Wicked Challenge (Darkwater Reformatory Book 2)

by Marty Mayberry

  Akimi drew herself up. “She will not do so with me.”

  “You didn’t trust me to watch the door and resist Bixby?” I whispered as we approached the final black pool on the floor.”

  “Not it at all,” he said. His arm went around my shoulder in a half-hug. “I trust you completely. It’s just…” He darted a glance over his shoulder. “I’m not sure that’s Akimi.”

  “What?” I started to turn but he kept me facing forward with his arm. I lowered my voice. “Why do you think that?”

  “No leaves left on her branches.”

  “Maybe she lost the few she had left while falling through the hole.”

  “She didn’t with the first or the second.”

  “Hmm.” Because I couldn’t resist, I did peek briefly behind. Akimi continued to lean against the door, and she watched us. Intently, but I’d do the same if I was in her place. “Are you sure?”

  “Nope, but I don’t want her holding my ankle when I dangled down into the hole. If I’m right, and this is another trick to play us and releases the blob, we’ll have to catch it again but at least we’ll be in a stronger position.”

  I nodded. “You’re going in, huh?”

  “Don’t let go of me, okay?” His soft chuckle flitted between us.

  “Never.”

  He tugged me closer and kissed me almost too fast to count, though it did. A lot. “Our time is coming.”

  I smiled. “I think we’re doing okay right now.”

  “Just you wait. It’ll get even better.”

  Was that even possible? Perhaps if we’d found each other in a relaxed setting and not the middle of a life-threatening series of trials, we would’ve taken this slower. Knowing each moment could be the last added urgency. We’d jumped over the usual dating stuff and fallen easily into a relationship that grew stronger all the time. I was eager to see what might come next but mostly because he was by my side.

  He dropped to his knees beside the remaining blob, and I settled beside him.

  “It’ll suck me in like the others did, so we’ll have to be fast,” he said. “Assuming Jacey is down there, I’ll grab her and wiggle my right foot. That means put everything you’ve got into pulling us out.”

  “I will. Go.” A glance over my shoulder showed Akimi had turned away from us, toward the oozing mass inside. Unable to see her face, I couldn’t tell if she was talking or just watching Bixby’s latest manifestation. She cut me a look over her shoulder that anyone might call neutral but the sly slant to her eyes couldn’t be dismissed. “Hurry. I think you’re right about our leafless friend.”

  He dove forward like a swimmer into a pool, with me holding onto his ankles.

  While the inky blob tried to pull him all the way in, I leaned back, my back muscles straining, my teeth gritted tight.

  “How is it going?” Akimi called out.

  “Absolutely wonderful,” I said in a cheery voice. “You okay holding the door shut?”

  “Of course. I was just talking to the creature we have trapped, and I wonder…”

  I shot her a look but only concern filled her face. “What?”

  “Are we mistaken? Perhaps the best way to win this part of the battle is to work with this interesting being.”

  “How about we talk about it once we get the others out?” I said through clenched teeth.

  Brodin’s right foot twitched. Was that the signal or referred movement from his upper body?

  I couldn’t take a chance. My arms ached and my muscles spasmed from holding on. The blob had the strength of three Cerberus’s combined. Leaning back, I strained, but the blob jerked him forward like quicksand.

  He slipped into the abyss, yanking me with him. My hands were sucked into the blob and my arms followed until the malevolent goo nearly reached my shoulders.

  My hands slid along his ankles, and I barely held on. I couldn’t do it!

  No, I had to do it.

  “Would you like help?” Akimi called in a sickly sweet voice. Her tone morphed into Bixby’s “I’m happy to help you and your friends. Would you like a little push?” Tipping her head back, she cackled. She hunched forward and her body hitched like she was about to hurl all over the ground. She morphed into the gorelon.

  “I’m coming for you, Tria,” she croaked, oozing toward me.

  I couldn’t let her touch me or her acid would burn my skin. My muscles would melt and I’d be left as nothing but a pile of charred bones. That’s what I’d heard the gorelon did to one of the prison inmates the day before I’d arrived.

