by Leigh Fallon
We continued in silence across the field, the green of the grass fading to dark gray as evening descended. Grass long enough to graze our knees swayed in the light breeze that rolled in from the sea. The binding feeling of the amulet was claustrophobic. My element fought for control inside me; it wanted to attack Matthew, but it kept bouncing inward.
The sound of Caitlin whimpering made me swing around. She was slumped on the ground. “What is going on?” she said, burying her face in her hands. “Chloe could be dying, and we just left her.” She looked up at Matthew with tears streaming down her face. “How can you do this? I don’t understand.”
“Don’t waste your time worrying about a Knight,” he muttered, hauling Caitlin back up.
“Get off me!” she shrieked, aiming her elbow at his nose and striking hard.
Matthew let go and grabbed at his nose as Caitlin seized her opportunity and ran to me, gripping my arm. “Run, Megan! Run!” But before she could go any farther, he dived forward and grabbed her leg. She fell with a thud into the grass.
“Don’t try that again!” Matthew roared. “I’m not going to have a stupid bitch like you ruin this for me. Now move it!” He looked at his watch. “They’re waiting for us.”
We started forward again and crossed the stream at the bottom of the valley, working our way up the hill on the other side. It led to a flat section of the field that we used for alignment practice.
I snuck a peek at Caitlin, who was walking obediently beside Matthew, her arm locked in his grip. The bloodstained hurley rested on his shoulder like he was out for a casual Sunday stroll. Then something moved just behind them, catching my attention. The grass twitched, and a blond head flicked up for a second. Chloe! She was alive. I couldn’t let Matthew see her. I needed to keep his attention on me.
“Why turn on the Order now?”
He shrugged. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to grow up in a privileged world? It was great. I had everything I wanted: education, cars, holidays, and money . . . lots of money. All I had to do in return was marry Áine, but she flat-out refused. I’ve become very attached to my trust fund.”
“This is about MONEY?” I gasped.
“Oh, don’t be so shocked. You didn’t really expect me to give up my way of life just because Áine decided she wasn’t going to have me, did you? Oh, I agreed to play along. I even thought we might get away with it, but that Hugh guy saw right through me. He told the Order I was unfit to be Áine’s intended. I was going to lose everything—my scholarship, my trust fund, the lot! A guy from the Order offered me a deal: The Knox couldn’t get near you with your precious echoed lands and amulet, but if I could get the Knox the amulet and the Marked Ones, he said the Order would honor the trust.”
“Someone in the Order asked you to do this? Who?” I scanned the long grass for Chloe but didn’t see her. “It’s not too late, you know. Get rid of the amulet, free my power, and I can help the DeRíses. We can work this out.”
He nudged me on again. “You know as well as I do there’s no going back. Besides, Anú promised me a bonus on delivery. All I want is the money, and I’m outta here.”
“Don’t you even care what will happen to us? And to Caitlin?”
“Honestly? I do feel a little bad, but I’m not sorry. This is my ticket out, and I’m taking it. Look, you don’t have to get hurt. Just give Anú what she wants.”
“You know the Knights won’t let this go.”
He laughed. “The Knights will have bigger problems than me. Don’t you see? The Order is doing this. They’ve orchestrated everything. That Anú bird wants her element back.”
“Don’t you care at all what will happen if the elemental power falls into the wrong hands?”
He shrugged. “Not really. This has been going on forever.”
We had almost reached the practice field. A blond streak flickered across the bark of a tree before disappearing into the woods.
“How did you take the others?”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t hurt them. Adam, the idiot, was desolate and teary-eyed—sorry, Megan, but you could do way better—and they were all so preoccupied with consoling him. I just slipped the drugs the Order gave me into their tea. The Knox did the rest.”
His mockery dripped like molasses from a spoon, making me want to suck the breath from his lungs and allow the nothingness to suffocate him. The ache to hurt him became unbearable.
“They didn’t put up much of a fight,” he said.
“You mean they couldn’t put up much of a fight.”
“Well, actually, I lie. Fionn put on a good show. He’s a feisty old dog.”
