by J. G. Massie
There came a light knock on the door. “Tessa?” Isaac peeked in before I could answer. I didn’t deserve his company, but I really needed it right now. He closed the door and came to sit down beside me. “How are you holding up?” he asked, resting his hand on my knee.
“As good as can be expected, I guess,” I groaned. I felt like sobbing all over again, and had to fight to keep it down. “Not bad, considering I failed some super important ancient test and failed everyone who was counting on me in the process. My friends, my mother, you...”
“Stop that,” he said, gently cupping my face in both hands. “Shh... Now you listen to me.” He held my gaze, hooking me with those dark eyes until I was wasn’t even capable of looking away. “You didn’t fail anyone, you hear me?” I started to protest, but fell silent again at the stern shake of his head. “You didn’t, and I speak for all of us when I say that.”
He touched a shushing finger to my lips before standing up. “So now we know you’re not the chosen one.” I blinked at how easily he addressed the elephant in the room. “But so what? I mean it, so what? Who cares? Turner is not the chosen one either, and you don’t see it bothering him. He’s a Keeper, and he wears that title with enough pride for both of you.” We both chuckled. Turner was certainly not lacking for confidence. “Your mother was a Keeper, as are you. And I hear she was pretty damn good at her craft. Looks like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” He winked.
I smiled despite myself. He was making me feel good against my will. That was justplain cheating.
“All this chosen one business has nothing to do with you. You can’t be held responsible for other people’s beliefs. So stop beating yourself up already, because now we know for sure that it’s someone else’s problem.”
“So what do we do now?” My eyes were puffy and wet, but now they were tears of relief. I saw his point, and it was like having a mountain lifted from my shoulders. This burden was mine no more.
“We leave this island, tonight. That’s what we do.”
“But Lura said...”
“We have until morning, yes. But why should we listen to her? There is nothing for us here anymore. She wants nothing to do with us, and as far as the rest of us are concerned, the feeling is mutual. The boat is already loaded up.” He twirled his hand in a flourish. “We’re ready when you are.” Smiling, he took me by the hand. “Nothing changes, Keeper. We still have a job to do. And when this chosen one does come along, we will do everything in our power to support them as well.”
With a gentle tug, he hoisted me to my feet. It was hard to believe how much better I felt. And he was right, of course, our job was far from finished. We still had an underworld to unite, and that wasn’t going to be easy, chosen one or not.
“Well, then, let’s be on our way, shall we? Adventure awaits.” Isaac took me by the arm and off we went. How he could make the most serious topics sound childish and innocent was beyond me. Adventure awaits? Really? He was about to bring me before his people, then try to explain to them why he had sworn to protect me, even though it was unnecessary because I turned out to be a nobody, but not really a nobody because I was still a Keeper, just not the Keeper, so this extra protection wasn’t really necessary, so...um...yeah.
Ugh... My head hurts...
As we drew closer to the boat, I could see that a pretty large crowd had gathered to see us off. To my surprise, even Lura was there on the beach. I assumed she had already washed her hands of us, but I guess not. Lindsey was already waving from the deck, and Mandla’s heavy body was leaning over the rail as if he was about to take a nap. It looked to me like the boat was actually tipping to one side due to his weight. Careful there, big guy. Don’t sink it before we get moving.
“May I speak with you a moment?” Lura asked when I tried to pass her. She hooked my shoulder and led me aside before I could answer. It didn’t much feel like a request, and before I knew it we were knee deep in jungle vegetation. I hoped she wasn’t leading me out into the wilderness as a sacrifice or anything. She kept her arm around me, as if worrying that I might try to get away.
“Tessa, I was a little harsh on you back there. I’m sorry for that,” she said, then stopped to lean against a tree.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m so over it,” I lied. In truth she had made me feel terrible, so her apology was very much appreciated.
