Owl

by M. Raiya

  The next wave raced in, and he went under. I felt his rigid body for a second, and then I was swept off him and slammed into the wall. I fended myself off with wings and legs, but I got tumbled over a few times and came up gasping and feeling myself being sucked out toward the mouth. Last wave, I vowed, and shifted.

  Hands worked a lot better for grasping the rock Vin was tied to. Another bolt of lightning lit things up. It was even brighter than the last, which was good, but that also meant it was closer, which was bad. The thunder was almost on top of it.

  I pulled myself up on top of Vin in the dark, trying to straddle him. I got my left hand under his head to help hold it up. Then I twisted to face the cave mouth and threw a wall of power at it. The incoming wave hit it. The wave built against it but didn’t break through. I couldn’t keep this up very long.

  Vin desperately sucked in another breath.

  “Relax, breathe,” I gasped. “I’m holding back the waves. Give me the knife.”

  “No, get out. I’m bait. Maylee. The great horned. Working with grandfather. Want you dead.”

  I didn’t care at this point. In the dark I found his left hand, which still held the knife. I pried it out of his fingers as the cave walls shook with thunder. Or maybe it was the force of the water slamming against my shield. There was more lightning. This time, it went on and on. I sawed through the rope holding his left hand down. Luckily, it wasn’t very thick, and the knife was sharp. As soon as it was free, he pushed himself up as high as he could. I went to work on his right hand.

  Just as I got it, the storm broke my shield. I yelled in pain, feeling like my brain had shattered, and if he hadn’t grabbed me, I would have gotten swept off the rock as the incoming wave hit us hard.

  “Okay, okay,” he said as it rushed out. “Give me the knife.”

  I let him take it and tried to do something with my shield, but it was gone and there was no getting it back. He sawed frantically at his right ankle. In a moment the rope let go, but then a wave hit us and the weight of both our bodies pulled on his left ankle. He cried out in pain. Then he shouted, “I lost the knife! Oh God.”

  I scanned. I sensed the metal just as it started to wash over the edge of the boulder, and I grabbed for it, but the storm took it down and out of the cave. Fuck.

  “Did you get it?” Vin called, terrified.

  I didn’t answer. I could sense the next wave gathering outside, felt it even bigger than the others, and knew Vin’s ankle couldn’t take the pressure of us both if it hit. So I let go of him, grabbed the rope around his ankle with both hands, and threw every bit of power left in me at it. Vin let out a shriek of panic as the wave smashed in. The rope broke apart in my hands an instant before the wave carried us both into the far wall and then started to suck us out.

  “Go with it!” I shouted, catching hold of Vin around the waist. “Go to the right when we get out. Good rock twenty feet away.”

  I wasn’t even sure if he heard me over the thunder, but he must have because when we got out, he started swimming to the right. My last blast of power had left me so weak I could barely move, much less swim, but at that point, all I cared was that Vin was out of the cave.

  A wave slammed us into the ledge beside the cave mouth, and then we were caught in a surging field of backwash and incoming waves, being smashed against underwater rocks. When we surfaced, spray from waves crashing into the cliff hit my face so hard it hurt. I tried to protect my eyes and see where the sloping rock had gone, but I couldn’t see or hear or think, or breathe….

  And then Vin hauled me up behind him out of the water. He’d found the rock. Together we struggled up beyond the reach of the waves. At last we made it to the small flat surface where we clung together in the downpour and looked out at a black, tossing world of water, rent by a storm like I’d never imagined.

  Ropes of lightning were coming down all around us. Why we weren’t electrocuted where we sat, I don’t know. It was continually light, and continually roaring with thunder, wind, waves, rain, all punctuated by earth-jarring smashing trees up on top of the cliff. We buried our faces in each other’s necks and held on, waiting for the end, whatever form it would take. There was nothing else we could do.

  I lost track of time, but gradually, it seemed like the storm was easing a little. When I opened my eyes, it was darker and lighter at the same time. Darker because the lightning was lessening, brighter because it wasn’t raining quite so hard. Vin stirred against me and raised his head too. The wind was cold against our wet bodies.