Caitlin sobbed, looking from me to Matthew, suddenly seeming small and fragile. I dug my nails into my palms. The pain helped me focus.
We came to the break in the trees that marked the end of the echoed land. A shiver ran through me as I stepped beyond the protection; the magical boundary was almost palpable in the face of the unknown.
Twenty-seven
SACRIFICES
Fresh tire tracks in the mud led us to two SUVs parked next to a ditch. My eyes flickered over their tinted windows, trying to locate Fionn and the DeRíses.
“Keep moving,” Matthew ordered, putting a hand on my back and shoving me forward.
I gasped as Randel swooped down from the trees and smacked Matthew’s head. Matthew grabbed him by the wing and tossed him to the side, where he landed awkwardly. “You know what, Randel? You’re the most annoying of the whole lot of them!” He lashed at him with his foot, but Randel hopped out of the way.
As we passed the cars, I noticed some people huddled farther down the ditch line. My heart beat triple-time when I recognized Adam lying on the grass. Rían and Áine were beside him, a man resting a boot on Rían’s head.
“Ticktock.” I recognized the voice instantly. “Time is of the essence.” I spun around, looking for the girl who invaded my mind. My eyes fixed on a darkened window that hummed to a close.
Suddenly we were surrounded. Five people jumped from the cars and fanned out around us. Matthew shoved Caitlin toward me. I reached out and grabbed her quivering arms. The back door of an SUV opened, and Fionn was thrown to the ground. His face was a sea of blood and swelling. His arms were bound and he struggled to stand, but his legs gave way and he fell to his knees.
A strangled sob escaped from my throat. I felt powerless as I clung to Caitlin, gazing into the dark recesses of the SUV, needing to put a face to the one who had taunted me.
“Bring it here,” the voice sang.
Matthew walked to the car and pulled the amulet over his head. “I told you I’d get her.”
“Shut up and give it to me,” the voice demanded. A tiny white hand lashed out from the darkness and snatched the amulet from his hands before disappearing back into the shadows.
My eyes darted to Adam, Rían, and Áine. Their eyes were open. They were alive but lay like they were paralyzed. Rían didn’t even struggle when the guy who had his boot on his face leaned in farther so that his heel was in Rían’s eye.
“Finally, I have it back,” the voice cooed.
“And me?” Matthew said, putting his foot up on the edge of the car. “I get a bonus, right?”
“Bring her to me,” the voice whispered.
Matthew stepped back and stretched out his arm to me. “There she is, in all her fourth glory.” He winked.
The stupid idiot. Does he really think he’s going to walk away from this?
Matthew signaled for me to join him. I ignored him and held tight to Caitlin. “Megan! Don’t leave Anú waiting.” He smirked.
Anú! It’s not possible!
“Come, child,” she instructed.
I glanced over at Fionn. I didn’t know what to do.
“Anú spoke to you, girl!” a man behind me shouted before hitting me sharply between the shoulder blades.
I let Caitlin go and shuffled to the car.
“Turn around,” Anú commanded as I approached the d
oor. I slowly faced away from her.
From the corner of my eye, I saw a frail white hand reach out and grab my hair, pulling it up and revealing my neck. I shuddered as the cold skin of her finger followed the outline of my Mark. I swung around and tried to knock her hand away, but one of the guards caught my arm in a tight grip. He held my wrist and pulled me upward, nearly lifting me off the ground.
“Let go of me,” I hissed through gritted teeth. I called on my element. I might not be able to use my power on the bearer of the amulet, but I was sure as hell going to use it on the others. I wrapped the air tight around the man’s throat. He released my arm as I squeezed the air tighter, watching as he pulled and clawed at his neck and gasped for breath. He stumbled back, wide-eyed, turning purple. I swirled the air around us, knocking the other guards off their feet.
Eerie, childlike laughter came from the car. “Enough!”
I didn’t let go of my element’s grip, and the wind continued to rage around us.
“She said ENOUGH!” A guard grabbed Caitlin and held a glinting blade under her chin.