“No, this one is on me,” she insisted. “I’m the one who pushed. I’m the one who set you up with such unrealistic expectations. I’m the one—” She swallowed hard and looked over my head, gazing off at some distant memory. “I listened to my heart instead of my head, and I’m afraid we’ve both paid the price for that.”
She shook away her distant thoughts and promptly refocused her attention. “Trust me, I haven’t forgotten that we’re all on the same side. All I ask is that you find it in your heart to forgive an old fool.”
“Why do I feel a bit coming on?”
“But,” she winked, “my reasons for sending you away in the first place remain unchanged.”
“I understand.” I shrugged helplessly. “As long as I stay here, your people are in danger.” She smiled at me, touching a finger to the tip of her nose. “Don’t worry, we’ll be out of your hair before—”My phone buzzed in my pocket, and it was in my hand before I thought about what I was doing.
“Uh, thanks again!” That was my awkward way of inappropriately excusing myself. It was rude, it was tasteless, but that just didn’t seem important right now. I scurried away with my face practically pressed against the screen.
Hey dude Where R U? Is everything OK?
My fingers started jabbing the keypad like little woodpeckers.
Kyle!! I’m good...how R you
He wrote me back! Maybe it wasn’t too late to save our friendship. But how much could I actually tell him? Where did I even begin? Such a simplistic exchange couldn’t even begin to do justice as far as everything we needed to talk about, but it would do for now. It was just so good to hear from an old friend.
“Tessa.” I ignored the lioness and just kept staring at my screen while waiting for a reply. Lady Lura, leader of the shifters, was speaking directly to me, and I kept my back turned to her as if she wasn’t even there. “Tessa!” Okay, that time I gave her the courtesy of a quick glance over my shoulder.
Following her upward gaze, I looked to the sky and almost dropped my phone. The sky was turning black as dark clouds rolled and boiled overhead.
Oh man, this ain’t good!
Chapter 18
We watched in horror as the sky began to bubble and churn, a giant toilet bowl of muddy water spiraling endlessly towards its center. Green and blue flashes streaked the sky, the powerful bolts zigzagging about. Unnatural, mystical, the chaotic light show was as beautiful as it was terrifying.
My head spun, knees going weak as I began to hyperventilate. Although there was movement all around me, it was a struggle to focus on any one thing. Stumbling back, I was lucky enough to butt up against a tree. Right now, it was literally the thing keeping me upright.
I could see Lura a short distance away, gripping two shifters by the collar as she shouted in their faces. Her voice sounded strangled and hollow to my ears, as if she were shouting underwater. Despite her intense expression, she barked out orders with clarity and conviction. Confident, decisive under pressure, this was what made her a leader. This was the sort of person I knew I could never be, and I was okay with that.
One by one the shifters responded to her commands, each falling into formation as if they had had weeks to prepare. I had to admit, I was truly surprised by their battle-ready efficiency. Even though they were not exactly warriors by reputation, I was witnessing a fighting spirit like none other. Just watching them gave me courage and strength.
Snarling, eyes flashing with hues of green and blue, lines of lions, panthers, tigers, and cheetahs stood ready. Back fur rising with aggression, claws ready to strike, they stood their ground in tight for
mations. Such bravery, such discipline, they rivaled even the most highly trained army.
Swirling balls of smoke dropped from the sky, drifting down like smog-filled beach balls. And within seconds they were already taking shape. Thin slits of red peered out from beneath black hoods, their hate-filled glares piercing right into my soul. How could such evil creatures exist? Well, I had news for them. I hated them right back.
I tensed as the first wave of wraiths came soaring down. Holding steady, seemingly prepared to meet their end, the shifters held their ground without moving an inch. I wanted to scream, to look away at the very least, but I simply couldn’t summon the strength to do either. Brave or not, why would they throw away their lives so recklessly?
“Front line!” Lura roared as she dropped her arm in a chopping motion. The first row of panthers surged forward, a living wave of teeth and claws. They collided head-on with the descending wraiths, tearing and ripping like the savage wild cats they were.
