by Nicole Thorn
Several people came at me, and with much more than a dagger. Swords, arrows, and a plethora of other weapons that I knew they looked forward to using on me. I couldn’t feel anything, so let them have at me.
While one brave man swung his sword at me, I dodged out of his way, and it hit the ground in the downswing. It slowed him down too much, not allowing him to get up before I kicked him in the side, hopefully hitting something important. He went down, and I pulled his sword from the ground. With a smile, I swung and ended him.
I yelled when an arrow flew and landed in my shoulder. The woman who’d shot me stood several meters away, aiming again as her comrades ran to me. I’d remember that.
I pulled the arrow out, and I felt the instant sting of healing before I’d even had the chance to use the weapon on someone else. I decided to toss it and just go for the sword. I swung, and it connected with another one, belonging to an older fighter. One that didn’t seem afraid.
Good.
I pushed him back with the weight on my blade going up against him. He stumbled, and I started lurching forward to finish it. Another sharp sting, but this time in my side. A blade dragged across me, and caused blood to leave in one gush before it began to heal.
I turned around, already swinging to take out whoever got me. A woman with a longsword attempted to get distance on me. As another arrow flew past my head, I went for the woman with the sword, swinging it down above her head. Her entire body jerked when it broke her skull open, and she collapsed to the ground.
I had to pull out another couple of arrows from my body, because I’d lost all feeling already. I had nothing but the rage and growing blackness in my chest. It wanted me to keep going until everyone died.
This couldn’t be all of them. I’d killed eight in the cabins, and another fifteen or so ran around. Surely his army had been bigger than this. Every last person would die.
The man with the sword came back to me, swinging hard. I blocked it, and his blade grazed my arm as it slid across mine. I kicked his leg hard, and I heard something snap. His pain finally gave me the distraction I needed to kill him. My sword went through his middle, and I pulled it up and out.
He fell, but it hadn’t ended yet.
One more arrow slid into my stomach, and I wanted that girl dead. It broke through my back, and pulling it out turned out harder than I hoped. Instead, I snapped off one end, and pulled it out that way. And then I started running at the girl.
She’d only had the time to line up another arrow before I got to her. She was a human, and didn’t seem to understand how I could have blazed up to her so fast. She really should have known better.
I ran her through the neck and turned my sword until her body stopped convulsing. I lost my sword in her, because she went down with it.
Blood poured down my throat, and I . . . I couldn’t . . . I didn’t remember getting hurt. My hand touched it, and came back coated. I felt a clean cut all the way across. It had been . . .
The woman looked short, the one that walked around me as I bled out, my legs wobbling. Her knife had been coated in my blood and I felt another sting as my blood slowed. I hadn’t recovered before she stuck the knife in my gut and twisted.
I landed hard on my knees, bleeding from my throat, stomach, and places where new arrows landed. No, I hadn’t finished yet. Too much to do, and I could pull through just a little bit longer. I only needed to picture one face, and it reminded me that I had a place.
Didn’t I?
The woman in front of me thought she had won, but to kill a demigod, you had to be quick.
I pulled her leg out from under her, causing her to fall hard to the ground and drop her weapon. I took it up, and sank it into her heart. It stopped immediately, and her eyes went dull.
More to do. I had more to do. Too many people left, making this world dangerous for Juniper. Had to fix it. Had to make this right. I dragged my broken body up off of the ground.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN:
I Don’t Care
Juniper
“You can’t go!” Zander bellowed at me for the umpteenth time. We stood in the living room, me with my hands balled into fists and facing off against an upset demigod. I had woken up shortly after Verin left. I knew because the side of his bed had still been warm. Immediately, I went into a vision to see where he had gone. I saw him hunting.
I had woken everyone up, thinking they would help me go after Verin. Jasper and Jasmine had been on board, and Kizzy could have been swayed, but not Zander. He said he hadn’t liked what Verin’s insides felt like, but I didn’t give a shit. He had been in a bad place, and like Zander had never done something stupid in a similar state? I had pointed that out too, not even caring that it had been a low blow.