  Other worries slammed back in.

  “You’ve got to get out of here,” Vin gasped. “She’ll come back as soon as the storm breaks.”

  I couldn’t leave him alone. “Your parents know where we are,” I said. “They’ll come with a boat.”

  “She’s crazy, Riel! She wants you to suffer the way she suffered when Andrew was blinded.”

  “I know,” I said. “I called my grandfather. I also called my mother. Not sure if there’s anything she can do. He’s crazy. He can’t lead the clan any longer.” Why it was important to tell Vin that right now, I wasn’t sure, but my brain wasn’t working too well.

  “No, duh,” Vin said with a groan.

  “Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere?” I was so numb I couldn’t even tell where I hurt. The cold was slowly sinking into me.

  He laughed a little wildly.

  “Vin,” I said sharply.

  “I’m okay,” he said. And smiled. “You found me.”

  I kissed his forehead. “Of course I did. I’m your owl, right?”

  “My favorite owl.”

  “I’m your only owl.”

  He laughed again, but it ended with a moan of pain.

  “Are you okay?” I asked again, remembering he’d been drugged with something unknown.

  “Just cold. And I think my ankle’s broken.”

  I pulled out Coleen’s cell phone. Water poured from the supposedly waterproof case. I pried it the rest of the way open and took out the phone itself and started to wipe it off on my shirt. Then realized I had no shirt. Well, I had the tatters of one, smeared with blood.

  “It’s dead,” Vin said.

  I summoned strength from somewhere and sent a burst of power into it.

  “No, it’s not,” I said. “Call your folks.”

  Vin took it without question and stared dazedly at it. There were about a hundred more calls from Jack. I hit the Return Call button.

  “Gabriel!” Jack shouted moments later. “Gabriel, where are you?”

  Vin looked at me, confused.

  “Jack, I’ve got Vin,” I yelled, bending closer. “We’re on a rock by the cave. He’s okay, but you’ve got to get here fast.”

  “Vin? Let me talk to Vin!”

  I nudged Vin. “Dad?” he asked.

  “Oh God, Vin!” Coleen cried. “We’re coming, baby, we’re coming, okay?”

  “I—don’t know where I am,” Vin said.

  Fear stabbed at me. I pictured bleeding inside his skull, slowly depressing his brain. He’d done such a great job swimming, but now….

  “We’re near the Turtle,” I said, tightening my arms around him, feeling him shaking. He was so cold.

  “Gabriel, is he okay?”

  “We’re really cold,” I heard myself say. “I think Vin’s a little shocky.”

  I hoped the hell he was anyway. God, what had that bitch drugged him with? I started running one hand through his hair, terrified I was going to find bleeding, or worse, a section of depressed skull. But it seemed okay.

  The phone went dead for real right then, and I had no strength to charge it again. I took it out of Vin’s hand and shoved it in his pocket. As I did, I saw the hideous rope burns on his wrists. There were matching ones on his ankles.

  Something turned over in my heart. I was suddenly no longer afraid of Maylee. I was seriously mad.

  We huddled together, getting colder and colder in the wind. Vin leaned heavily against me. The
storm was moving away, though. The thunder wasn’t so loud. The rain changed from a torrent to a downpour, and the waves weren’t seeking us quite so desperately. Still, it was going to be a while before anyone could get here. I angled myself more so that I was blocking Vin from the wind. I kept my eyes scanning for—I wasn’t sure.

  All we could do was wait. For rescue or Maylee or my grandfather. Or all three at once.

  “You okay?” I asked, nudging Vin to get him talking.

  He nestled closer to me. “Sleepy.”

  “Stay awake. Listen. I don’t know where your ring is. I flew back to my tree to get it to use it as a link to find you. And it was gone. I’m so sorry.”

  Vin wiggled a little and got his right hand free. The silver class ring was back on it.

  “Whoa, how did—” I broke off, answering my own question. “That fucking bitch.”

  Vin drew a deep breath, marshaling, I assumed, the strength to speak. “She waited at the tree for a long time for you to come and get it. She finally gave up. Took me for bait.” He looked around sharply in case she appeared. “She used me for bait,” he said again.