  The gate creaked open and the blob inside started flowing toward the gap. Once released, I had a feeling it would merge with the gorelon and become something we’d be unable to defeat.

  It would chase us down until we couldn’t run any longer. We’d die in this cavern, and no one would ever find us.

  Renewing my grip on Brodin’s legs, I partly rose, dug in my heels, and yanked backward. My legs shook and my shoulders ached, but I pulled my arms out to my elbows. My wrists.

  Snarling and snapping my teeth, I hauled Brodin out.

  With a wet, sickening pop, his lower body emerged from the blob. I tumbled onto my butt but maintained my grip.

  I groaned and yanked some more and one speck at a time, he slowly emerged.

  “More,” he yelled over his shoulder, his arms still sunk in the oozing mass. “I’ve got them.”

  “Akimi, too?”

  “Yeah. She’s…” He shook his head.

  As if someone had reached into my chest and latched onto my heart, it quaked. “Is she okay?”

  “I don’t know. Pull!”

  Standing, I wrenched backward, taking Brodin with me. His feet hit the floor as the rest of his body left the blob.

  Jacey’s head popped above the surface and she gasped. Tears streaked down the grime on her face. “Get us out! It’s… By the fae, Akimi!”

  My belly surged up in my throat, and I latched onto her arm. Jacey clutched one of Akimi’s upper branches. Leaves. I should’ve seen it as quickly as Brodin.

  Leaning backward, I helped him slowly haul her out.

  Jacey’s right leg hitched onto the side and she used it as leverage to tug on Akimi.

  I scrambled around to her other side and tugged on another of Akimi’s branches sticking up through the bubbling mass of goo.

  Jacey pulled her second leg free and found purchase on the stone cave floor.

  The three of us strained, our faces wreathed with fear. What would we find when we pulled Akimi back into this cavern?

  She emerged with a sickening, wet glop and we tumbled backward, not letting go.

  I rose to my feet, as did Brodin and Jacey.

  We hovered around Akimi, who lay on the stone floor, unmoving.

  Twenty-Two

  Tria

  “I know you want to help her,” Brodin said. “I do, too. But we’ve got to get this blob into the cage or it will no longer matter.”

  We’d all be dead.

  I growled and tore my gaze from my friend.

  The gorelon oozed across the floor, coming for us, and the mass of inky madness in the cage had pushed the door wide and was flowing through the opening. In seconds, they’d merge. If I knew Bixby, this would be it. The game would be lost.

  “Go.” I nudged Jacey’s arm. “You and Brodin shove the blob back into the cage and toss this one in with it. I’ll…” I gulped back a sob. Her eyes hadn’t opened. She still wasn’t moving. “Don’t you understand? I have to see what I can do for Akimi.”

  His hand landed on my shoulder, and he squeezed. “Jacey and I will handle it, but if we need your help, you’ll have to leave her.”

  Gnawing on my lower lip, I nodded.

  Brodin rushed over to the nearest blob while Jacey ran to the cage. While they grunted and railed at the creatures and tried not to be sucked back into their black holes, I dropped down beside Akimi. My hands fluttered above her as helplessness poured through me. Why did I think I coul
d make a difference? I was a disbarred Seeker; a wizard without a single skill to tap into.

  But wait. While Brodin’s Influencer abilities wouldn’t help a mortally wounded tree nymph, could I experiment with Jacey’s skills?

  If that wasn’t enough, I had nothing else. Railing and screaming would get me nowhere. I had to act.

  Fine bits of sketar mist, lost bits of power with no hope of ever being gathered, drifted across the ceiling. The ancient fae magic barely existed in this alternate, supernatural world.

  I called to them in a voice generated from deep inside me.

  Some of the mist paused as if it heard my distant call but the rest kept flowing around aimlessly.

  Come to me!

  The mist that had stopped drifted in my direction, curious.

