The Prezedant saunters back and forth in fronta me. I’m finding it kinda hard to focus on him, but I force myself to as I egg him on. “Yeah, I was gonna do that. But it ain’t cause you’re stronger than me. I will beat you, and I will kill you. I promise you that.” My Chi flickers momentarily and collides with his, baiting him with my power. I need him to counterattack. It works. He steps my way and closes his eyes as tendrils of energy poke and prod at me. I allow him access, pretending to whimper in pain under his assault. Almost nose to nose with me know, he whispers in my ear.
“Your power is intoxicating. I give you that. And I cannot wait to feel your blood run through my veins. But why wait? As you said earlier, your blood will make me powerful beyond belief. As much as I’ve enjoyed our little cat and mouse game, it’s time to end this. Arm please.”
I shake my head no at his request, and hide both arms fully behind my back. He chuckles softly, his breath tickling my nose and smelling weirdly of mint.
“You think you can fight me? I said arm.” And I allow him to yank my arm from behind my back. The tears ain’t fake as they fill my eyes. He’s being merciless, and his Chi is hurting me like hell.
I fight convincingly enough, I reckon, but I finally allow him to have his way, and he jerks my tunic up past my elbow. His fingers grasp my forearm with a painful grip, forces my hand into a fist, and a delicate web of blue veins rise to the surface. Without warning the syringe is plunged into my flesh, and I bite my lip to keep from screaming. He works deftly, filling the cylinder with my red life force before baring his own arm and making a fist. I swear I can see his own veins pulsing in anticipation as the needle’s point finds its mark, and my blood begins seeping into his veins. His eyes close in pleasure as my Chi flows into his.
“Yes!” he screams suddenly, making me jump as he slams his hand against his chest. His eyes open wide, and I swear I can see parts of my Chi flickering like tiny glowing maskeetos in their dark depths. “That is… that’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. Arm,” he demands again, and I step back in protest, but he ain’t letting me go.
Just like before I allow him to force my arm his way, and the needle dives back into my skin with deliberate malice. I fight to keep the smile offa my face as I watch him inject my blood a second time. I sway a little as the crowd around me starts spinning in a circle, but I inhale deep through my nose and try to stay fixated on the enemy in fronta of me. Sweat beads my upper lip, and a low pulse echoes in my ears, but I stay focused. Anytime now.
Power radiates from him as he spreads his arms wide and turns to the crowd. “Can you feel that?” he bellows. “I am unstoppable. I am invincible. The New Blood is no longer the savior. I am the one and only power. You’d be wise to remember that. This rebellion ends here today. From this day forward, you all belong to me, body and soul. Your hopes and dreams centered on the New Blood have been in vain. She stands here before you defeated and broken. I am the victor. I am—” He falters and sways sideways. Shaking his head, he continues, “I am the giver and destroyer of life. I am the Prezedant!”
He grabs my wrist. “Thank you for giving me this incredible gift, New Blood. You will make a formidable asset.”
He tries to cower me with his stare, but his pupils dilate, and he shakes his head again like he cain’t quite concentrate on me. I finally allow my glee to slip through. He stumbles again, dropping my wrist as he flexes his fingers, staring at ‘em like they ain’t quite doing what he wants ‘em to do.
“Something wrong?” I ask innocently enough, but he hears my underlying sarcasm.
“What have you done?” he whispers, even as a red flush creeps up his neck into his face.
“What I told you I would. I killed you.”
“Sir?” The two bodyguards finally come to the realization something’s wrong, and step toward the swaying Prezedant, but he pushes them off as he leans into me. Grabbing a fistful of my tunic, he screams in my face, “What have you done?”
Even as my own legs threaten to buckle underneath me, I cain’t help the smug grin that drapes my face as my quiet words are meant for him alone.
“What’s the matter? You ain’t feelin’ so well? You can thank my pa for that. He made me a little present for you, a powerful poison called Nightshade. In the bloodstream of a true New Blood, it causes horrible sickness, but for the average man, it’s lethal. And you see, that’s what you are, Max,” I say, emphasizing the name he was once known by. “A mere man. A powerful man, no doubt, but stolen power cain’t fool the poison rippin’ through your veins right now. My pa said it will affect your muscles and your innards. Everything will stop workin’, and you’ll die a slow and painful death. I’d love to watch that. I wanna watch you suffer so bad, but I don’t have time. Like Lily once told me, I cain’t hesitate.”