  I hugged him hard.

  “She didn’t mean for me to almost drown. She didn’t know about the storm. She just used me to lure you. Graduation was a good time to take me. Drugged my water.”

  “With what, do you know?”

  He shook his head. “All blurry after I sang.”

  “How’d she get you out here?”

  “Yellow motorboat. Seen it before. Didn’t know.”

  Shit. It had been just off the dock yesterday when we returned. Bitch had been watching us.

  “Wind took it away. Probably smashed.”

  “I think your kayak’s smashed too. I’m so sorry. I tried to tow it behind me as I flew, but it was slowing me down too much.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Vin, I’m so sorry. I—I’m so sorry.”

  “Not your fault.”

  We were silent awhile, the cold settling even deeper. I was starting to feel sleepy too, and I realized we were both hardly shaking at all. I was pretty sure that was a sign of hypothermia. Great. Vin was leaning heavily against me. I shook my head and found another question.

  “The iron rings in the stone. Do you know how they got there?”

  He picked his head up. “Prohibition.”

  “Huh?” Was he losing rationality? Damn, we needed help here!

  “You know, when it was illegal to sell alcohol? During the Depression?”

  “I know what prohibition was. What’s that got to do with the iron rings?”

  “Smugglers probably used the cave to stash alcohol in. Used the rings to tie crates in place. They ran it up and down the lake. I’ve read about it. Didn’t know they used the Turtle, though.”

  That made sense. “How did Maylee know the rings were there?”

  “She was watching us when I pointed out the Turtle. She said she almost took you when you flew up onto the Turtle’s head, but she wasn’t close enough. She checked out the cave after we left. She was looking for a place to hide me, that you’d know about.”

  “God,” I said, and shuddered.

  Vin tipped his head back against my shoulder and before I knew it, I was kissing him. I didn’t feel he’d slipped the ring on my finger until I felt its weight. All the passion we’d started to feel that morning came rushing back with a flood of very welcome heat. Oh yes, this was better.

  I was starting to feel warmer when I felt danger approaching with a prickling on the inside of my skull. Or maybe I was about to faint. Vin yelled at the same time, eyes locked on something over my shoulder. I whirled. Something dark was arrowing toward us through the air.

  The great horned owl. The yellow eyes. Maylee. My nightmare.

  All I felt was relief that the waiting was over. I reached for my power, came up with nothing, but sheer terror gave me strength to fling up a faint hint of a shield between us and the incoming torpedo of death. It was so weak I didn’t think it would stop a mosquito. I knew she sensed it, though, because she put on a burst of speed. We both knew it wouldn’t stop her, just slow her down a little. Maybe.

  I saw the horrible yellow eyes, the outreaching talons, the beak opening wide, aiming for our faces. Blind. She was going to blind us. She was the last thing we were ever going to see, because my shield wasn’t going to hold.

  Suddenly I remembered the first time I’d flown into Vin’s room. I’d assumed his window screen would slow me down, but it hadn’t. I’d ripped right through with almost no effort and almost brained myself.

  Instantly I dropped my shield. I pulled Vin down and flung myself on top of him.

  Maylee was going too fast to stop. With no resistance to slow her, she smashed into the rock ledge behind us with a heart-wrenching screech I’d never heard an owl make before. Then she dropped. She glanced off the side of the rock Vin and I were crouching on. Her head lolled at an impossible angle as the wind blew her down into the crashing waves. I saw her wings open as though she was trying to fly through the water. Then the current sucked her under. She did not reappear.

  I threw up.

  “Is she dead?” Vin cried.

  I’d give a lot to know that. Had it really been that easy? And yet, how horrible to hope someone was dead, despite everything. “Her neck looked broken,” I gasped. “I put up a shield. Wasn’t strong. Wouldn’t have stopped her. Remembered your screen. I dropped it and it worked. She thought she would slow down, but she didn’t.”

  “God, you’re smart, Riel.” Then he threw up too. I was glad that he felt the same horror I did. On the other hand, if the sickness was caused by a head injury, that was not good at all. When he was done, I pulled him against me to give him what warmth I could.