I expected them to glide straight through like any other physical weapon. But to my relief, a spray of white glitter scattered about in powdery blooms. Wailing like sirens, the first wave of dying wraiths withered away, their bodies shriveling into drifts of black ribbon and smoke. Those that didn’t die immediately remained pinned down by one or more cats, their fate only slightly delayed when compared to the others.
But how? It was in that moment that I knew there must be a clear difference between shifters and vampires. Although both were magical in their own right, vampires were a sort of animated flesh where shifters were purely magical from head to toe. They could physically hurt the wraiths where vampires could not.
But of course that had to be a two-way street. Surely the wraiths could hurt them as well.
“Ramp heart two,” Lura shouted, barking out some cryptic order as the second wave of wraiths came swooping down. In a rolling wave of fur and teeth, the back row of cheetahs came bounding forward. In one smooth movement, they jumped onto the backs of sturdy panthers, then launched themselves high into the air. Soaring like birds, they met the next wave of wraiths with violent impact.
I could only imagine what the wraiths must be thinking. What? This was not how living creatures were supposed to act when faced with certain death. They were supposed to cry, to turn and flee without ever looking back. The living were not supposed to be able to hurt the dead. How could this be? The confused shadow creatures had been caught completely off guard.
Wraiths were falling from the sky, most with a snarling cheetah clamped to its body. Screeching like whistles, they rolled around on the ground as white sparkling innards sprayed in all directions. The savage shifters were turning these chumps into living sparklers.
I almost jumped out of my skin when a cold, wet nose pressed up against my thigh. “Get on!” Amber ordered, her massive panther form ready to ride.
“But what about—”I turned back to the shifters who were still kicking ass. Lura waved her arms in a circle, and her already super tall frame actually began to grow bigger. She lurched forward, her hands suddenly slamming the ground with heavy force. But the second they touched the ground, they were no longer hands at all, but the giant paws of a massive lion.
Bigger than any lion I had ever seen, her thunderous roar shook the trees. Her bight green eyes flared with light, and her heavily muscled body twitched with rage. “You dare to invade our lands, demons?” she snarled, her rolling voice a bubbling gurgle. “Then prepare to pay the ultimate price!”
“They seem to be doing just fine without you,” Amber reasoned, once again displaying her amazing ability of pointing out the obvious. “Besides, there is nothing you can do anyway, so let’s just get moving.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”
I cautiously lifted my leg, put it back down, then lifted it again at a slightly different angle than before. “All right, let’s see here.” I lifted my other leg, slid my knee up over the lower portion of her back, then pulled back again when the leverage didn’t seem quite right. “Mmm... Perhaps if I go in this way...”
“Oh, for the love of!” Amber bucked like a bull, which sent me up and over the top. I landed on her back, facing the wrong direction, and without any warning we were off like a shot. Gripping a fistful of butt fur, I hung on for dear life as her swishing tail slapped me in the face over and over.
“Uh, little help?”
She bucked again and flopped back the other way, nearly smashing my face on the top of her head.
“You know, for a renowned Keeper, you’re certainly lacking on some basic skills.”
“Hey!” I protested. My legs were already starting to burn just from clenching her sides. “Pfft... The panther-riding lesson wasn’t until next week.”
“Shut up and hang on. My job is to get you to safety, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
Galloping through the brush, we veered out into the street every now and then just to get our bearings straight, then dashed back under cover. The low-hanging branches lashed at my face and arms, but I just had to deal with it. It was pretty clear that Amber wasn’t going to slow down, even if saving me meant killing me in the process.
We broke through the last line of brush in a flowery burst of leaves and broken twigs. “I found her!” Amber galloped straight toward my circle of friends, who were all standing back to back, doing what they did best. Although they couldn’t exactly hurt the wraiths, my friends were still faring pretty well. Teamwork was key, and by now our group had it down to a science.