I enjoy the way his face pales in sheer terror as I yank his blade from his sheath. The laughter bubbling outta my throat sounds mad even to my own ears as I feel his desperate attempt to rouse his Chi to protect himself. But he’s way too weak, the poison working much too fast. All he manages is a harsh ‘well played’ moments before I plunge the blade straight into his heart.
Time stands still. I don’t know what I expect to feel as I watch death claim him. Maybe sweet revenge. Maybe a sense of relief. But all I feel is a ravenous fire consuming my innards like I’m burning alive from the inside out. The utter chaos of the crowd, the cacophony of screams and shouts as they finally realize what I’ve done, fades away, dulled by the rushing blood filling my ears. The two soldiers standing mere inches away, quickly overcome the shock of the dead Prezedant at my feet and their serum shooters raise my way, but they’re blown offa the platform and into the blood-thirsty crowd. My Chi shows no mercy.
I stare after them, a tiny voice in the back of my head telling me I need to do something else, but I don’t know what. Something ain’t right, but I’m so fuddled by the poison or my Chi that I cain’t quite remember what the rest of the plan is.
“Tara.” The voice reaches me on some level, and I whirl in confusion, staring into a set of anxious blue eyes. Jax desperately tries to reach me, but just like the soldiers, unseen hands shove him back. “The gate,” he screams as he fights against the Chi whipping around me like protective barrier, and his words finally register. Yes. The gate. I need to get our people inside. They need to take the city.
My Chi takes control and turns me to the iron doors blocking the entrance. I don’t seem to have any say in the matter. Just the right gate, I scream in my head hoping it’s enough to stop my power from harming the kids still above the left gate. It works. The right gate rips outta the wall and through the gatehouse like a projectile, taking stone and soldiers with it. Dust ain’t even settled from the gaping hole before Busher and his raiders command their way through, screaming at the top of their lungs, and the muties close on their heels. Like a sea of scorpi-ants, they spread through the city below, taking down anything in a brown robe.
Only then does my Chi allow itself to be reigned in, leaving a weird, hollow vacuum insida me as I sink to my knees, Jax finally reaching my side just in time to stop my fall. My rock, like always.
“Tara,” he calls my name, and I lean against him for support.
“I’m okay,” I try to say, but it comes out slurred as my body starts shaking like I’ve just been dunked in an icy river. Ben joins us, trying to hold me up on the other side.
“Ben, cut Mack down. Belle, help me get Tara inside. We need to get out of the street.”
They half carry, half drag me down the platform, pushing their way through the screaming crowd and into the nearest building. The smell of the barn assaults my nose, and I make an attempt at some flippant remark, but my words come out as utter nonsense. Jax shakes me as I struggle to keep my eyes open. I’m tired. So very tired. “Tara, wake up.”
“What’s wrong with her? She looks weird, and she ain’t making sense,” Belle yells, and I try to pry my lids open, so I can tell ‘em nuthin’s
wrong. That I’m okay. But my body refuses to listen to anything my mind says.
“Did the Prezedant do something to her?” Ben sounds so worried about me. Poor Ben. I always gave him cause to worry. But he don’t need to worry anymore. I need to tell him that. Right after my tongue decides to work again.
“Jax, is Tara hurt?” That’s Finn’s voice. Finn is here? Inside the wall? That boy is so dang stubborn. I told him to wait outside until everything was clear. I shoulda known better.
“Tara, talk to me. What’s wrong?” Jax shakes me again, and I wanna cuss at him to stop shaking me, but nuthin’ comes out. I feel his hand brush my lips before I hear his worried, “She’s still breathing, but it’s like she’s in a deep sleep.”
“Let me at her.” Mack’s strong hands touch my forehead, and I wanna tell him how glad I am he’s okay, even if I couldn’t save Tater. “She’s burning up. Something’s wrong. Possibly her Chi?”
