Lucas grunted and continued to watch. At last he stood back; expression difficult to read. “Like before,” he said.
Jerry shrugged and changed out the slides, putting another one in place. “Your turn Sadie.”
I stepped up and bent down.
“Tell me what you see.” Jerry murmured near my ear.
I watched a mass of cells near the center, clear and fat. I didn’t know much about them, but they looked healthy to me.
Movement near my shoulder and something else flowed into my vision. I watched the new cigar shaped cells devour the larger round cells. Within seconds there was nothing left. It was a massacre.
I looked up. “Okay.” I wasn’t sure what he wanted me to say. What had I just seen?
“Okay, now I want you to look again. Nothing but the cigar-shaped cells left, right? Watch.”
I shrugged and bent back down; the oblong cells looked even fatter, as if they’d grown. The microscope jiggled and everything blurred as he added a pink tinged liquid full of cells similar, but smaller, to the first. At first I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. Like magnets, the smaller cells attached themselves to the longer, thinner cells. But as soon as they did, the cigar shaped cells rapidly swelled and like little balloons began bursting. Within a matter of seconds, all that remained behind were the small round cells. I started to stand up.
“No, wait. There’s one more; keep looking.” I stayed down as once more cells flowed into sight. They looked like the first cells, only with a slight bluish tinge.
Finally, I stood up. “Okay Doc. I’m game. What am I looking at? Why am I looking at it.
Mr. Waverly leaned back against the counter, looking comfortable and in his element.
“The first set of cells you saw? Blood cells from an Other. The Second set? The Cigar shaped cells from the Macu. Not the Demon wolves. Theirs is different and I’m not done figuring that one out. I had the Mayor take a swab of your knife; I hope you don’t mind.”
“And the smaller round cells? The ones that attacked the Macu cells?” He ignored my question, his eyes glancing at Lucas Seul.
“The last set of cells were human. Mine.”
I shook my head. “Where did you get the round cells, the ones that made the Macu Cells explode? What did I just see?”
He sighed and smiled a sly smile. “Why you, Sadie Cross? You saw you.”
I blinked. “You used my blood... where did you get my blood?” He held up his hands.
“I’m sorry, Sadie. I asked the nurses to save me a small sample while they were cleaning you up. I suspected but I needed your blood to confirm it.”
“Confirm what?” My voice was rising, and I couldn’t seem to stop it?
“That your blood is the secret. Your blood poisons the Macu.”
I took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
“Have you tried it on the Demon wolves?” I managed.
“No, not yet. I will. I should have the answer to that one soon. But I had to share what we knew. It’s an advantage and I couldn’t keep it secret.”
And advantage? I was having a hard time keeping up.
“What are you saying?”
Lucas Seul spoke up. “What we’re saying, is that your blood is lethal to the Macu, it kills them on contact.”
I heard what he was saying. How come I wasn’t near as excited as they were? I hated needles. But I saw a lot of them in my future. Just how much of my blood were they going to need?
WE LEFT JERRY WAVERLY’S house after leaving him two vials of my blood. I winced when the needle went in and looked away when the blood slid out into the waiting tubes.
“How much does it take?” I’d asked. I was seeing my future as a pincushion.
“I think little. I have to do more testing and find the exact answer. Lucky for us it appears to spread and multiply. So a little seems to do the trick. I should know more by this time next weekend. I’ll have the answers to how it affects the Demon wolves as well.
He’d wrapped a blank sticker around the second vial and labeled it with a sharpie before he opened a small cabinet that resembled a mini fridge. Jerry inserted both tubes in a carton that held others in similar fashion.
“How are you going to get it to stay on our weapons?” I’d wondered aloud.
Jerry had looked my way in approval. “That’s right. Once I figure out how much we need and if it can be diluted, I have to make the solution ‘sticky’. If it’s easy to rub off, its usefulness diminishes.”
I remember wincing as he slapped a Blues Clues band-aide on my arm.
