and watch your backs. Understood?” I wait for a quiet confirmation from each of them before I nod. Time to go.

  Moving swiftly through the remainder of the forest, I lead the way into unseelie territory. We are so close to our final destination that I can feel my body begin to quiver in anticipation but I fear that if anyone is near, we will be sensed. I tried to plan ahead so we would arrive at the right time of day, and I can only hope the timing is not too late or too early. If my calculations are correct, no one will be around the area we are going to sneak into. As we approach the king’s court, I remove both of my daggers from their sheaths and crouch lower.

  The spot I chose to enter their territory is very close to the entrance we will use to gain access to the castle. The location is a bit farther from the dungeon than I like, but entering the castle as soon as possible is imperative. We cannot be caught out in the open. Once we are in the castle, there will be more nooks and crannies we can slip into if need be. Out here, we are too exposed and therefore more vulnerable.

  Thankfully, we have arrived at the perfect time I had hoped for, in spite of the encounter earlier in the evening. The unseelie court is always a busy place, but this time of night is close enough to morning that most are in bed, and it is still too early for any morning chores. All should be asleep, so hopefully we will not need to seek out any hiding places within the castle walls.

  We make our way to one of the many secret passages we will use to gain entrance to the interior of the castle, allowing us to go unseen. Thankfully King Foxglove trusts no one; therefore these passages remain unguarded at all times. He thinks no one knows of them and they probably do not. I only stumbled upon them by accident; otherwise I would not know about them either. Making sure to stay aware and alert of every sound and every smell around us, we move slowly and quietly, taking only one step at a time. If the wind shifts, we stop moving to make sure the change around us is indeed only the wind. Our progress is agonizingly slow. As we get closer, my heart begins to beat more rapidly. Each step I take puts me closer to my friends, but I still feel as if I am miles away. Maybe if I make it inside all will be right. I hold my breath when I am only a few feet away, scared for the very first time of the possibility of being caught. All my other thoughts had been getting here and helping my friends. The idea of actually being caught had not seemed like a possibility at the time. Now the possibility is very real. To come this close, only to be discovered now and our mission failing would be devastating.

  I take a step, and there is a loud thump, thump. My heart beats so loud I cannot make out anything else. Another step…thump, thump. It is beating so loud now I glance around, sure the others can hear the noise, but the others are all peering into the darkness around them, watching for danger. Thump, thump. I take the last step as I reach my hand out and touch the cool stone of the castle wall. The texture of the stone under my fingers grounds me. We reached the next checkpoint in our plan, and the success helps pull me back from my fear. As I will my heart to slow down, I take a few deep breaths. There is no time for this, so I pull myself together as quickly as possible. The others are still surveying the darkness around them, listening for any signs of unwanted guests.

  I slowly move my hands around, my palms flat on the stone wall, feeling for the protruding stone that will disengage the locking mechanism and open the wall. After a few passes, I find it. The device sticks out only about a half an inch from the rest of the stones and would easily be missed by anyone not knowing what to look for. Pushing down on the stone causes the wall to move to the right about two feet, leaving a very small opening only about two feet wide and four feet tall. It is enough to slip in and out, forcing each of us to crouch down and move in single file. Gideon and Thorne duck even farther down and shimmy in sideways, but we all enter with little difficulty.

  Once inside, I feel for the stone that will release the wall and allow it to slide back into place. Although the opening is small and well-hidden, if someone stumbled upon the doorway, they would know in an instant t
he castle had been breached.

  Still desperate to get to my friends, I take my place back in the lead of the group and begin to make my way through the back halls and hidden passages of the castle. I weave my way through as if no time has passed since the last time I was here. In reality, it has not been much time at all, even if it feels like years. We make our way as quietly and quickly as planned, finally reaching the stairway descending into the dungeon.

  The dungeon is left dark with the only light coming from a lit torch at the top of the stairs. Usually the torch would be pulled from the sconce on the wall and carried down into the dungeon. Tonight we do not have the luxury of using this light source. Our vision is good in the dark. However, it will take a moment for our eyes to adjust. If there is a guard present, he will spot us before we see him.

  I turn to Gideon, who is following behind me. “Stay here while I go down to make sure the area is safe,” I whisper.

  His voice is just as quiet. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We should stay together. We’re stronger that way.”

  “True, but if a guard is down there, he will spot us before we even know he’s there. I do not wish for him to throw the alarm when he sees a group of us. If I am alone, he will think he can handle me, and then I can alert you. If there is no guard, I will come back up for the rest of you.”

  He heaves a sigh. “You’re right. If he saw all of us at once, he’d call for others.”