The Relentless Warrior

by Rachel Higginson

  “Did you lock him out?” This was so confusing.

  “No,” he answered quickly and then amended, “Not permanently. He’ll be able to get back in… eventually.”

  “Ok?”

  “I’m Avalon,” the guy introduced himself with an outstretched hand. “I’m the King. Or one of them at least.”

  “Hi,” I shook his hand and jumped at the pulse of electricity beneath his skin. “I’m the human. Or one of them at least.”

  He grinned at me and then ushered me back through the mess of a maze that Jericho had taken me in before. The wild, tangled shrubbery reminded me of something from Alice in Wonderland gone terribly wrong. Branches reached out to grab at my skin every other step and I was forced to duck and weave. Avalon didn’t seem bothered at all by the aggressive bushes, he just walked beside me, bouncing with energy.

  “So, where were you?” He asked that question like we were friends.

  I wasn’t sure how to respond.

  “Uh, with Jericho.”

  “Did he take you for a walk?” Avalon pressed.

  “Sure.” I said.

  He looked down at me and waited until I turned to face him before flashing me another huge grin. “Was he trying to teach you how to use your Magic?”

  “Yep.”

  “How’d that go?”

  “Fine.”

  “Jericho’s my best friend, so feel free to open up to me.”

  I did a double-take, not entirely sure what to make of this King. “I’m good.”

  He cleared his throat and tried again, “Plus, I’m the king. You’re supposed to tell me everything. It’s the law.”

  I was pretty sure that was not the law. “I’m not part of your cult. I don’t have to tell you anything.”

  “Cult’s don’t have kings.”

  “Tell that to the KKK.”

  “I, uh…” It was Avalon’s turn to do a double-take. Sounding exasperated he said, “I’m not sure where to start with this. The KKK doesn’t have a king, they have a grand wizard.”

  “Aren’t you a wizard?”

  “I’m a witch.” He ground out, clearly becoming frustrated.

  “Right, and aren’t witches and wizards pretty synonymous?” I sounded as serious as I could, but truthfully I was just as confused as he was.

  “This is not the KKK!” He had about lost his temper, but it was Okay since we’d reached the ballroom again.

  “Sure, whatever you say, Grand Wizard.” I scurried forward when one of the maintenance guys called out to Avalon.

  Avalon looked back and forth between us as if he couldn’t decide what to do. I hid my smile and turned my back on him. This was my opportunity to escape. I wasn’t exactly sure what Avalon wanted from me, but my intuition told me it had something to do with Jericho and why he was trying to kiss me. I didn’t need to hear about Jericho’s commitment issues, or excuses for why he so clearly didn’t know what he wanted. I didn’t want Jericho, so whatever Avalon had to say, he could save for a different female, one that actually cared.

  “Jericho is in so much trouble with you!” he called after me anyway, confirming my fears.

  “Jericho is in more trouble trying to get back inside the wall than he ever is with me!” I called back and then escaped into the hallway.

  I pressed my back against the cold stone wall once I was through the doorway and let out a steadying breath. The last hour had been…. weird.

  I didn’t get Jericho’s sudden interest in me, but I had an idea that it revolved around my new Magic. Too bad for him, the Magic was only temporary.

  Too bad for me, this new twist in our precarious friendship had me shaken up and more confused than ever. One part of me was flattered that I could catch the attention of a guy like Jericho. I mean, well, honestly he was super-hot. Plus, he was clearly respected here. People looked up to him, leaned on him for leadership and respected what he had to say. I mean, this guy was a catch.

  Just somebody else’s catch. Not mine.

  Maybe if it were at a different time in my life, or if my life would have gone differently to begin with. But it didn’t. Even apart from this whole kidnapping-changed-on-a-molecular level thing, I wasn’t the kind of girl that was fishing for a relationship or even a boy’s attention.

  I had issues.

  Issues that I was willing to let run my life for the rest of it.

  And that was the other part of me, the one that resented his attention and felt itchy whenever he got too close. I had spent the last six years of my life avoiding boys; evolving into an entirely different species was not going to change my life plan.

