“Go,” she muttered. “It is over. You must return or it will be too late.”
“Fuck that,” I whimpered. “It’ll never be over.”
As Brodin raced past her, I found the strength to latch one of her branches.
“You’re…coming with us,” I gulped out.
“No. Please. Leave me! You do not understand. I must remain here.”
Uprooted, she trailed behind us, her loose, ghostly spirit fluttering in the air. Her branches smacked me as she strained to break free.
“I’m never…giving up on you,” I said. “You hear me?” Not even when the slake’s venom reached my bones.
Her musical laughter floated around me. “Tria. I do love how you never admit defeat.”
I did admit it, if only inside, but I wouldn’t do so now.
Her voice deepened. “In this, you are wrong. I must remain here. It is the only way.”
This made no sense. As long as a tiny piece of her spirit remained with Jacey, we could bring her back. How could she want anything else?
Brodin kept running, leaving the meadow and darting into the woods again.
Stomps rang out behind us. They kept coming. They’d be after us forever, no matter how far and fast we ran.
My bones ached as the poison traced along the surface.
We had no time.
What would the mist creatures do to us if they caught us? I didn’t want to find out.
Find the veil, I said. We need to drag her back through and get out of here.
Or for me, it’ll be too late.
We can’t force her to come with us, he said, turning slightly to the right. I’ll get us there. You work on her.
“Akimi,” I said in a strangled whisper. “We’re taking you back.” I closed my eyes and willed the venom backward. “We’re putting your spirit into your body.”
“What if I ask you to let me stay?”
“How can you want that?”
“My…true one is here.”
Shock and dismay filled me. The person she was destined to share her life with had died? How could this be? “You met them?”
“No… But I know they are near. I just need to find them.” She bucked against my hold. “Release me so I can look. Please.”
They’re lying to her, Brodin said.
I shifted uneasily on his back and tightened my grip on Akimi’s branch. They?
The masters of the middle world.
You think this is another test. I was so sick of fighting to survive one trial after another. I’d come here with what now felt like a silly goal: to track down my father. While I was grateful I’d met my friends, that Brodin and I had found each other, I still had regrets. If I’d stayed home, I would’ve been safer.
But if I’d stayed home, I would’ve remained unaware of what so many of my fellow wizards went through after being sent to the prison. What Bixby did was wrong. People deserved to be treated humanely, not run through gauntlets with the goal of torture. To kill them.
What else? He continued bounding through the ghostly forest with the world crashing around us. Trees toppled and dark shadows flew overhead. Were they trying to grab us or herd us in a certain direction?
If you wanted to make sure someone would refuse to leave this place, Brodin said, how would you do it?
No arguing any longer. He must be right. Everything about this is a lie. But… What if we’re wrong?
He darted over a big rock and something reached up on the other side, hoping to grab us. But his back legs kicked out, claws raking, and the creature tumbled onto the ground behind us. Why do you think we’re wrong?
You seem so certain, I said, trying to make him understand. But what if her true one is here? How can we force her to leave them behind?
His huff showed he’d seen my line of reasoning, even if he didn’t like it.
Can we find them and bring them back with us? I said.
Not unless there’s a body for us to put the soul back into, no.
I hadn’t seen anyone else in the cave but we hadn’t searched the area. I hated feeling so uncertain I was doing the right thing.
I don’t see that we have any choice, he said. We can’t leave her here. We need to heal you before it’s too late. Pain came through in his voice. Please, I have to help you.
We can’t force her back just because we need her to get through the Challenge.
He growled. Damn, you’re right.
Akimi flailed, bucking against my hold. “Release me. I sense them near. Please. True one…!”
This isn’t just about the Challenge, he said. You know that, deep inside. It’s about friendship and not leaving anyone behind. If we’d truly lost her, we’d go on. Mourn her, but continue toward the end because we know that would be what she’d want.
Isn’t it? I mean, if I knew for sure you were here, and I couldn’t bring you back, I’d do whatever I could to find you.
Tria…
It hurts, doesn’t it? I said. This is what Akimi’s feeling.
You know I’d do the same…
Brodin…
What do we do? Because I sense we’re near the veil. And it’s wavering.
My bones…ached. The poison was sinking its claws deep inside. When it hit the marrow, it would be too late.
I’m not leaving either of you here, he vowed. He growled and dashed to the right to avoid a slickly dark blue mass lying on the ground. I rocked to the side, my teeth jarring, then righted myself. My bones…
Akimi struggled and wailed. “You are leaving them behind. Please. Tria. You know how I feel.”
Even with my fingers barely clinging to Brodin’s ruff and my legs weakening on his sides, I did know how she felt. If Brodin’s spirit was here, I’d track him down from one end of this world to the other and even into the next.
“You know I must go to them,” she said. “How can you ask me to return and spend the rest of my days mourning?”
What should I do?
Asking Brodin was not the answer. I needed to find it within myself. It wasn’t easy questioning everything I believed in. I didn’t want to make yet another mistake.