I MOVED UP THE TRAIL towards campus for lunch from Sutter’s Field after War and Combat Practice.
I’d been avoiding my best friends. Not that I minded telling them about what had happened. We were buds and I didn’t care what anyone said, I was keeping them informed.
But I’d had time to think things through. As I’d left, Jerry had shared another piece of information with me concerning how the Macu and he suspected the Demon wolf blood would affect me.
“I don’t know for sure, but I believe your blood is resistant to the infection caused by theirs. I think resistance will turn into immunity.”
To me that translated to not only would it not kill me—but eventually, it wouldn’t affect me at all. We were fighting a war, and I was getting sick of being cast to the sidelines while everyone used me as a secret weapon. That’s how I thought of it. That’s why I’d leveraged some conditions of my own before I stuck my arm in any more rubber tourniquet’s and offered my arm up for poking.
I glanced back as Sirris and Thomas caught up to me. “Hey, what’s the race, Sadie. What? Are you like avoiding us or what?” Thomas asked.
I wondered that he could attempt to joke without smiling. I knew he still worried about his cousins on the mountain. There had still been no word. And now the detail of men sent to check on them were missing as well. Thomas felt as scared and helpless as the rest of us.
But he’s alive, and so is Sirris. I plan to keep it that way.
“No, I’m not trying to lose you at all.” I lied.
I looked at Sirris, sweat pearling on her brow from her workout. When had they both become so important?
“Don’t get mad Sirris, but I went to visit your father last night with Mayor Seul.” Her eyes flew to mine, startled.
“What?”
“Believe me, it wasn’t my idea. They came to my dorm after curfew. I flew back with them in the Mayor Seul’s helicopter. Did you even know he had one?”
“Yeah... and?”
“Apparently, everyone was paying better attention than we thought when I didn’t die like the Guard. They took samples of the Macu blood—and mine.
“Your dad’s been running tests. Turns out my blood is a secret weapon.” I laughed, but I was far from happy.
“What are you talking about Sadie? When did they take samples? Did they ask you if they could? What’s going on?” Thomas shot at me. He wanted better answers and I couldn’t blame him. So I told them what I knew, leaving nothing out. If Sirris looked hurt and betrayed at least it wasn’t towards me I thought and then immediately felt guilty. Jerry Waverly was doing his best to protect us all; he deserved our support.
By the time I’d finished, they both looked hopeful and relieved. “Well, this is marvelous news then, isn’t it? So why the glum face?”
It was, but I wasn’t finished. “Your dad also mentioned that he thinks the effect the blood had on me is going to lessen with each exposure. Like the flu? I’ll become immune after a couple of exposures. They need what I have to have a fighting chance against these things. And I need to be there to see it through. That’s what I’m going to tell them. If they want what I have, they have to let me fight too.”
Sirris was nodding. But Thomas was staring at me without smiling.
“And...?”
“Their blood can’t kill me. But it can kill you. It’s one thing to risk my own; I won’t risk your lives too. The guard is better trai
ned to avoid those claws and teeth than anyone else.” The last was weak, and I knew it. Sirris and Thomas had proved their worth in battle, but I wasn’t going to be the reason I lost anyone else I loved. Even if they hated me for it.
The utter betrayal and anger on their faces told me that was a distinct possibility.
“Their blood might not be lethal to you Sadie, but you can still die. You aren’t immune to their claws and fangs too, are you?” Sirris asked.
Thomas finished; voice bitter. “You’re willing to take the risks yourself, you’re just not going to let anyone else take them with you. We all have something to lose here, Sadie. This isn’t just your battle; it’s ours too.”
My mouth drew down in a stubborn line. “I don’t care whose battle it is. I care about protecting you and keeping you safe. That’s what’s important.”
Thomas was glaring at me, equal parts pissed and disappointed. Sirris eyes glimmered with tears, crystal droplets clinging to her long dark lashes.