  Eyes closed, I sucked it inside. No matter where Bixby sent me or how she tried to suppress me, I would still find my magic. The Seeker’s Guild may have convicted and abandoned me but the skills my stepfather had taught me—sketar power—could never be wrenched from my soul.

  The mist trickled into me. Other bits of it, sensing a chance to be heard, joined with the rest and the flood gates opened. Magic poured in, filling me from my toes to the ends of each hair on my head. But how could I use what I’d collected to heal?

  I gathered some of it together and sent it toward Akimi with the command, heal.

  When my eyes opened, my shoulders sagged. It was too much to hope it would be that simple.

  I tried again. And a third time. She shuddered when the last blast hit, and I worried I was making things worse.

  She wouldn’t be with us for long. Her body shimmered, telling me her spirit hovered close to the surface of her bark skin. If I wasn’t able to repair whatever had harmed her, her soul would float from her body and it would be nearly impossible to bring it back.

  A glance showed me Jacey had returned the Bixby mass to the cage. The oozing blob growled and snapped but Jacey brushed her hands and gritted a barking swear, impervious to the creature’s hatred. While she braced the door closed with her back to hold it inside, she covered her ears. Bixby was at it again, playing with Jacey’s mind.

  Brodin wrangled with the blob that had trapped both Akimi and Jacey. Should I help him then come back to Akimi?

  I had a feeling if I waited much longer, it would be too late. I’d been an inconsistent friend to this gentle soul. I’d doubted her when all this time, she had never doubted me. I couldn’t do anything less for her than she would if I was the one lying near-dead on the cave floor.

  Gathering the rest of my sketar mist, I shot it toward her, putting everything inside me into the command that she heal.

  Her aether drifted up off her body. It hovered above her, connected by only a stray wisp of deep green magic.

  “Jacey,” I yelled. “By the fae.” I crumpled forward, trying to latch onto Akimi’s spirit and shove it back onto her body, but her aether slipped through my fingers like steam from a kettle.

  “Oh, Tria,” Jacey sighed. She groaned and Brodin swore as he dragged the blob toward the cage.

  “Help me, Jacey. I need you,” I belted out.

  “I can’t do a damn thing. I’m bound by the tennas.” Her voice cracked. “Akimi!” The wail echoed around the cavern.

  “Tell me what to do, Jacey.” My words sliced through her pain and she stiffened as I reached her. “I tried healing but it was too late. Tell me how to use necromancy!”

  “But…it’s impossible. It took me over a year before I was able to gain entrance to the middle world, where spirits wait before moving onward.”

  “I won’t give up,” I said. “Tell me what to do. Please!”

  “Even if I could get you into the next world, you’d never find her. Necromancy isn’t something I can explain in three seconds.”

  “No choice!” I watched as the thread connecting Akimi’s aether to her body thinned. “We don’t have time. Just tell me.”

  “It’s too risky.”

  “We’ll lose her!”

  “I care about her, too but we could lose both of you!”

  “I’ll go with her,” Brodin said. “I can make a difference.”

  “How?” Jacey said, bewildered. “Only one can step through the veil at a time.”

  “Open the door to the cage. I need to ditch this refuse first. Then I’ll show you. I know another way.”

  Jacey spun and flung the door open.

  Brodin stepped forward and tossed the blob in with the other. They fused together and lightning rippled around the room.

  “Welcome to the next trial,” Bixby said slyly from the blob. “Let’s see how you get out of this test.”

  She disappeared, but I knew she watched…

  This test was rescuing Akimi. How in the world were we going to do it?

  “Not sure what you plan, Brodin,” Jacey said. “But do it. Now.”

  Brodin crouched forward, and a groan slipped from his mouth.

  While Jacey gaped, her back pressed against the cage door, Brodin shifted.

  He ran toward me with his skin shimmering, his body elongating, his jaws stretched wide as he shouted out his magic. In a flash, he’d morphed into his wraith-walking shape—a mythical saber-toothed tiger.

  Akimi’s words back when she’d saved us from Titan echoed in my mind. Your secret shall be your strength. Do not be ashamed of it. ‘Tis a part of you that will one day be more valuable than anything you have treasured in the past. Release it, and it will be your savior and that of those you cherish.