  “I’m scared,” he said into my neck.

  “It’s okay. It’s good to get everything you can out of your system.”

  He nodded weakly, clinging to me.

  This was not how his graduation day was supposed to have gone. He hadn’t gotten to walk across that platform either, and it was all my fault. And those bruises on his wrists! If they’d caused harm to his guitar playing…. I groaned.

  I was so worried about him I almost missed the feeling of greater coldness growing over me until it wrapped me like tendrils of an evil vine. God, now what? It was trying to suck away the little strength I had left.

  My grandfather.

  He knew what had just happened. Now he was focusing all his energy on me. And then he gave the vines that he’d wrapped around me a savage yank. I gasped and fought the sudden urge to change and fly to him.

  At the same time, Vin cried, “I hear a boat!”

  Not yellow, I begged silently, even though I knew it couldn’t be. I groaned with pain as I fought the compulsion fly. It had to be the rescue boat.

  “I have to go,” I said.

  “Stay,” Vin said quickly. “You’ll never make it home. We’ll come up with something to explain how you’re here.”

  “Vin, I’ve got to go,” I managed to say. “My grandfather’s compelling me. He’s my clan leader, and I have to obey.”

  “Riel!”

  “I love you, Vin,” I said quickly. “There’s a graduation present for you in my duffel bag, and keep the copy of Watership Down—”

  “Riel!” he cried in anguish. “No!”

  The boat nosed around the edge of the cliff. It was black. Well, I guess Anton’s going to be a hero.

  I shifted form. I couldn’t help myself. The compulsion was too strong. Vin grabbed at me, then let go as he realized I needed all my strength to get into the air. I took two agonizing wing strokes and got up into the lowest branches of the overhanging cedars. I clung there and saw the boat coming closer, riding the waves like a surfboard. I doubted his parents, hanging off the side with their eyes on the shoreline searching for Vin, noticed me vanishing deeper into the trees. I heard them cry out when they saw Vin, and I knew he would be okay. I risked one more gl
ance and saw Anton, looking tall and grim and heroic at the helm, begin maneuvering the boat in as close as he dared while Jack flung a life ring toward the rock.

  Then I turned away and flew on ragged wings toward where my grandfather waited.

  Chapter Sixteen

  MILLIONS OF thoughts whirled through my head. I wished my parents were somehow here. I wished Andrew were here so I’d know if he hated me and had wanted Maylee to come after Vin. I wished I could see Vin again, but at the same time, I hoped desperately that Anton would take Vin and his parents back to wherever he kept the black boat and get Vin to a hospital and away from my grandfather.

  At least the waiting and worrying was all over. I knew now that my grandfather was no longer a fit leader for our clan and that it was my responsibility because of the magic in my blood to do something to change that. Or die trying.

  Which was likely. I was alone, beyond exhausted, and his power was already like a net around me. Even worse was the knowledge that this was my grandfather I was thinking about. My mother’s father. The man who used to play cards in the shade with me outside my father’s shop. Who gave me the old stuffed teddy bear I’d loved so much and was still in my room, as far as I knew. Who taught me about the magic he and I shared, who encouraged me to go to school and make friends in the outside world. I’d forgiven him for what he’d done to me and accepted my future. But to send Maylee after me, through Vin…. His betrayal hurt more than Maylee’s talons. Yet if he wanted my death and could compel me this completely, why hadn’t he done it days ago? It wasn’t because he wanted me weak—I’d been even weaker in the hospital. Had he just wanted me to suffer?

  Trees and limbs were down everywhere as far as I could see. It was like the whole world I’d known had come apart. My wings burned with pain. Something deep inside wished my last flight could have been a little more enjoyable. Despite everything, I did not wish I had not been born an owl and not been able to fly.

  I could feel my grandfather’s anger growing like a fresh storm the closer I got. I had been assuming he would be waiting at my tree, but as I got closer, I realized that wasn’t the direction the compulsion was coming from. Damn. It was coming from Vin’s house.