“Then help me understand, Kes! I’m in way over my head here, and frankly, I’m drowning. I don’t know how all this works. I know I have a bullseye painted on my chest, but not who’s aiming for me. I have no idea how to defend myself or… my God. Mom and Dad… I just want to get them and go somewhere none of the Zodia can reach us.”
He shook his head. “There is nowhere they can’t find you.”
I looked to the stars, a tear leaking from my eye.
“I’ll tell you everything, but not out here,” he relented, intuiting my thoughts. “You never know who’s listening.”
Bringing my bowl of stew inside and placing it on a small table, Kes and I went to my room and sat on the bed the way we did when we were kids. Legs crossed, facing one another, hands on our knees. It’s how I knew he was going to tell me the truth – finally. “Aries gave me permission to speak freely with you.”
“Why couldn’t he just tell me?”
“He isn’t sure what to do with you,” Kes admitted on a sigh.
“I’m not that difficult, Kes. I just want honesty.”
He shook his head. “It’s not that. He worries what you’ll think of him. He worries you will break the pledge he made. And everything hinges on you not doing that, Larken, so keep that in mind as I speak.”
He stared at me until I nodded, then the tension melted from his shoulders. “The Zodia ruled the earth long before humans began to keep written histories. Some of the oral traditions were passed down, but over time, they turned into stories and myths, and then those became nothing more than star clusters used for navigation.
“The Zodia were made to rule equally. Those born under their sign provide energy for the Zodia they honor. And since humans are born and die so regularly, no Zodia was ever more powerful than the rest. There were still those who clamored for power, but because of the inherent balance, they weren’t able to grasp it over the rest. That is, until Virgo pledged herself to a human man whom she loved more than anything. More than power. More than herself. More than her people.”
I stiffened, thinking of how many human lives that meant.
“Aries doesn’t love me, Kes.”
“No, but what he feels because of the pledge isn’t so different.”
Why did you do it? I wanted to scream. Why ask him to pledge to me when it was guaranteed to screw so much up?
He continued, “She became more powerful than the others. The pledge heightened her senses, made her stronger, bolstered her hunger for more than just love. Though she never turned on any of them, she was changing. The pledge changed her.”
In his eyes floated worry.
“Are you afraid the pledge is changing Aries?”
He nodded. “The change in Virgo happened over time in a thousand small ways. First, it was showing her prowess and skill in a tournament the twelve competed in. At the time it seemed fun and none of the others minded enough to do anything drastic about the difference in her. But soon she began to taunt them, to injure them for sport and watch the others struggle to heal themselves.”
“It sounds like she became thirsty for more power, but Aries doesn’t seem like that at all,” I argued.
“And I hope he doesn’t devolve into the monster that Virgo could have been. She threatened them. She cautioned that if they didn’t do as she said, she would kill them, hunting them down one by one until she was the only one left. So they banded against her. Or most of them did. Aries and a few others refused to take part in it.”
“I know what they did to her lover,” I admitted, cringing.
Kes nodded grimly. “But do you know that the other Zodia nearly destroyed her? When her lover died, she weakened and shriveled into a husk of herself. If Aries and a few others hadn’t stepped in to defend her, things would have turned out differently. As she weakened, her people began to die. By the hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands. And if she had died…”
I felt sick, covering my mouth and eyes for a moment and taking a deep, cleansing breath to steady myself. “All her people would have died,” I finished for him. “Do they draw strength from their people? Is that why they won’t let anyone leave their territories?” I asked, making sure I understood the other side of this coin.
“Yes. They draw a certain amount of strength from them.”
“One of them died once, didn’t he? What was his name?” I tugged the name from my memory. I’d done a summary of a news report last year on this thirteenth zodiac sign. “Ophiuchus.”
He nodded. “Ophiuchus was the thirteenth, but he did not die at the hands of the others. He ended his own life, though none of the Zodia know how he managed it.”
“Wait… does that mean all his people…”
Kes blew out a long, sad breath. “None of the Zodia knew their people were tied to them so intimately until he took his life and all his people died with him. It happened long before I was born into my human life. I’m glad I didn’t witness it.”
I was glad he hadn’t either, but couldn’t help but wonder what awful things he had seen during his many lifetimes. I tried not to imagine all the people I’d seen who gathered to ask questions and hear Aries answer them… dead. Their bodies overlapping on the ground as scavengers ravaged their flesh.
I scrubbed my hands down my face.
“So now you see what is at stake. Aries was always one of the strongest – of morality, of strength – but now that he’s pledged to you, he’s even more powerful. The others can sense it,” he explained.
“You’re saying they’ll tear me apart just to weaken him, and if they manage to kill him, his people and his Guardians will die.”
Kes nodded. “That’s why you can’t put yourself at risk. You can’t erase his mark. You can’t separate yourself from him or he’ll weaken and they will pounce. If they kill Aries, every person in this slice of earth will die with him.”
I pushed my hair back and held it behind my ears. “How can I possibly fight off one of the Zodia if they want to kill me? And what if they come for me all together? They banded together against Virgo’s lover, right?”