“Leave her alone!” I shouted, halting the air and dropping the grip on the guard’s throat. He sucked in a huge, rasping breath and coughed.
“You stupid bitch!” he growled, lurching for me.
“Nobody touches her!” Anú snapped. The guard’s face contorted with rage, and his eyes bulged, but he backed down.
I peered into the car. Anú looked like a frail child, but her face was wizened and lined like a corpse. Bits of dead flesh clung to her bones, and she was partially bald, with tufts of white and gray hair on one side of her head. Her eyes held no color. They were coal dark and lifeless. Soulless.
Matthew stepped in between us, all smiles and fake charm. “Anú, you said you wouldn’t harm them, right?”
Anú didn’t acknowledge that he’d spoken. Her black gaze remained fixed on me.
Matthew cleared his throat. “Anú, you have your amulet and the Marked Ones. So if it’s alright with you, I want to get out of this shithole and back to civilization.”
“Yes, you’ve proved useful.” Anú pulled her hand back inside the car. A second later, the flash of a blade blinded me before it sank into Matthew’s throat, slicing deep and long. I heard the blood whooshing in my head, matching the blood that gushed from the wound. He dropped to his knees, still smiling stupidly, and fell face-first into the wet dirt.
“His disrespect for the Marked was his greatest downfall. Get everyone in position,” Anú ordered. “If anyone harms the fourth, they will suffer my wrath.”
Two guards grabbed me on either side and held me tight. Anú leaned from the car and pointed a second silver knife at Caitlin while staring at me. “You use your element against them and I’ll use this on your friend.”
The guard with the purple face and bulging eyes leaned into the car and gently picked up Anú, covered her head with her hood, and carried her toward me. The amulet hung around her tiny neck, looking heavy and awkward. She slithered her hand out from the white wrap she wore and moved toward my Mark again. I cringed away from her touch and her merciless, dead eyes.
“How can you be alive?” I gasped.
Her hand paused on its way to me. I focused on it rather than look into her eyes. The milky white, paper-thin skin began to develop a haze around it, like a mist hanging on a damp field in the early morning.
She swiped her hand away and tucked it back under her white wrap. “Do I look alive to you? You have my life.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
From the confines of her guard’s arms, she leaned in, put her face close to mine, and parted her lips in a feline gesture like she was going to hiss. “I am the original fourth of royal blood. It was my destiny to be the Cluaín, but the Order denied me my birthright.”
Frustration boiled over in me. “Well, you’re welcome to it! I never wanted to be a Cluaín in the first place.”
Her hand shot back out and grabbed me by the neck. For someone so small and frail, her grip dug into my flesh. I tried desperately to peel her bony fingers away but couldn’t. I struggled for air.
Fionn lurched for us. “Stop it!” But a swift kick in the lower back silenced him as he fell forward. Randel swooped down and clawed at the guard’s face.
“Will somebody shoot that friggin bird!” the guard growled, swiping at Randel.
“No! No gunfire. Not when I’m so close. We cannot be disturbed.” Anú’s arm started to smoke again, the haze drifting toward my nose, where the vapor stung like acid. Black blotches blurred my vision, and my blood pounded in my ears. I fought to stay conscious. Then suddenly Anú cried out and let go, whipping her hand under the white cloth. “Do you see what they’ve done to me, what I’m reduced to?” she screeched, and glanced down at herself. “This body, once a vessel for great power, is being eroded to dust by the very elements it was born to hold.” I cowered away from her, covering my nose, trying to make the stinging stop. Anú laughed bitterly.
“My appearance disgusts you, doesn’t it, Megan? But I wear the decay like a badge of persistence. I’ve done what I’ve had to do. Being the Cluaín enabled me to take the elements of the Marked. When the Order stole my Mark, they took away my ability to hold the elements, but they couldn’t take my birthright from me. I discovered I still had the power to take and absorb the elemental power. I could only hold the power for a fleeting moment, but it was enough to rejuvenate me and to prolong my existence until once again, I got the chance to do what the Order denied me. Take a good long look, Megan. You may as well get used to it, because what you see before you is your future. It’s what we Cluaín do.”