It hadn’t gotten me anywhere. And when I checked on Verin again, things only looked worse. He killed people. Instead of convincing Zander that I needed to go after him, he refused to let me move past the couch.
“I have to get to him!” I said, shoving at Zander.
He grabbed my shoulders, not for the first time. His grip felt tight enough that I would probably bruise, but I didn’t care. “He’ll be fine,” Zander told me. “He’s strong, and he’ll come back to us. We’ll talk him down then, but you can’t go to him right now. He’s killing innocent people, and doesn’t even care.”
Because Argus had the fleece, we couldn’t be sure that the people he killed had done anything wrong. As a matter of fact, it seemed likely that they hadn’t. That they had been manipulated by Argus into being part of this war, just like he had manipulated my mind when he had been in our living room.
“I don’t care!” I shouted for the thousandth time.
“You need to care,” Kizzy said. “We’ll do whatever we can for Verin, but what he’s doing isn’t right. All those people are dying because of him.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I want to help him too, and I will, but how do we know that he isn’t going to turn against you, too?”
Jasmine jumped in to argue for me when I didn’t say anything, because I finally understood. This stubbornness had nothing to do with forgiving Verin, and they didn’t fear him. They worried that their helpless little humans would get killed if we walked into a war camp. Even with them there.
Zander always wanted to keep Jasmine safe from everything, herself included. Kizzy couldn’t stand the thought of losing Jasper. Verin didn’t actually belong to our family . . . But he did. To me, he did. I didn’t care that he killed all those people, because he had left. He should’ve been in the house, and it felt wrong that he left.
I didn’t care if I walked into my own death, because at least that would snap him out of it. We had been fated to die anyway, so why not then?
Only they wouldn’t let me go. If I told them that Verin needed to be with me, then maybe they would let me go, but only me. They wouldn’t risk Jasper and Jasmine, and they wouldn’t want to hurt them by letting me get myself killed. It all looked so clear.
“You’re right,” I said, sitting back down on the couch. “I shouldn’t go after him. It’s too dangerous.”
“He’ll come back,” Zander said, gently. “We’ll make sure that he’s fine once he’s safely here, where he’s supposed to be.”
I nodded, and turned away from them. Jasmine said something scathing to Zander, but I didn’t pay attention to what. As I passed Jasper, he pressed something into my hand. I didn’t slow down or pause, but went back up to my room. The second the door closed behind me, I pressed my ear against it.
Jasmine and Zander’s voices came up the stairs. She still argued with him for me, and I appreciated that, but didn’t need it. Moments later, Jasper and Kizzy came up the stairs silently, and went into their bedroom. I looked down at what Jasper had given me.
Jasmine’s car keys. Which meant he had stolen them from Zander, who still held them for my sister. I curled my hand around them. He had helped me somewhat, even though I hadn’t planned on staying to begin with. I went to the closet, and
pushed it open. My crossbow sat on the top shelf, and I pulled it down, along with all the arrows I owned.
I changed clothes as fast as I could, into a sweater and pants that would protect my skin from thorns and branches out in the forest. Then I went over to the window, and looked out at the night. Going out the window with a crossbow and arrows seemed like an extraordinarily bad idea to me, but I didn’t have a choice. I pushed the window open, and started climbing out. We had a trellis next to my window, but it didn’t feel sturdy. Or maybe I sucked at climbing. Either way, about three-quarters of the way down, I lost my hold, and plummeted. The landing sent pulses of pain through my ankles and knees. I’d limp, but I’d live.
We had three cars. Jasper and I shared the car in the driveway, next to Zander’s van. Jasmine’s car had been parked on the street, far enough away from the house that the noise of it starting wouldn’t alert the demigods. I climbed behind the seat, not having to adjust anything thanks to being the same height as my sister. The radio blared to life the second I started the car. The jarringly loud sound shocked my already frayed nerves. I shut the thing off, and started driving. I brought up the image of Verin. He still killed people, but he started getting sloppy. Getting hurt.