  I just needed to keep my head on straight.

  I just needed to survive the second half of this vacation from reality just like I’d survived the first part of it.

  “There you are,” Sebastian called down the hallway in his crisp English accent.

  I lifted my head and forced my eyes open. “Is Ophelia alright?” I asked immediately.

  “She’s the same,” he promised quickly, before the fear and dread had time to change my blood to ice. “I just hadn’t seen you in a while and I’d begun to worry.”

  “Jericho took me for a walk,” I admitted easily, as if it was no big deal, because it wasn’t. “I was headed back there now.”

  “Where is he?” Sebastian asked.

  “Who?”

  “Jericho? You said he took you for a walk?”

  “Oh, he’s, er, your King locked him out I think? I’m not exactly sure.” Once I caught up to Sebastian, he led the way back to O’s room.

  “That makes sense.”

  “Does it?” I asked skeptically. Because it definitely didn’t make sense to me. Sebastian and I walked the rest of the way up the stairs in companionable silence. He had been around almost as much as Jericho, but we had never bonded in the same way. He kept his distance and I kept mine. I appreciated that he wasn’t trying to become lifelong friends with me; his lack of initiative in our friendship seemed born from respecting my privacy and a healthy fear of my temper.

  I could be a lot to handle. I knew that. But I also had a sister in a coma and Magic in my blood; I mean, I was allowed a temper tantrum every once in a while, wasn’t I?

  Just before we reached O’s door, Sebastian put a gentle hand on my bicep to slow me down. “Listen, I know that Jericho can be….”

  “I’m going to stop you right there,” I cut him off. “I don’t need your well-meaning excuses for him. I get that he doesn’t know what he wants. And I also get that I’m this big cloud of confusion over whatever plans he was laying out. But honestly, I’m not interested in him and I’m pretty sure he’s only interested in me because I’m shiny and new. You don’t have to share his sob story. It’s obvious that he doesn’t trust girls, and it’s even more obvious that he was hurt by someone. That sucks for him, but I am not the girl that can fix his issues. I’ll just add so many more problems to his life. Trust me.”

  Instead of getting annoyed with me or angry, he smiled. “Olivia, you are quite the surprise.”

  “I don’t want to be. Honestly, I just want to get my sister better and go home.”

  “Alright,” he conceded.

  “Thank you.” I turned away from him and opened the door.

  “But if you change your mind,” he started slowly. I whipped around to glare at him and he finished with, “I’m single too, you know.”

  I just rolled my eyes and slipped into the quiet room. I knew he was joking, or at least I assumed he was joking.

  It didn’t matter either way; the outcome was the same. I allowed myself a small smile at Sebastian’s playful side and then focused on my sister.

  The room wasn’t as empty as I was hoping it would be. Eden was sitting in the corner, on the couch I used as a bed. There were three guards standing around the room and two girls standing on either side of O’s bed. One was tall, with blindingly bright blonde hair. She was willowy, with a perfect body most girls would die for. Her stan
ce was casual, one hand cocked on her hip, the other dangling at her side in a way that screamed super-model-posing-for-a-cover-shoot. I instantly had my guard up against her.

  The other girl was significantly shorter, with tumbling golden brown hair that hung around her shoulders. She wore a dainty golden crown on her head, and her petite frame hovered over O’s body like she could figure out what was wrong with my sister if she stared long enough.

  I had to admit that I was intimidated, walking into a room full of beautiful women. I didn’t have many friends outside of my family. Okay, I had no friends outside of my family. School was too competitive for me to take time to befriend one of my classmates and besides I didn’t live on campus, so there wasn’t really an opportunity for me to get to know anyone outside of class. And high school was a completely different story, but sadly the source of all my issues. Now, or before this fiasco, my life revolved around school, the part-time job I’d quit right before O and I left for Peru and my family.

  I wasn’t good with people anyway, and these girls screamed “in crowd.” I didn’t just want anything to do with them except to get them out of my sister’s room now. Right now.