We need to get to the veil, I said to Brodin. Once we do, I’ll figure this out.
He kept moving while crashes in the woods around told me every malevolent creature in the spirit world hunted us. They’d capture us and hold us here until we couldn’t remember who we were or why we’d come here.
For me, it would no longer matter. What happened to a soul consumed in the middle world? Was there a place for me to land?
Or they’d rip us to shreds. Where did a soul go if something like that happened in the middle world?
Brodin skidded to a stop outside the wavering slice in the veil, a wisp so thin, it had nearly resealed.
Do you want me to decide? he asked, willing to take the blame. No, he was willing to take on my burden so I would walk freely. But what kind of person would I be if I allowed him to shoulder something that only I should carry?
“Akimi,” I said softly, and she stopped struggling. Her body drooped onto the ground beside us.
A deep, black sky devoid of stars, devoid of hope, arched above us like a dome.
“Yes?” she whispered, completely spent from her struggles. Or was she passing on from this world to the next? We might be too late.
“Your true one is back where we started, outside the middle world.”
“You know this for sure?” she said in a wavering voice that contained more shock than it should.
“I do.” And I’d curse myself forever if I was wrong.
“I need to stay here.” But her voice wavered. She stood on the edge of returning and staying.
I would tip her over the side.
“Brodin,” I yelled, my fingers tight on Akimi. “Now.”
He bounded forward and leaped, aiming for the closing slice in the veil.
Twenty-Five
Tria
We landed roughly inside the cave.
<
br /> “You did it,” Jacey said hoarsely. She lay on the cave floor with her hand on Akimi’s chest. “I… I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold on.”
I slid off Brodin and slumped onto the floor. The ledge’s welcoming coolness sunk into my face.
“Can you return her to her body?” I asked, somehow keeping a tight hold on Akimi, who was nothing more than a thin bit of mist.
“Bring her here.” Jacey rose onto one arm, keeping her hand on Akimi. Her eyes, older than the heavens, found mine. “I can’t access my necromancy, but I can walk you through returning her spirit to her body.”
Despite the poison solidifying my bones, clawing toward the marrow, I’d help Akimi.
While Brodin shifted back into his wizard form, I carefully tugged Akimi’s soul toward her body, half-dragging myself across the ledge. The remains of the cord holding her in this world were so thin, I had to squint to see it.
I slumped down beside Jacey. “Tell me what to do.”
“What…?” Jacey frowned. “Are you sick?”
“No,” I whispered but forced energy into my voice. “No. I’m fine. Tell me what to do.”
She frowned and studied me, but my resolve must’ve convinced her I told the truth. “Close your eyes and call on your sketar magic. It may be the only thing that could make this work. And hurry. The band holding her here is so thin it will soon sever.”
I located bits of mist here and there, floating around the small cave, and tugged them deep inside me until I was filled to bursting. “I’m ready.”
“Lower her carefully to her body while sending the magic out with your command.”
“What is the command?” Gulping in air, I tried to hold the poison back. It slunk deeper… I was frantic, needing to do this one last thing before… “I don’t know the right word.” Get back in there? Merge, damn it? Or please, we need you here with us.
“Only you can decide.”
I groaned. “There isn’t any particular word or phrase?”
She tried to lift a smile but it wouldn’t hold on her lips. She slumped against me as if she also needed to sleep for the rest of her life.
What had this Challenge done to us? For Akimi, it had been a chance to find her true one, the single person who could make her happy forever, and I might’ve stolen that person from her if they truly remained in the middle world.
Jacey was desperate to find Rohnan, but what if he wasn’t at the Reformatory?
Brodin wanted to revenge his mother’s death but how would he feel once he learned the murderer was his father, that his father also planned to kill him, and that I’d been contracted to do the deed?
Me, I used to think finding my father and taking back that slip of magical essence he’d wrenched from me when I was a baby was the only thing that mattered in life. How could it be more important than my friend’s lives?
And now, my death approached…
“Quickly,” Jacey said. “Hurry. Before it’s too late.”
Brodin joined us and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Tria, you—”
“Let me do this,” I grated out. “Please. There’s time.” And that was a lie.
His squeeze told me so many things: he cared for me, he believed in me, he trusted me to make this right. And he was stark, raving scared that, once I’d finished helping Akimi, it would be too late for me.
For one second, I leaned my head against his arm, closed my eyes, and pretended everything would be okay. But how could it be? Even if I survived, if we reached the end of the Challenge, we’d still have to face whatever they threw at us at the Reformatory.
“I’m tired,” I whispered. Bone tired. Soul tired.
“Let me help you first.”
“No. Please. I have to do this for Akimi.”
“I can do it for you, while you recover.”
“What is wrong with Tria?” Jacey yelled.
“Nothing!” A strand of my strength burst from me, driving the word.
“Necromancy is more potent in a witch,” Jacey said, her concerned gaze never leaving my face. “As an Eerie, Brodin, your part of the task is done. The final part of this lies with Tria. She is the only one who can do it.”