I could hear a lot of screaming, and saw a lot of running. Blood. I swallowed hard, but kept driving, even with all of that in my head. The streets stayed mostly empty, which was the only reason I managed to not crash. I swerved into the wrong lane several times, and almost slammed the car into at least three signs before I stopped. I shook, and adrenaline pumped through me. Almost there.
I had to use my phone light to see in the forest. The moon didn’t provide enough to see by, and even if it had, the rain would have prevented me from being able to use it. The measly light on my phone barely reached four feet in front of me. Meanwhile, in my head, Verin punched someone. Over, and over again. Punched them in the face. Their nose broke, their teeth loosened, but he barely seemed aware. They had already fallen unconscious. He should’ve stopped.
My heart ached for him. I couldn’t imagine life without my siblings, and they had always been the most important people to me, like his mom had been to him.
I stepped through the trees, and stopped. I no longer needed a vision because I could see everything right in front of me. Bodies littered the ground. Most of them looked bloody, some of them had been burnt. I could smell burning flesh, and it made my stomach turn over heavily. The fire stink covered the entire place. The rain didn’t fall heavily enough to stop the fire, but it kept it from spreading.
Oh, and the blood. Blood flooded the ground with rainwater. Faces had been covered in it, until I couldn’t see features. Not two feet from me, a body coated in blood laid in the mud, and smelled of piss and smoke. They had been so scared that they couldn’t keep themselves under control. It looked like they died from the fire.
I sucked in a breath, trying to calm my nerves. Verin had to be there somewhere, and I just had to find him and ask him to come home. I hugged my crossbow to my chest, and started walking. My shoes sank into the ground, and I tried hard not to think about what got on them, or the sucking sound that erupted when I lifted my feet.
I tried hard not to think of anything. Especially what I would do when I found Verin, because that would make the panic come back. The panic I had been beating off all day long. It had been dragging at me, just waiting to haul me underneath its massive hand again.
So, I wouldn’t think.
I found Verin, still punching that poor person. Male or female, I couldn’t tell at that point. They had died. Bones had been broken all around their face, their eyes didn’t sit right in their sockets, and teeth littered the ground.
Calling his name didn’t seem to work. He remained unaware of me. But then someone ran past him, and his head shot up like a hunting dog spotting prey. He leapt to his feet in a flash, and moved after them.
“Verin!” I shouted, rushing after him. He had to stop. Too many of these people had to be innocent victims.
He either didn’t hear me, or ignored me. He tackled the person to the ground, and she screamed, struggling in the mud, trying to get away from him. He didn’t pay attention. He didn’t care that he hurt her, because he would kill her. I couldn’t let him do that. He needed to look at me.
“Verin!” I shouted again, still to no avail.
I closed my eyes, and thought an apology at him and whoever else wanted to listen to me. Maybe the gods would forgive me. I loaded an arrow into the crossbow, and lifted it up to take aim at the man I had come for. He had socked the girl in the stomach, and she curled around the injury, tears running down her face as she begged.
I pulled the trigger.
It went flying through the air, and I sucked in a breath, hoping that my aim would be true. The head of the arrow sank into the back of his thigh. Verin stumbled off the girl, and she struggled to get away from him, crawling through the grass. He lunged at her, but his leg would work right anymore.
She scrambled away and started running. Verin turned toward me, and the look in his eyes made me want to run. Shoving the urge down, I lowered my crossbow. We stood there, staring at each other. The rain had thoroughly soaked both of us, but I could still see the blood on his face and running down his neck. Most of it didn’t belong to him, and relief filled me with that thought.
“What are you doing?” Verin demanded.
“Looking for you,” I said, hugging the crossbow close to my chest. I couldn’t make myself shoot him a second time. I couldn’t even watch as he ripped the arrow from his leg and a fresh gout of blood pumped out before the healing started.