  I swallowed down whatever insecurities their obnoxious beauty had plagued me with and cleared my throat. “Hello?”

  Eden whirled around immediately and smiled at me, “Hey, Liv.”

  I swallowed against the urge to correct her. We were definitely not on a nickname basis yet. “Hey. How’s my sister?” I tried to tone down the territorial tones in my voice, but it was a losing battle.

  “Oh, sorry.” Eden stood up and walked toward me. “Mimi just arrived and was desperate to check in on you two. She was with Jericho when he found you. She was at Machu Picchu.”

  “Oh,” I answered a little deflated. I felt bad giving her attitude if she was one of the people that rescued us.

  The short brunette marched forward next and offered her hand. In a crisp British accent she introduced herself, “I’m Amelia. Uh, Mimi. Mostly everyone calls me Mimi. And this is Seraphina.” She gestured toward the tall blonde who was watching me with one perfectly arched eyebrow raised contemptuously.

  “I’m Olivia.” I shook Mimi’s hand and then offered Seraphina a small wave.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” Mimi continued. “I’ve just been so worried about you two. I knew you’d recovered, or, er, at least woken up. I had hoped your sister would have, too, by now.”

  “Me, too,” I croaked through the emotion lodged in my throat. “So you were on the mountain? I just, I don’t really remember.”

  “Yes,” Mimi answered.

  Awkward silence fell on the room and we all shifted uncomfortably. I looked longingly at my sister, wishing these other girls would just disappear. I usually convinced the guards to wait on the other side of the door if I was alone. And that was what I desperately needed, to be alone.

  “So you were really changed?” Seraphina broke the silence first. She didn’t sound like she believed the rumors and I was in no hurry to put on a show for her. She could believe whatever she wanted; it didn’t matter to me.

  “Yep,” I answered shortly.

  “I can feel your Magic,” Eden told me. “Your current is getting strong by the day.”

  “That probably means it’s getting more permanent too, right?” I felt my shoulders sag with that news.

  “Honestly, I don’t know,” Eden said. “It won’t matter though. We’ll figure out a way to reverse this.”

  “Wait,” Seraphina piped up. “You don’t want to be Magic? Why not?”

  “Sera!” Mimi scolded her. “Stop being rude.”

  “I didn’t want Magic either when I first found out,” Eden pointed out.

  Seraphina snorted and said, “No, you wanted it, you just didn’t know how to use it. Or was that just your ploy to get my boyfriend’s attention?”

  “Oh my gosh!” Eden gasped. “We are not going back there!”

  “No, that sounds fun!” Mimi giggled. “Let’s go back there. Let’s hash out all the sordid details of when Kiran dated you both!”

  Both of the other girls groaned and I wished I had a bowl of popcorn. This was ridiculously entertaining.

  “Don’t start with me, Amelia Catherine Cartier-St. Andrews,” Eden warned. “Or we can also talk about Avalon’s little crush on Sera.”

  “Avalon was into me?” Seraphina asked, sounding a little stunned.

  Mimi groaned, “Not like into you, into you. He thought you were hot for just a bit. That was before you started dating Sebastian.”

  “You’re dating Sebastian?” I asked dumbly.

  Seraphina leveled me with an angry glare, “Not anymore.”

  Yeesh, this was like a season of Gossip Girl all packed into one tiny conversation. Who were these people?

  “Got it.” I held my hands up and walked over to Ophelia’s abandoned side.

  The girls continued to talk in the background. “Have you seen him since you’ve been back?” Eden asked Seraphina.

  “Briefly,” Seraphina answered quickly. “Trust me, we’re over. That is a bridge that has been well and fully burned. No offense, Mimers, but your brother is such a douche when he wants to be.”

  “Says the girl who’s madly in love with him,” Mimi quipped in return.

  I sighed and sat down next to O. I brushed her tangled hair out of her face and pressed my forehead to hers. She was warmer today. I could feel the rise in her temperature easily. It wasn’t like she was feverish or anything, but she was further than being the temperature of cold death than she had been since she fell into her coma. I breathed her in and allowed one small tear of thanksgiving to slip from my eye while the girls prattled in the background.