Oh, shizen. My worst fear seems to be coming true. Seems I ain’t so immune to Nightshade after all. I’m in deep shite. I need to tell ‘em what I’ve done. They need to know about the poison. But just like the rest of me, my vocal chords stay frozen, and even though my terror starts to mount, my heart starts to slow down, skipping beats in my chest. I try to suck in more air, but it feels like there’s ice in my lungs, and the pain of breathing is almost too much to bear.
“Jax, Tara gave me a message.” It hurts my heart to hear Finn so frantic. “Just ‘fore you guys came into the city, she said if anythin’ happened to her, I were to tell Maya it’s Nightshade, and she would know what to do.”
“Nightshade?” The terror in Jax’s voice increases my own fear. “Christ, Tara, what have you done? We need the Maven. Someone find us Maya. Now!”
His hands caress my cheeks, and I take comfort in his touch. “It’ll be okay. Maya will fix this. Just hang on, okay? Don’t you dare leave me. You hear me?” He shakes me again like he’s expecting it to help, but already I can feel myself slipping away. The slap across the face, so in contrast with the earlier caress, startles me wide awake. I stare at Jax in shock, even as he blurs into two distinct images. Did he just slap me?
“Stay awake. Do not give in to the Nightshade. Not after all we’ve been through. You’re not going out this way, you hear me? I won’t let you die.”
The anger in his voice is tinged with fear, and I manage a slight nod. He’s right. It ain’t gonna end this way. I refuse to let it end this way.
“Good girl,” he says as I struggle to overcome the new wave of darkness threatening to take me under. I must lose the battle for the next time I open my eyes, it’s to Maya’s face floating above me.
“Tara, can you hear me? I have to get the Nightshade out of your bloodstream. Be strong. This is going to hurt.”
Hurt ain’t the word that comes to mind as the scream that rips outta me pains my own ears. Feels like my entire soul is being torn from the inside out. I wanna hurl Maya viciously across the room, and actually try to summon my Chi just to do that. But the Chi don’t respond. I cain’t even feel it, not a flicker. The pain radiates up my arm and flows over my body in disabilitating waves. I pass in and outta consciousness, voices and images moving through my head and befuddling my brain. Grada, my ma, my pa, Tater, all of ‘em are with me. Telling me to hang on. That I can do this. Not to give up. But giving up sounds so much easier than fighting this burning agony.
After what seems like hours, the pain starts to ebb, replaced by rays of healing light as Maya soothes my broken body. I revel in her Chi, allowing my body to heal. Finally, I manage to raise my head and open my eyes.
Anxious faces stare back at me. They’re all there. Everyone I love, and my heart suddenly starts beating in my chest again. They regard me like I’ve risen from the dead and I’m about to sprout infinite words of wisdom. All I manage to croak is, “What I miss?”
Suddenly, the door flies open, crashing against the wall and startling everybody to defensive mode. The giant raider and a couple of his lackeys pile in, ignoring the drawn weapons and itchy trigger fingers. Their wild gazes and wide smiles sweep the room.
“Here you all are. What are you all doing hiding in this foul, smelly barn? You need to be out in the street celebrating with the rest of us. We’ve done the impossible. We’ve taken the city.”
Epilogue
The sand lands shimmer in the late mornin’ heat. It’s a scorcher of a day.
I lean against the front porch rail and shade my eyes against the bright sun as I look out to the fields. I’d slept most of the morning away. The young’uns are already out working. Well, supposedly working, but I hear Jane’s yell of “ready or not, here I come” as she chases Conner and Thomas through the cornstalks, playing a game of hide and go seek.
Finn’s red head stands out amongst the golden corn, trying to reign ‘em in and boss ‘em about. He takes the role of older brother very seriously, especially since he’s outgrown them all this past year. Shizen, he’s outgrown me too, and calls me “Shorty” every chance he gets. And just like me, none of ‘em pay him no mind. I smile to myself as I hear his laughter mix with theirs as he finally gives up on ordering ‘em about and joins in with the game. Looks like there ain’t no more work getting done this morning.
My smile grows wider as I glance down at Cat lying in the cool shade of the cabin porch. Her three cubs, Ernst, Rease, and Tater, crawl over her, mewling with the excitement of feeding time.