“Why would you let her get away?!” Verin shouted, striding toward me. “They killed my mother! They deserve to die!”
His words didn’t bother me, but his tone did. He sounded so beyond done with me. My heart pounded harder, and I told myself it would be fine. He didn’t think clearly because this had been the worst day. The most awful day, and he wouldn’t want to hurt me. He would never want to hurt me.
“They didn’t do anything,” I said, tears choking my voice.
“They did!” Verin roared. I stumbled back, like distance would protect me from his voice. “They’ve betrayed everything! They all deserve to die for all the things that they’ve done. I’m almost done with them. Would be done, but you decided to shoot me. Think I’m a bad guy now, Juniper?”
Hugging my crossbow as tight as I could without injuring myself, I continued talking. “Argus has the golden fleece. We don’t know who is innocent and who isn’t, because he could be making them do anything,” I said, without looking at him, or raising my voice.
Verin barked a laugh. “You think that makes them innocent? We don’t know that they aren’t guilty. Why not kill them? It will keep them from hurting someone else. Keep them from hurting . . . ” he trailed off, not saying anything else.
I still didn’t want to look at him, fearing what expression would be on his face. “You’ve done a good job, Verin,” I said. “Almost all of them are dead. So why don’t we go home and come up with another plan?”
“I’m not leaving until they’re all dead,” Verin snarled.
“Please come home,” I said.
“What home? You think I’ll ever be able to walk into that house again without thinking about her? About how they killed her because I wasn’t there to keep her safe? Nah, no thanks luv. I think I’ll stay here until I’ve gotten all of these people taken care of. It’ll be much more productive than sitting around your living room, waiting for Zander to decide it’s time to take action.”
“You can stay with me,” I said.
He acted as if he didn’t hear me. “You think anyone in your family wants me back after this?” he continued, spreading his arms wide. “You think they’ll want to have a murderer with them, one they can’t control. You all clearly think these people are innocent. Jasmine wouldn’t be able to forgive me for something like this, and Jasper? He wouldn’t let me anywhere nea
r you. Not to mention Zander, and Kizzy—”
“I don’t care!” I shouted so loud that my throat hurt. “I don’t care what they think or what they want! You’re supposed to come home! You’ve punished these people enough for what Argus did, now it’s time for you to come home. You aren’t supposed to leave me! You said you wouldn’t leave me, and you fucking did! You left!” My throat hurt so badly that I couldn’t keep going, but the words kept circling my mind.
He said he loved me, and that he wouldn’t go away. He said that he wouldn’t, but he left the second that he could. Got right up and walked away from me, and it shouldn’t have mattered. Verin’s mother had died, and he hadn’t been thinking clearly, and it shouldn’t have mattered. He would’ve come back, he always planned on coming back, surely. It didn’t matter, and I felt selfish, so selfish for wanting him to come back so badly. I shouldn’t have come. He wanted this . . . this . . .
“Juniper!” Verin shouted. “Juniper, breathe!”
He touched me. I shoved him away with all the force I could muster. “No! You said you wouldn’t leave, and you did! You don’t get to touch me.”
“Juniper,” Verin said, sounding hurt.
“I didn’t leave you,” I said. “I was right there. I came for you when I thought something was wrong, twice now. Why would you leave?” I shook my head, not because I didn’t want the answers, but because I hated the words. They sounded so selfish and stupid. He had left because this had been more important, and rightfully so. We hadn’t given him what he needed. I hadn’t . . . given him anything.
My chest hurt. I couldn’t breathe, and it got harder to stay focused on him. He reached for me, and I stumbled away. He shouldn’t have touched me. I didn’t deserve it, and he hadn’t done anything so awful that he deserved me, either. I turned around, and started running back the way I had come.
I had rushed to this camp to bring him home, under the false assumption that he wanted to come home, but he didn’t. He didn’t have a home anymore, and it had been stupid of me to think he’d consider my house home, and my family his. It had been stupid of me to think he’d want anything but to avenge his mother, the way he needed to.