Margie and Lindsey were doing their thing, steel flashing. Watching the two of them move was poetry in motion. Rumbling around in sweeping circles, Mandla charged about like a wild bull. Not quite werewolf, not quite human, the beast of a man had once again become something in between.
Isaac seemed to be in multiple places at once, his blade flashing savagely as if there were ten of him. Covering ground from one end of the circle to the other, his shocking speed made the others look slow in comparison. Just when the tip of his sword barely kissed its target, he spun back the other way to repeat the subtle attack.
Of course, these vicious attacks didn’t actually do any real damage. But that was not the goal here. It was that tiny disruption, a blink in time when the hit wraiths froze for just a millisecond, that provided a window of opportunity for the only one who could actually kill them.
Clutching a glowing blade in each hand, Turner was a one-man wrecking crew. Watching him move with grace and precision, I almost had to remind myself that he was human. Everywhere he touched sent white glitter pouring from their bodies like ripped-open stuffed animals. But not once did he seek out a single wraith on his own, instead opting to follow the others in a wild pattern of blinding speed. One got stunned, then paid the ultimate price. Frozen, death, rinse, repeat. Yep, now that was teamwork.
“Rally to Tessa. Protect the Keeper!” Isaac ordered. He broke formation and dashed over to my side. I wanted to remind him that I was no longer the chosen, but I knew it wouldn’t make any difference. He was going to defend me with his life no matter what I said. I knew that in my heart, and the guilt was tearing me up inside.
But the others obviously agreed with him, because I was surrounded in a flash. Nothing changed, the team was still functioning like a well-oiled machine. Except now they were doing it right over the top of me in order to keep me shielded from the wraiths. Me, Tessa Cooper. Me, the useless Keeper who was destined to unite the underworld.
Well, I say no way, it’s not going down like this. Like hell I’m going to just sit here and let my friends protect me out of blind loyalty. I’ve done nothing to earn that, other than being a fake and a fraud that is. No way I’m letting them shoulder this load by themselves.
I cartwheeled to the side, breaking free of their protective circle despite Isaac’s crazed protests. Hands pumping against my chest, I sent a number of streaking daggers ripping through the air. Ghostly images rippled like hung blankets. The disruptions were brief, b
ut I breathed a sigh of relief when their insides exploded a moment later. Glowing blue steel flashed in my wake, leaving behind a trail of black ribbon and white glitter.
“Don’t look at me, just keep going,” Turner shouted, motioning ahead. Strange, but it was a breath of fresh air to have at least one person not treating me like fragile glass. On the contrary, he seemed to be more than willing to put me directly in harm’s way. Good... Challenge accepted! “Get back to the village. There we will make our last stand.”
I nodded my understanding and was off and running. I had to agree with Turner’s thinking on this one. Speed was the one real advantage that we had, so why not use it? Huh, I guess the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Wraiths settled in front of me, with more drifting down from the sky to try and block my path. My swords flashed, causing their bodies to ripple and stir. The strike bought just enough time for me to slip past them. But when a showering of glitter landed on the back of my shoulder, I knew they were no more. We make a pretty good team, Dad—Er... Fellow Keeper. Best to not over think anything at a time like this.
I focused all my energy on precision and timing, trying to make each strike count. All I had to do was connect, set ‘em up so Turner could knock ‘em down. I ignored the urgent protests coming from behind as the others gave chase. My friends weren’t too thrilled about Turner and I trying to win this battle all by ourselves.
But they didn’t understand, this was something I had to do. It wasn’t about proving anything to them, I knew they had my back no matter what. It was about proving something to me.
Crossbow bolts zipped past both sides of my head, each one gliding straight through its mark. I kissed those same wraiths with the tips of my blades as I sped by just for good measure. Hey, I was the one on point here. I couldn’t stand by and let Margie and Lindsey take my fun. Still, their timing was good. Wraiths hovering just out of my reach were eating bolts as well. The projectile assault proved to be a pretty good complement to my dancing steel.