I stiffened my body though I was having a harder time bringing together enough energy to see this task done. But I had to try; I owed it to Akimi.
While I lowered her spirit down to her body, I sent the scattered remains of my magic out, unsure of any command I could give it would make the right difference.
Please. We need you.
Her spirit continued to float above her body, and the wisp connecting her soul to her physical form thinned.
Brodin’s hand tightened on my shoulder. “Tria.” The ache in his voice matched the one in my bones.
I’m sorry, I said, pushing out more magic to coat her body. I can’t bear to lose you.
“It’s not working,” Jacey said, her hands twitching on her lap. “Keep trying. Pull in more magic. Do whatever you have to do to make this happen.”
I need to make amends for everything I’ve done.
Kai appeared beside me. He keened, his howl reaching up toward the ceiling. The heavens.
My eyes stung because I’d miss him. I’d miss them all.
With a soft mew, he leaned into me and stared into my eyes with utter despair in his own. He knew.
“I’m sorry,” said. Words that lost all meaning when a person kept making mistakes.
He licked my hand, and I stroked his head. A soft, sad purr rumbled in his chest.
I wanted to curl in a ball. Disappear. No, I wanted to go home. I’d reached rock bottom and wasn’t sure I had the will left to keep trying.
And that’s when I knew.
Brodin was right on the boat when he’d said I’d stolen his future. If I’d said no to the Master Seeker, he would’ve found a different wizard to use. Brodin might’ve followed that person to the prison, but he would’ve found his revenge there and escaped. Instead, because he cared for me, he’d entered the Challenge.
If not for me, Jacey would’ve found more powerful wizards to form her triad. Instead, she’d gotten me, and I’d failed her like I was failing this vital task now.
Like I was failing myself.
I’d been incredibly stupid to long for what I didn’t have. I hadn’t appreciated the important things I’d already been given. My friends and a family who loved me.
Turning to Akimi, whose spirit was so loosely tethered to her body that a slight strain would make it snap, I tugged in more sketar mist. I filled my well with every bit I could find, and then I infused all of it into one, soul-filled command.
Throughout all this, I’ve taken instead of given. I want a second chance.
Tears stung in my eyes. My bones… It hurt so much.
Stay.
Her spirit was sucked down into her body, and she gasped.
Her eyes opened, and her gaze met mine.
Panting, I turned, slumping onto my back.
“Tria,” Brodin’s cry was mixed in with Jacey’s.
“What is going on?” Jacey shouted.
Brodin feverishly explained. All the while, his hand remained on my forehead and his eyes stayed locked on mine. “Don’t leave me. Please.”
Closing his eyes, he stiffened his spine. Power blasted off him and into me. It glided through my veins and sunk deep into my bones, cauterizing the venom left by the slake.
I sucked in a shaky breath as my life energy channeled itself back into my heart.
“Tria…” Jacey shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Brodin helped me sit, and he kept his arms around me.
“If I had,” I said in a shaky voice. “Would you have let me help Akimi?”
“We would’ve healed you,” she vowed.
“And by then, it would’ve been too late.”
Turning to face Akimi, I held myself still, waiting to see how she would take the words I’d sent her from my heart.
As she
rose to her roots and towered over me, anger grated in her voice like branches slamming together in a storm. “You made a terrible mistake.”
Twenty-Six
Tria
In a blink, we stood on a grassy plain much like the one I’d visited when I first met Brodin in Eerie form.
Brodin stood by my side, rage rippling through him.
I nudged his side before he could speak. “No.”
“She needs to know what the slake did. What you did for her.”
“Let me tell her you would’ve died to save her,” Jacey said.
“No,” I shouted. “Let it go.”
“She—” they both said, but I held up my hand.
“Please. It no longer matters.”
They grumbled but relented.
Brodin’s hand slipped around mine and gripped tightly. Kai peered up at me, his deep green eyes winking, his large, pointed ears curled toward me. His glorious, burnished gold coat glinted in the light surrounding this world. He pressed his forehead into my thigh, and warmth traveled through me. What had I done to deserve not just Brodin but my wexal friend who would never abandon me?
Jacey stood nearby, strain etched her face as she held onto Akimi’s branches.
Akimi snarled and spit and tried to break free. Her gaze, filled with hatred, remained on me.
Even though I’d succeeded, I’d failed. Yes, I’d reunited her soul and her body, but she’d never forgive me for taking her true one from her.
Or had I? At this point, it hardly mattered whether that person existed somewhere or would move on from the middle world. If she hated me, I’d lost.
“We made it through the test yet here we are, facing another,” Brodin said, looking around. Tall grass waving in a breeze stretched for as far as the eye could see. Except, in the distance, something glinted. A rock or a piece of metal?
“Release me,” Akimi screamed, straining against Jacey.
“Please?” Jacey’s gaze met mine, telling me she had no more idea how to diffuse this situation. “Let me—”
I vehemently shook my head. “No.”
Wicked Challenge (Darkwater Reformatory Book 2) Page 20