“Several did, yes, but there were others who resisted, those on Aries’ side. Those allies may now be enemies, though.”
“Why?” I asked. “You said he’d done something to them. What did he do?”
“Aries lured them into a temple he’d built. He told them it symbolized a new beginning, that they could each put what happened behind them and move forward as one. But when he got them there, he put them to sleep.”
“How did he do that?”
Kes shook his head. “That, I don’t know. But the others aren’t happy about their very, very long nap. Libra is ready to strike – literally.”
My heart stopped, then began to thunder. “She’ll come after me. They all will.”
“Not Virgo, and hopefully not Aquarius. He and Aries were friends.”
Oh, lovely. So I only had to worry about nine other monsters coming to shred me. The sound of the man’s head slapping across the stone filled my mind, only I envisioned it being my head rolling across the temple square; blonde, blood-soaked hair slapping across the ground until it thumped into a column.
“Aries will protect you, Larken.”
“If he can,” I added morosely.
Kes pressed his lips together. “He can. Look, I did the only thing I could to protect you. I hope you trust my judgment.”
“Well, if I’m alive this time next week, we’ll see.”
Kes’s muscles tensed and he sat up straighter. “I have to go.”
“Where?”
“To patrol the human village.”
“What about the towns and cities left behind in this big slice of earth? Did he wipe them all away?”
“They’re still there,” Kes said, “and they’re being settled. Aries only built these for those gath
ered close to him.”
“Wouldn’t they be safer away from him?” I asked, knowing that in this world, where the Zodia patrolled, nothing was safe.
Instead of replying to my question, he said, “Everything will be okay. Just stay close to Aries. Always.”
“That’s not really feasible, bro,” I argued as he stood.
I mean, there would be times we would need to be apart, which would be prime opportunities for other Zodia to appear and strike. I thought of Libra with her serpentine tail and undulating layers of opaque scales… thinking of the fangs that must be hidden behind her pale lips.
He opened the door and told me to get some sleep. How he expected me to rest when he’d dropped so much at my feet was beyond me. I nodded, telling him goodnight and admonishing him to be careful.
He paused at the door. “Lark – why did you decide to trust me, knowing what I was?” he asked. I wondered how long he’d asked himself this question and why he never asked me before now.
“Because there was no hatred in your eyes.” It was the truth. I knew hatred when I saw it. It couldn’t be hidden, could never be mistaken for anything but. And Kes didn’t hate me. He needed me. He wasn’t lying when he said he wanted to co-exist peacefully. Somehow, I felt his sincerity. Those things made me give him a chance.
He gave a half-smile and a single nod.
“I would have slit your throat otherwise,” I added sweetly.
He threw back his head and laughed. “I have no doubt. That’s why I think you’ll be fine, Larken.”
At least one of us had faith in my ability to cut throats. Back then, Kes didn’t intimidate me. Probably because he was in my brother’s body, and because I didn’t know then about some of the things he could do. But the Zodia… I’d seen what Aries was capable of, and the very thought of the others scared the mortal hell out of me, to be honest. And though I would’ve gritted my teeth and killed Kes if he tried to hurt my parents, I wasn’t sure I could hold a blade against one of these creatures and live to laugh about it.
Kes pulled the door closed and left me alone in my room, where darkness and shadow met orange firelight. The gold stars I’d painted on my walls at home were identical to the ones shimmering on these walls, even down to the paint drips. But this wasn’t home. This was an elaborate imitation, a mirage intended to keep me calm. Maybe even to make my heart hurt a little less. I wasn’t sure it accomplished its mission, though. When I looked around, my heart ached. For Mom and Dad. For Kes. For the lives we had just two nights ago.
I thought Brant breaking up with me before prom was the worst thing in the world. It had been the worst thing that ever happened to me up until that point, and now didn’t matter at all. It was so insignificant in the great scheme of things. Life had a way of putting things into perspective, didn’t it?
I’d been ready to finish high school. I’d been so eager to go to college and start a life of my own, but I was alone now. Alone, it turned out, wasn’t as fun as I imagined.
I was afraid to be alone now.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I ate the now-cool stew, tipping the bowl back and chewing potatoes, carrots, and chunks of meat. The spices warmed my stomach and I felt better when I was full.
I pulled my gold comforter off the bed and stripped the sheets, spreading them on the floor in front of the fire. The door was the only way in and out of here. I needed to stay awake and watch it. The Zodia could appear wherever they chose, but maybe they’d just send someone normal after me instead.
The fire heated my right side as I sat up against the wall. I yawned, stretching to get comfortable, shifting from right to left and back again. Finally, I closed my eyes. To keep from falling asleep, I replayed the events of the day behind my closed lids.
The harbinger. The distracted way Kes behaved as he drove me to school. The phone alerts that pinged across the Common. The girl who rushed around me on the sidewalk only to disappear before my eyes.
Aries asleep.
Aries awake.
His horns. His pink eyes. His otherworldliness.
The loincloth…
The way he fought Taurus. To protect me.
The respect he showed Kes and the reverent way he talked to me this evening before I made him mad. I sighed, watching the flames lap at the wood, somehow relating to that piece of split wood.
