Legion

by Catrina Burgess

  His hands came up and brushed a tear from my cheek.

  I hadn’t realized I was crying.

  “It stole your family’s characteristics to make its human form.”

  “But I didn’t see the similarities before. Why does it look so different now?”

  “I don’t know. Before, every time we looked at it, we saw the shadow of the creature. That shadow is gone.”

  “And in its place is a little girl,” I whispered. “A little girl who looks just like me.”

  “It’s not human,” Luke said.

  I looked back inside the cabin. I couldn’t see her anymore; she’d stepped back into the shadows. “It is. The spell I did made it completely human.”

  Luke’s arms wrapped around me again. “That thing was created by a supernatural creature. In a few days we’ll do another spell that will destroy it, and the demon will be banished forever.”

  Without thinking, I leaned my head against his chest. “She’s hungry.”

  “It’s hungry,” he corrected me. “I’ll let them know. You need to get back to bed. You aren’t well.”

  I leaned heavily against him. I was incredibly weak, and I could no longer fight against the desire to be closer to him. To be in his arms. “I’m fine,” I said.

  He pushed me away. “You’re far from fine.” He looked down at the bandage on my arm. “The healer said you can take the bandages off in a day or two. She closed up the wounds as best she could.”

  I pulled the bandage back. “What about this?” The tiny black lines were still there. I blinked. Was I imagining it, or had they moved higher up my hand?

  “It’s some kind of poison. Nothing we’ve seen in any books, but I know the answer is somewhere. We’ll find out what this is and how to treat it.”

  “How long will that take?” I asked.

  He wrapped one arm around my waist and started to lead me away from the cabin. “Colina, you need to rest and stop worrying. We have people working on it.”

  My legs felt so weak as we made our way slowly across the camp. “There’s someone who would know what this is—Mildred. She said she walked with the demons. She knows so much about them. She might know what this is and how to make it go away.”

  “We don’t know where she is,” Luke said.

  I stopped and looked up at him. “Let’s go find her.”

  He shook his head. “You’re too weak to go anywhere.”

  “I told you that when the spell was done, I would leave.” I looked back toward the cabin. I wanted to destroy the creature—wanted nothing more than to see it banished forever from our world. But when I looked into its face and saw my brother’s eyes staring back at me… All I wanted to do at that moment was run away from it all. It looked like me, looked like my family. I wanted it to die, but could I kill it with Jamie’s eyes staring back at me?

  No. I’d done my part. I’d made the creature human, and now Darla and her people would destroy it. I needed to focus on finding my friends. If they were in Gage’s clutches, who knew what he could be doing to them? I remembered the torture he put me through, barely feeding me, keeping me prisoner in a cell.

  “Maybe you can go in a few days, when you get your strength back.” He was lying to me again. I could see it in his eyes.

  “You can’t keep me here forever.” I didn’t want to be here anymore. I was surrounded by people who hated me. I was constantly struggling with the guilt I felt about Luke. I wanted so badly to throw myself into his arms again and just love him. But I couldn’t.

  He reached up and brushed the hair from my face. “I want to keep you safe.”

  “I’m a prisoner here.”

  The anger was there again in his eyes. “You are not a prisoner.”

  “Your people don’t want me here. I’ve done what they’ve asked. Please let me go.” I pleaded.

  The anger seemed to burst out, and he shoved me. I stumbled and caught myself against a tree before I fell.

  He’d only pushed me away, but I was as shocked as if he’d hit me. I’d seen his bursts of anger before, but he’d never manhandled me.

  I watched Luke struggle against his anger. When he looked at me again, there was such a weariness, a sadness in his eyes. “I’m tired of talking about this. There is nowhere to go. Even if you wanted to find Mildred, where would you start? There’re no tales of a crazy old woman wondering the streets. None of the guild’s contacts have reported seeing any of them. No sign of Wendy or Dean. If Gage has taken them, he is hiding them. Gage and his people have disappeared.”

  It was only sheer stubbornness that kept me on my feet. “I know we can find them.” I let go of the tree and moved beside him. I put my hand on his arm. My voice was soft. “It’s what we do. Whatever obstacles are thrown our way, we find a way around them.”

  “They need you here. Don’t you understand how dangerous it’s become? Every day more and more of my people are being killed.” He looked around the camp. “We’re safe here but for how long? Word will get out that we’re here, and eventually they will come for us. Your magic is strong. We need it to protect my people.”

  There it was. His people. “Right: they’re your people, not mine,” I spat out.

  I expected his anger to flare up again, but it didn’t. He was controlling it…barely. “You’re one of us now whether you like it or not. You’re a death dealer,” he answered.

  My voice rose in anger. “I’ll never be one of you. I’ll never fit in.” Because I wasn’t a death dealer, not really. My powers were something new, or maybe something forgotten. My magic only had a vague similarity to the death dealers’ powers, and I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.

  He watched me in silence for a few moments before speaking again. “You refuse to even try.”

  “The only person who treats me decently is Freddy. Every time your sister looks at me, I see hatred in her eyes. She wouldn’t have shed a tear if the demon had torn me to shreds in that pentagram.”