“I will NEVER be like you.” I heaved in a breath and coughed, my lungs burning from her toxicity.
Anú turned her dead glare to Fionn. “Her ignorance is fitting for the Order. Did you not let her in on their little secret?” Anú cackled. “The Order doesn’t like that part of our history, so they left it out of the translations of the Scribes. The truth is not something they like the Marked to know.”
“What truth?” I asked, terrified.
“The female fourth of royal blood—the Cluaín—holds the key to the ultimate prize, the power of all five elements. You and I have the ability to combine and take the four elements and open the door to the fifth, the most powerful element of all. To enter this world, the fifth—spirit—must be borne by the fourth’s royal blood. The blood of the fourth still runs deep in my veins. I will be young and beautiful again and will have the fifth element. I’ve earned it, living off the dregs of the Marked, taking what I could of their elements with the help of the amber shard. It kept me alive long enough in this damned life to find the next Cluaín.”
“So if you can just take them, then what do you need me for?”
“Don’t you see? I can only hold the powers long enough to regenerate. I’d never be able to take all four individually—I’d start to lose them before I’d taken the last. That’s why I needed another Cluaín, to take all four elements in one go, and take what is rightfully mine. The Order thought they were being so clever when they killed Emma and Stephen DeRís; they thought they’d stopped the cycle of the fourth again. But they were wrong . . . as usual.”
I shook my head. “No! The Knox killed them.”
“Why would I kill Emma’s unborn child? It was the one thing I was after. She was destined to be the next Cluaín; at least she would have been when Emma transferred her element to her, like my mother was supposed to do to me. But the Order would never have allowed it, just as they didn’t for me. As soon as they discovered the child she was carrying was a girl, they sacrificed her. And in doing so, the Order lost the fourth to the Sidhe, those stupid fools. The Sidhe bided his time, waiting for the last moment to keep you hidden from all of us. That time has taken its toll on me, but it’s been worth the wait. Now I have the Marked four, and the amulet is mine. I’m taking back my rightful place.”
“You’re lying,” I said. “How cou
ld you possibly know all that?”
Anú sneered. “I know it because I lived it, you stupid girl. And you should know it too. Do you really think the Order would lose such information? The naivety of generations of Marked never ceases to amaze me. Do you really believe they lost the ability to translate texts? I’ve sat by for centuries, watching as the Order ruined a once-great institution with ignorance and lies, all in a bid to prolong their own existence.”
Fionn lifted his head from the dirt. “Don’t listen to her, Megan.”
Anú glared at him. “Poor Fionn, blinded by love. You put your faith in the wrong people. I empathize with you. They betrayed me too.” She nudged her guard, and he stalked closer to me. Her deathly black stare pierced me, boring right into my soul. “And you, Megan. Don’t be so harsh in your judgment of me. We are one and the same.”
I glared back and remained silent.
“You’ve tasted water, haven’t you? I have too. I knew it as soon as the element was within you. It enabled our connection. Did you know each Marked leaves their own signature on the element they possess? A signature linking the generations of Marked, like a family, all waiting for the circle to come full.”
“What happens when the circle comes full?”
“The Marked line comes to its end, and elements return to Danu. It’s what she always intended. But the Order decided to keep the elements earthbound to prove to her that humans could handle her gift. Generation after generation, they failed. And instead of admitting their failings, and enjoying the power of the institution they reigned over, they hid the knowledge of the Cluaín with lies and rewritten Scribes, and disposed of every female fourth of royal blood or those who had the potential to become her.” She swiped at my blouse, ripping it open and revealing the swirling scar left behind by Adam’s element. “But they didn’t get you, and your power has grown fast.” She pushed my head to the side, fingering my Mark. “The fifth circle has already begun. You started the call as soon as you took your first element. Spirit is already on its way.” Her eyes looked hungry. She nudged her guard again. “Quick, get everyone in position. Let’s not wait a moment longer.” She pointed at Fionn. “Bring the girl and the guardian with you.”