I felt like I’d been thrown into the fire and was being charred and burned, falling apart inch by inch. Being consumed, yet completely powerless to stop it.
11
I woke with a stiff back and a groan. The side of my head was hella hot. I fell asleep sitting up, and then slumped too close to the fire. I smelled the ends of my hair to be sure they weren’t singed. Padding across the floor, I stepped into the hall and nearly jumped out of my skin. Aries was standing there, waiting for me.
“I heard you stir,” he said, his voice gravelly.
“You heard me stir?” I repeated with only one eye open and focused on him. “What are you even doing out here?”
He didn’t answer, he just stared at the bloody lines on my face. They must still be intact, because he wasn’t trying to retrace them. Would he have to do that at some point? “Oh…” I finally realized. Protecting me. “Thanks.” I gestured to the bathroom. “I’ll be right back.”
He nodded and waited in the hall, like he’d been doing all night, apparently. Had he been there since Kes left?
Groggy and exhausted didn’t even begin to cover how I felt. I used the restroom and washed my hands, raking them through my untamed mane. God, Aries was probably afraid of me at this point. I looked haggard.
Fumbling with the door handle, I walked back to my room, throwing a hand up as I passed. “I’m going back to bed.”
“The sun hasn’t risen,” he informed me.
“Good.”
I didn’t even bother grabbing my comforter or sheets from the nest I’d made on the floor before flopping onto the mattress and curling into a ball.
The door opened. Aries covered me up and left the room, as swift as a breeze flowing through, gone as quickly as it came. I caught his cinnamon smell and nuzzled into the pillow.
I wanted to sleep for hours, or maybe days or years. Until this waking nightmare ended and life went back to the way it was before.
ARIES
Larken slept so peacefully. Her brows relaxed and she inhaled and exhaled, quietly but deeply. I wasn’t sure I’d ever been so serene. While she was sleeping, the worries that plagued her waking moments were banished and her mind seemed at rest. Her eyes had stopped flickering back and forth behind her lids.
I knew I should wait in the hall, but I needed to see her. Be near her.
Kes warned me that it was only the pledge making me feel protective, but I wasn’t sure whether he was right, or if it was something else that called me closer.
Whatever it was, I couldn’t deny it. He knew me well enough to recognize the intrigue I felt for her, and admitted that her feelings for me were deepening. I just wondered how shallow they were now and how deep they one day might grow. Was I willing to explore those depths, or should I heed Kes’s warning and leave Larken alone?
I wasn’t sure the latter was an option.
How could I fight against my desire to know more and the need to keep my distance?
How could I stop something that had barely begun but seemed more real than anything that came before it?
The skin between her brow creased. Her heartbeat thundered. Her eyes began to flit beneath closed lids. She was dreaming again.
What was she seeing play through her thoughts? I could put my forehead against hers to experience it with her, but that would be an intrusion. One I promised myself never to make with her.
She was curled up beneath the blanket wearing the tight pants she wore, the large sweatshirt Kes called a hoodie, her hair a tang
led nest on her head and still… I wanted to brush my knuckles down her face, to feel her skin and comfort her as she dreamed so fitfully. But I couldn’t do that.
I wrung my hands, raked fingers through my hair, and paced the room. But no matter what I did, the knot in my stomach didn’t uncoil. I was still pacing when I felt Gemini approaching. I called on Kes to protect his sister as she slept.
“What is it?” he asked, concerned.
“Gemini draws near,” I bit and left him to rouse her in case he needed to take her to a safer place. I reappeared just outside the columnal rings to confront Gemini and see that she was kept far away from Larken.
Her expressions were closed off as each of her twin heads swiveled to me. “You visited and didn’t linger to say hello,” they both said simultaneously. Her olive skin glistened in the early morning sunlight.
Either she didn’t know why I was there, or she was playing me to see how much information I would divulge. “Would you have welcomed me?”
“No,” she answered, both mouths giving the answer succinctly. Absolutely.
“I hope we can work past our differences.”
Her left head cocked to the side, intricate fiery braids falling over her shoulder, her sultry mouth raising at the corners. The other head, whose fiery locks lay straight and draped to her stomach, maintained a stony expression. Gemini was… complicated. Two people in one. Two heads. Two minds. Two moods.
“Where is the girl?” the coy mouth asked.
I straightened, feigning boredom. “You’ll have to be more specific. There are many in my sliver of earth.”
“Ah, but only one to whom you’ve pledged yourself. I sense your blood on her skin.”
The eyes of her right head fixed on the castle, on the balcony, and when she saw Larken and my blood drawn over her eyes… the rigidity faded and a smile slid over her lips, making her look like its twin. “There she is.”
I grabbed both of her throats and squeezed tight. “Leave my territory or I will kill you.”
She let out squeaks from both her necks, followed by choking noises. I squeezed tighter, crushing her slowly. The tips of her toes grazed the ground as she struggled. I expected her to shove me away or somehow break free, but I was too strong and she couldn’t. Both sets of eyes widened with the realization, then bulged. Vessels broke within the whites, flooding red.
Things That Should Stay Buried Page 10