  “You’re wrong about Darla,” he said.

  “Am I?” A wave of dizziness washed over me. I began to stumble, and Luke reached out and grabbed me.

  I reluctantly leaned against his body for support. Without it I’d have fallen to the ground. He was taller now. His chest and shoulders were broader. I rested my hand on his chest. I tried to push that all out of my mind and instead concentrate on his heartbeat. His soul was all that mattered, wasn’t it? The bits and pieces that made up a person came from their soul. What did the DNA matter? It was your soul that made you who you were.

  I looked back at the cabin. Now that the demon had been banished from the child, did she have a soul?

  * * *

  When I woke, it was night. I’d slept, this time a dreamless sleep. The tent was dark, but I could have sworn I saw movement in the darkness.

  I called out, “Luke?”

  “He’s gone.” It was Darla. I heard a click, and a light shone into the dark. Darla was holding a flashlight in her hand as she moved closer to my cot. “He left hours ago.”

  “When will he be back?” I asked. I didn’t trust Darla. Given the opportunity, she would harm me. I was sure of it. And now I lay helpless on the cot in a tent all alone with her. There were people milling around just outside the tent. She would be mad to try anything here.

  “He went to find the old woman,” she answered.

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “He can’t go without me.” I was having trouble raising myself into a sitting position. The weakness that I’d felt earlier was much worse.

  Darla leaned closer. “He’s going to get himself killed again because of you.”

  “He’ll be all right. He has powerful magic now.” It was true, Caleb had been one of a handful who could raise hellfire, and Luke had inherited that power with Caleb’s body.

  “He’ll die, and it’ll be your fault. Why did you have to come into our lives?” she hissed.

  I dropped back down on the cot and looked over at her. “I’m n
ot your enemy.”

  Her expression was twisted with anger. “You bring darkness and death with you wherever you go. I wish we’d tossed you out into the street when you first came into the magic shop.”

  The girl standing before me was so changed from the sweet young girl I first met in the magic shop. Her face was full of anger. Her eyes filled with the need for vengeance. It was a look I was all too familiar with. My actions had caused this transformation. I could feel the tears sliding down my face. “You don’t think I wish things had gone differently? I’d give anything to take back what has happened. I never wanted to see your brother hurt.”

  “He still loves you. But you…” Her fists were balled, and hatred filled her eyes. “You treat him as though he is nothing to you.”

  I looked away and said, “I’m just not sure he’s…” I looked back at her. “I’m worried he’s not the same. The old mage said if a soul jumped bodies that the soul might not come back right.” I could see that Luke was always trying to keep his emotions contained. Always trying to keep a lid on his anger. What would happen if he ever let that anger go?

  “Luke hasn’t changed. But I can see by the look on your face that you doubt what I’m saying. How can he risk his life for you when you no longer love him?” Her expression was spiteful.

  “I do. I love him.” I hated that my voice quivered when I said the words.

  She stomped her foot. “I don’t believe you. My brother was a fool for ever caring for you.”

  I tried to push myself up onto my elbows. “I’m going after him.”

  She laughed out loud this time. “You can barely sit up on your own. He didn’t tell you, did he?” Her eyes lit up with glee. “You’re dying. The healer closed up the wounds, but she said the poison is spreading. She thinks you’ll be dead within a week.”

  It couldn’t be true. “No… Luke said you were looking for a way to stop it.”

  “Nothing can be done. Almost all the information about the demons was destroyed. We were lucky to find that spell at all.” She became suddenly calm.

  “Whatever you think, I don’t want you dead. I want you brought to justice for what you did. I want you to pay for the things you’ve done.” Her expression turned thoughtful. “More importantly, Luke loves you. If you die he’ll never get the chance to get over you, and that’s what I pray for every night—that my brother will come to his senses and fall in love with someone else.”

  “I love him,” I whispered.

  She looked at me for a long time before saying, “And that’s the curse you put on him. A curse that will destroy him.”

  I used all my strength to push myself upright. “I want to see the healer.”

  She looked me up and down. Her eyes paused on the dark lines moving up my wrist. “She can’t help you. Your only hope is if Luke can find the old woman. Even then, you don’t know if the crazy old bat can help.”

  I swung my feet onto the ground and met her eyes. “I want to see the healer.” I said it with as much strength as I could. My head was spinning, but I wasn’t going to show Darla any more weakness.

  We stood there staring at each other like two old-fashioned gunfighters squaring off.

  “Fine,” she finally said. “I’ll have Freddy get her.”

  And with those words, Darla stormed out of the tent.

  * * *

  I was surprised the healer wasn’t an old woman. She looked to be in her thirties. She carried a lantern and put it down on a table next to the cot. She had jet-black hair and the greenest eyes I’d ever seen. She carried a big brown leather bag. I’d seen my mother carrying the same type of bag to the beds of the sick.

  “How are you feeling?” the healer asked.

  “Weak,” I said. I was lying back down on the cot.

  She nodded her head and opened her bag. She took out a vial of something blue. When she lifted her arm, I saw the tattoo of a swallow sitting on a half moon.