“We all have that right Sadie—to protect the ones we love. It’s the great equalizer between our races,” she whispered.
I didn’t want to listen to what she said. I could make that decision. I already had.
“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” LUCAS Seul roared. It impressed me. It was the loudest I’d ever heard him get and he directed it at me. I had a gift.
“Absolutely yes, or I refuse to help.”
He stared at me, stunned. “You would watch countless Magicals and Humans die when you could help them?”
Guilting me into getting his way wasn’t going to work. I’d learned that trick from my mother years ago.
“Not me—you Lucas Seul. I’m safer than anyone on that field and you know it.” I added.
“But what if they take you down? Claws and teeth, remember? We need you. You’re no use to us dead.”
He made me feel like an obtuse child.
I shouted back. “Then you better keep me alive. Better padding or armor, whatever it takes. But I am going.”
“You are not!” The Mayor’s face was purple with frustration. I’d done that, I thought in amazement. My stubbornness was legendary.
But so was Lucas Seul’s. I’d wondered where Nick got his.
A week later I sat in Will Bennett’s class, struggling to keep my eyes open as he droned on about languages. Burning the candle on both ends was taking its toll. Mayor Seul had held out for three days before he’d given in. It was all he could afford when another guard was wounded, but somehow survived. He was running out of recruits.
My relationship with my closest friends was in the toilet. We still sat at the same table during lunch. We still had the same classes together. They continued to sit at the opposite end and avoid me completely. They hadn’t said a word to me in a week. I didn’t exist.
I was okay with that. They were alive and safe and that was all I cared about. That’s what I told myself in the mirror every morning. One of these days I’d believe it.
I was an asset to the squad of young Guards, only a few years older than me. My speed and marksmanship with the crossbow loaded with poison-tipped bolts was lethal to the Macu. It didn’t kill the Demon wolves, but it did plenty of damage, incapacitating them long enough to apply other methods to make sure they didn’t get back up. When all was said and done, we cut through the Demon wolves and the Macu ranks with alarming speed. Jerry Waverly had made good on his word and within a matter of days had come up with a way to dilute the blood cells while maintaining a high standard of effectiveness. He had somehow bound it with a syrupy substance that was almost impossible to get off something once we attached it. A small vial was all we needed to tip countless weapons. It was very effective.
It was unfortunate then, that the demon’s numbers still increased too fast for us to keep up.
A LOUD RUMBLE AND I rubbed a hand over the empty hollow of my stomach. I’d missed breakfast, unwilling to face the accusing stares of my friends over eggs done easy. I looked up when Professor Bennett paused in front of me, looking at me. Had he asked me a question?
“SeRoot? The Sprite Language. Can you tell me where it originated?” I blinked up at him, trying to focus.
“Um... London?” Who cared?
Will Bennett nodded, an odd look on his face as he stared at me I couldn’t place.
“Close... Europe actually.” He moved on and I breathed a sigh of relief.
MARCUS TANNON HELD up a hand, and we all halted. There were ten of us, including myself, sandwiched somewhere in the middle of the lengthy line of Guards that traipsed up the path through the woods.
As good as my hearing was, my eyesight threaded through the darkened forest around us looking for movement; the glint of a reflection off an eye, a swirl of foggy breath on the cool night air. Marcus put his hand down and we continued on. We eased around the Northwestern most edge of Shephard’s Mountain. We’d had good luck, if you could call it that, in surprising cells of Demons there. That perimeter was widening.
I remembered that it also wasn’t far from the cabin where Thomas’ cousins had vanished a couple weeks ago.
We froze on a dime once more, attuned to the faintest signal from our cautious leader.
Everyone in the Guard was a Magical. That didn’t mean our gifts were the same. I felt the tension in the group coil as we picked up the faint rustle of feet and the soft snuffle and slobber of Macu.
Marcus weaved his hand in the air in a circular motion. His sign to fan out in a wide circle.