  Couldn’t they take this somewhere else?

  “We’re being insensitive,” Eden announced firmly.

  I shook my head, but couldn’t find the energy to argue with her. I just wanted my sister. I was so tired of being in the unfamiliar, of everything feeling strange and foreign, even my own body. I just wanted to curl up next to her and hold her.

  “We’re sorry, Olivia,” Mimi called from where they stood, but I still didn’t look up at them. “We just haven’t been together in a while. We shouldn’t have intruded.”

  “It’s fine,” I sighed. “I’m just tired and worried about O.”

  There was some whispering in which I heard Eden explain that O was short for Ophelia.

  “Well, we’ll let you get some rest then,” Eden finally announced.

  “Thank you,” I forced myself to be polite and crawled up next to O before they’d even left the room.

  I felt their curious gazes on me as I tucked myself into her, wrapping a protective arm around her slim waist and burying my face in her shoulder length blonde hair. The door opened and closed again, but my eyes were already shut and I let my exhausted mind drift into the sweet oblivion of sleep.

  Finally.

  Finally, these strange people would leave me alone. Finally, I would get some sleep. Finally, I would get to hold my suffering sister and will her to get better.

  There were other things going on around me- important things, mundane things, strange things. But the only thing I cared about was getting Ophelia better. Terletov, revenge, my own cure, even Jericho faded into the background of what was truly important. It wasn’t until this last moment, where I hovered between unconsciousness, tangled in the concerns of my new reality that I realized how unimportant everything else was.

  Everything else was just distraction.

  Especially Jericho.

  Especially a boy who made my heart flutter and my skin tingle. I had no room in my life for him and no room in my heart.

  I just had to remember that.

  Chapter Nine

  Jericho

  “God, you’re such a bastard,” I groaned as soon as I saw the bastard in question face to face for the first time in months.

  “Who me?” Avalon asked innocently.

  �
�I had to walk all the way around the wall. All the way around, Avalon!” I shouted at him. We were in the Throne room. Everyone had convened here for a meeting. And while I was happy to see Seraphina and Amelia return to the castle, that brief joy was eclipsed by my outrage at my idiot friend.

  “Why didn’t you just climb over it?” he asked but couldn’t completely disguise his laughter.

  “You know why I couldn’t climb over it! There’s enough protection spells on the Citadel wall to send it into another realm!” I rubbed a hand over my face, trying to hold back my rage. “You locked me out!”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Avalon was avoiding the Thrones- as usual- and hovering around Amelia while she chatted with Angelica.

  “You’re telling me Olivia figured out how to change the lock?”

  “Maybe. Did she have a reason for wanting to keep you out?” He stared at me with his blazing green eyes and waited for my honest answer, an answer I would never give him in a room full of people.

  I groaned. Did she?

  Yes.

  “She’s not your biggest fan, Jericho,” Avalon pointed out.

  “Jer,” Kiran added helpfully. Bastards. All of them.

  “We’re fine,” I mumbled.

  “Why wouldn’t you be fine?” Seraphina asked. “Are you like, a thing?”

  “No.” I could have toned back my enthusiasm, but it needed to be known. Not only didn’t I want rumors starting, but I didn’t want Olivia to have to deal with this lot. I loved these people, I really did. Of course, it was harder to remember that when we were all together and I had to deal with them.

  Seraphina laughed and Kiran shot Avalon an I-told-you-so look. This was all very irritating.

  “Aren’t we here for a reason?” I asked dryly. Avalon, Sebastian and Kiran broke down into laughter.

  “Yes,” Eden spoke up. “And leave Jericho alone!”

  “Oh, here we go again,” Sebastian exclaimed. “Eden’s taking Jericho’s side again. I thought we

  were all over the love triangle?”

  Avalon choked on his laughter.

  “You’re such a wanker,” Kiran growled.