“Young’uns, huh?” I say to her, and she meets my raised brow with a weary, red stare of agreement.
I raise my tin of dandyweed tea to my lips, the sight of the flowering fields and the young’uns’ laughter floating on the wind bringing with it a sense of contentment. It had taken me a while to reach this level. A while to finally believe everything was gonna be okay. I had Jax and the young’uns to thank for my new-found peace. Even though I’m still plagued at times by night terrors, waking up with Jax by my side always gets me through it.
As if my thoughts dredge him up, Jax appears from around the corner of our cabin, and my heart goes into overdrive like always at his appearance. He’s covered in dust, and his hair is stuck up and blowing in the wind, but I still think him to be about the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.
“Did I hear you talking to yourself again?” he teases as he leaps nimbly onto the porch and takes the tea outta my hand, dropping a light kiss on my cheek in return. I don’t argue him stealing my tea. What’s mine is his now.
“No, I was talkin’ to Cat. She looks tired. I think her babes kept her up all night again.”
“Aye, well, if it was any of ‘em, it’s probably this little devil.” He leans over and scratches Tater’s tiny ears. “He definitely takes after his namesake, that’s for sure.”
I laugh quietly as our eyes meet, and we share the memory of our old friend. I miss him still.
“Speaking of babes,” Jax says, leaning against the rail beside me. “I went to town while you slept the whole morning away, lazybones. I stopped by Ben and Belle’s. Their little one is growing like a weed. They’re packing up and getting ready to make the journey to Skytown for the freedom celebrations. Ben says Mack is sending a veacal to make traveling with the babe a lot easier. They wanna know if we’re going this year. Especially, since it’s held in your honor.”
He says it nonchantly, but I get the underlying hopefulness in his voice. He wants to go.
“Jax, you know I hate crowded places. Even goin’ to town bothers me. People look at me weird.”
He laughs. “That’s because you’re a real-life hero, woman. You’re the one traders tell stories about out in the sand lands now. You should be thrilled that Skytown pays honor to you on the anniversary of Freedom Day. Hell, I’ve even heard that the muties built a statue in your likeness.”
“What?” I stare at him in horror, before he cracks up laughing.
“I’m joking, but you should see the look on your face.”
“Jackass,” I mumble as I
take back my tea. “Besides, what about the fields? The corn is gonna need pickin’ soon, and you know if we go the young’uns are gonna wanna go too. We cain’t just up and leave here all willy nilly.”
Jax crosses his arms. “The corn will be fine while we’re gone. And we’ll hire a boy from town to care for Winnie and the horses.”
“But what about Cat?”
“Cat will be fine and so will her babes. So will the mice in the barn and the birds in the loft, just in case you’re going to start worrying about them, too. Everybody will be fine, and the world won’t fall apart if we go for the celebration.”
I stare down into my tea. “But it’s Skytown, Jax. It’s so far to travel. And we gotta go through the sand lands and just because the army is gone, that don’t mean there still ain’t bad people out there. And you know my Chi is so unstable now. Since Maya drained me, it’s barely around. What if something happens? I cain’t protect us no more.”
Jax removes the tin from my hand and lays it on the rail as he wraps my hands in his. “Hey, I’m not gonna pressure you into doing anything you don’t want to do. But you have to realize that your days of protecting all of us are over. We don’t expect you to be the hero anymore, Tara. It’s my turn to take care of you now. Besides, Talbert and Beanie will be going with us. They would never in a thousand years let anything happen to you.”
“That ain’t helpin’ me decide in your favor, Jax,” I mumble, and he laughs.
“Listen, I’m not going to harp on about it. You think about it and decide, but remember this. If we go, we’re gonna be guests of Skytown’s Captain, which means we’re gonna stay in his fancy house with the finest meals and the best supply of choc-o-let. Now, I don’t know about you, but after breaking our backs on this farm and working our fingers to the bone for two years, I’m ready to be pampered for a few days, aren’t you? Besides, I know what’s really bothering you. You’re scared people are gonna recognize you as a New Blood. But so what? Your kind aren’t that rare anymore. Since the Prezedant’s death, New Bloods are coming out of the woodwork to help heal the lands. There are so many of you now, your kind are almost the norm.”
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