I moved as silent as possible. The Macu were dog-stupid and mean. The Demon wolves were smarter. We’d figured out early that the wolves controlled the movements and actions of their small companions. I opened my senses, my eyes widening in the dark, my hearing dialing deep to pick up where they hid. They were there, but they hid well. My nose wrinkled at the smell of wet dog. They were close.
I reached out and lay a finger to the shoulder of the guard ahead of me, one of the fresh recruits they’d brought on to replace the dead.
I shook my head for silence, using my hands to show he should go right, I’d move left. There was movement ahead, and it wasn’t us.
A faint snap to my left made me swear. The young guard was a Sorcerer, low grade. He’d have been safer as a shifter. They seemed to have better instincts for staying alive than just about anyone else.
Instead, the guards misstep had drawn the glittery gaze of the Demon wolf I had just made out ahead, concealed behind the thick trunk of a large leaf maple. A reflection of white spread and I knew it was opening its maw, expecting a bite.
Dammit, that was a hell of a distance to take a shot through heavy woods in the dark.
Like I had a choice? I notched a bolt, moving closer, each foot I placed silent.
The demon was within spitting distance of the unsuspecting guard when I let the quarrel loose. Somehow it made it through the dense underbrush to hit its mark in a thick meaty shoulder without being thrown off course by all the brush that could have derailed it along the way.
The howl of rage and startled pain made the guard duck, saving his life from the swipe of a sharp claw as the demon hit the ground. He wasn’t dead. But he’d be sick enough that one of us could finish the job. If we got to them and beheaded them before they could recover, then they stayed dead. We were getting better at fighting the battle, but we were still losing the war on numbers.
The cry of wounded outrage was a catalyst as the forest came alive with attacking guards and retaliating demons and Macu.
I moved through the forest, leaping logs, avoiding twisting vines that tried to trip me up and notching another bolt as I went.
I emerged on the edge of the clearing at the Base of Shephard’s Mountain where the invisible shield met the earth, sealing Drae Hallow inside. It was where most of the Macu liked to congregate. My speed with the bow and my immunity to their blood made me an obvious choice to eliminate as many as I could.
Sounds of a vicious battle raged behind me between the guards and th
e wolves. In front of me, three Macu clung to the side of the rocky mountain face, as if they were dining on a huge burnt marshmallow, jaws working, saliva running in thick strings from their slobbery thick lips.
They were so intent on what they were doing they never even saw me approach until I nailed the largest dead center in the back of his neck. The high gurgling scream made the others whirl, small eyes lighting on me as I raced to load another bolt. They were fast. Both charged at once as I pulled down on them. I nailed the first high in the left shoulder. Close enough, the poison would do its work. I knocked another bolt and let it fly too quick. I swore as it bounced off a small sapling several yards beyond the charging demon.
I drew my knife at its approach. I didn’t need to strike a killing blow. I only needed to draw substantial blood with the poison-tipped knife.
I used the Macu’s lack of intellect to feint right and draw its attention as it charged. At the same time I twisted in and under, bringing the curve of the knife up in a swinging arc. I shaved the coarse fur off its abdomen—but there was no blood. Dammit, how could I have missed?
A line of fire down my back and over my left shoulder blade told me the Macu hadn’t. If I’d been a guard, I’d be dead. Instead, he just pissed me off. I whirled before the Macu had cleared me and brought my blade around in a sweeping arc to nick a fleeing shoulder. It was enough. I felt zero sympathy for the writhing, shuddering form on the forest floor at my feet.
I reversed direction and ran towards the screams in the forest. We were losing. Again. Despite the advantage of the poison-tipped weaponry, the demons were ferocious fighters, and they outnumbered us. The Demon wolves had figured out fast that they just needed to stay beyond range of our poison tipped edges. By ganging up three or more to one, the odds were back in their favor. They played a numbers game, and they were winning.
Fire Born Dragon (Rule 9 Academy Book 1) Page 19