  He paced toward me, a massive, stunning creature made up of lush creamy fur, a ruffled golden mane, and fangs that had to be longer than my forearms. His enormous paws padded on the stone floor, nearly silent.

  “That’s…” Jacey’s wide eyes met mine. “He’s an Eerie?”

  I nodded as I watched him come closer. My heart was exploding in my chest. Damn. This boy was scary and inspiring and gorgeous, all at the same time.

  When he reached me, he dropped his head and pressed it against me. His huff of warm breath sank into me, and my confidence bloomed anew.

  “Brodin,” I croaked, overcome with emotion. To think he’d bare something he was desperate to keep hidden just to help Akimi.

  To help me.

  I sunk my fingers into the thick, silky ruff and pressed my cheek against his head. “Thank you.”

  He grumbled and nudged me with his broad nose. I smiled but my cheeks ached. This moment between us couldn’t last, not while our friend lay so close to passing over. My knees weakened in horror.

  “With my ancient magic, I believe I can part the veil to the middle world, and you and Brodin…Wow.” Jacey shook her head. “I just… Anyway. Brodin can help guide you once you’re inside. An Eerie will know how to keep you from getting lost.”

  “What do I do once I’m in there?”

  “Find her. Convince her to come home. It’s…” Her eyes closed and pain flashed across her face. “It’s different there. Some think the middle world is frightening, that souls will be eager to move beyond, but that’s not always true. In many ways, the middle world is a lot like the catacombs, only without trials.”

  “You’re saying it changes?” I said.

  “A necromancer never knows what he or she will find when they choose to enter that world. Take care. The temptation to remain there is beyond compelling. Even more so for one who is dying. She may refuse to come back. And if you’re not careful, so will you.” Her gaze dropped to Brodin. “Keep them safe, Brodin. This… Somehow, Akimi knew that it would fall on you.”

  He bowed his head.

  “And Tria,” Jacey said. “Once you enter the middle world, you’ll be able to access your Seeker ability.”

  “I can’t.” I lifted my arms and golden sparks shot off my tennas. Some might find the sparks pretty, but to me, they symbolized the control someone else had on one of the most cherished parts of me, my magic. My birth father had already stolen my vital core. I hated that s
omeone else had suppressed what was left. “My seeker skills are locked. I can’t use them.”

  “Tennas have no hold in worlds on other plains. You, a Seeker, are our best choice to enter the middle world and find Akimi. But hurry.” Her gaze fell to Akimi where her aether still drifted above her body, tethered only by a thin thread. “Most of her has left already. If that tiny band severs, it will be too late. I don’t think you have much time.”

  Twenty-Three

  Tria

  Climb on my back, Brodin said in my mind. I can’t keep you safe if we’re not connected so hold on tight.

  I did so and couldn’t resist burying my face in his lush fur. For one moment, I allowed myself to relax, to believe I was safe. For too long, I’d been scared, huddling deep inside myself to keep from being hurt. But with Brodin, no matter his form, I could be free.

  His rippling cat-laugh sunk into my skin, tingling as it sped through my body.

  Sorry, I said in my mind, sitting up and tightening my grip on his ruff. Got lost there for a second.

  You can get lost with me any time you please.

  Brodin…

  My heart ached, but I couldn’t wrap it in cotton. It was meant to be given, even if handing it to someone else resulted in pain.

  Too soon? His words came out urgent.

  No. It’s just…

  We haven’t had that talk yet. Humor shone in his voice.

  In some ways, we have. Pieces of it, anyway. They were fitting together to form a picture of something I could hold onto. It’s been enough.

  For me, too.

  We…

  I like you, Brodin. A lot.

  Tria.…

  “Are you ready?” Jacey asked, interrupting us. This wasn’t the time, but that day would come. “Remember, you’re not spirits there. You’re full entities. If you’re mortally wounded… Please don’t let that happen.”

  “We’ll be careful,” I said.