  She saw me looking at her tattoo. “My father was from the clan and my mother, a gypsy.”

  She must have seen the surprise in my eyes. The Scottish didn’t usually wed outside the clans.

  She held up my hand. The black lines had moved to the base of my wrist. “They told you there’s not much I can do, right? I can relieve any pain you have. Maybe take away some of the weakness, but the poison is spreading.”

  “There has to be something you can give me to stop it.”

  She shook her head. “There is no known antidote for this. There is nothing I can do to stop it.”

  Everything I’d learned about the healing arts flashed through my mind. There had to be something that could help… And then it came to me.

  “We both know that’s not true,” I said.

  She looked at me.

  I twisted my arm around so she could see the blue swallow on my wrist. “There are certain poisons that can counter other poisons.” I named off a handful of plants.

  Her eyes got big, and she gave me a disapproving look. “Some of those are forbidden.”

  “We both know there are ways to get them…like on the black market.”

  “I’d never make such a dangerous potion. You know our people…” She paused and looked down at the tattoo on my wrist. “My people are forbidden from making such a potion.”

  When healers begin training, they are given secrets passed down from one generation to the next. They are shown how to create all kinds of teas and elixirs. Most are meant to heal, but a few have darker purposes. They are told about a handful of forbidden potions for the sake of knowledge and learning, but at the same time are warned that it is forbidden to use them. If a healer is caught with such a concoction, there are dire consequences.

  One of the girls in my clan who had been learning by my side had made something that was forbidden once on a dare. When she was discovered, her family and the clan shunned her. We might’ve been living in modern times, but within the clans, old traditions were still upheld.

  The healer might’ve risked getting me the plants for the right price, but she would never risk making the potion herself. I pointed to the black lines, which were clearly visible. “I need more time. I need a chance to stay alive long enough to find some kind of cure. What does it matter if I drink the potion and it kills me? I’ll be dead within a week anyway.”

  She looked out toward the camp and then back at me. “Maybe I could get the things you need, but not the devil’s foot root.”

  I saw the fear in her eyes. “You don’t believe the old folk tales, do you?” I could tell by the look on her face that she did. “Just get me whatever ingredients you can,” I pleaded.

  It was only when she went to get up that I realized Freddy was standing at the opening of the tent.

  The healer went out, and Freddy came in. He went over to a small table and lit a candle sitting inside a glass jar. When he was done, he asked, “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m still alive and kicking,” I answered.

  He looked at the healer’s retreating back. “What are you up to?”

  “Nothing.”

  “What’s devil’s foot root?”

  He’d overheard our conversation. It was too late to lie. “It’s another name for mandrake root. It’s a nightshade plant.”

  His eyes got wide. “Nightshade. That’s poisonous stuff. Some of it’s in that cream that brings on the twilight sleep in the last ritual, right?”

  I didn’t say anything.

  “Colina, why are you messing around with poisonous herbs?” he demanded.

  “Because there is a chance I can make a potion that can push back the demon venom.”

  He looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked, “A cure?”

  “No. But it may give me more time. Luke has no idea where Mildred is, and he’s looking for her, but the healer said I’ll be dead within a week.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I heard you say something about poisons that can counter poisons.”

  He’d heard too much of our
conversation. The last thing I needed was for him to go running to Darla to tell her what I was planning, but what choice did I have but to trust him? “I did. The potion may help me, or it may kill me.”

  A flash of alarm crossed his face.

  I raised my hand before he could say anything. “I don’t need a lecture. Do you think I’d do this if it weren’t the only way?” I needed the potion, but the only way to make it was to gather all the ingredients and then prepare it. I was far too weak to do it on my own. Freddy had been willing to help me anytime I asked. Would he help me with this?

  “The healer can get everything I need but the mandrake root…” I began.

  Freddy stopped me before I could continue. “No.”

  I couldn’t take no for an answer. My life depended on him helping me. “I need you to get it for me.”

  He took a step back. “I’m not going to help you make a potion that may kill you.”

  “Freddy, there is no one else.” I was now pleading. “This is my only chance. Without this potion, I will die.”

  “Luke will be back. He’ll find Mildred and bring her back.”

  “He won’t be back in time.”

  I lifted my sleeve. He could see the black lines moving up my arm. “If you don’t help me, I will die.”

  A look of defeat came over his face. “What do you need me to do?”

  Would he really do this for me? “Hunt for the mandrake root in the woods. It won’t be hard to spot this time of year because of its red and yellow berries.”

  “Why was the healer scared of this thing?”

  “It’s only a silly folktale,” I said.

  He gave me a hard stare.

  I’d heard the stories as a child. “They say if a human digs up the root, the plant screams, and anyone who hears the scream is killed. The stories aren’t true.”

  He looked unconvinced.

  “Mandrake root is almost impossible to come by. Any healer in possession of it is going against the rules of the clan. They could be imprisoned or worse: shunned.”

  He crossed his arms. “And that makes it black market contraband. It won’t be easy, but I bet I can track one down.”