Unless he slipped up or was torn from Elena and went solid, crossbows weren’t a deterrent in his transformed state.
Null guns were.
Derek adjusted Elena in his arms. Turning solid from a null gun while running through an eighteen-inch stone defense wall would not be good. He held the back of her head to keep their mouths together, and glanced back.
What he saw jarred his senses.
Not a null, or at least that wasn’t what caught his attention.
Niall appeared from inside the castle. Along with his army—through the walls, not the door. Each of his guards held a crossbow in one hand while the other touched the shoulder of a fellow soldier. They connected to a single point in the middle. Niall.
The king had Blended an army of Fae with one touch.
Holy shit.
Derek darted to the left, bypassed two null blasts, and hurtled through the defense wall.
He stumbled on the other side, caught his footing, and leapt over the moat, one arm windmilling, the other latched on to Elena.
As they crashed to the ground, Derek bit into Elena’s lip and she squeaked. His leg disappeared into the soil as he stumbled upright, his mind so muddled he wasn’t focused on his transformation. If he didn’t give it the smallest amount of concentration, he’d walk right through something instead of on it.
Derek jerked his foot free of the earth amid a rain of arrows, and ran for the northern forest.
Somehow, they managed to make it there without getting shot by a null, thanks to some zigzagging on Derek’s part and the sporadic cover of trees. Old Kingdom Fae might be able to see Derek while Blended, but he wasn’t a clear target. Not at the speed he was going.
He entered the forest and dodged thick foliage and ancient trees for miles as he ran without slowing his pace. Eventually, they lost sight and sound of the guards behind them, and still Derek ran.
Hours passed. Finally, he slowed and abruptly broke the transformation, sliding Elena down his body to the ground. His breaths sawed in and out, and he hunched over, grasping his knees. His lungs burned, and for a moment his vision blurred.
“Are you okay?” she asked, worry in her voice. He couldn’t see her. Could barely make out the ground in front of his face.
After a moment, he straightened. “Fine,” he said, his breathing returning to normal. “We have to keep running, though. I think we lost them, but I want to move deeper, just in case. We’ll make better time if I’m not carrying you.”
A cry like a wailing baby, followed by the clap of wings flapping, came from above. Derek flinched.
Birds didn’t cry. Then again, the animals here weren’t normal.
Elena peered at the trees and rubbed her upper arms. “Yeah, let’s keep going.” She studied him some more. “You sure you’re okay, though?”
He breathed in deeply. His lungs no longer burned and he felt better. “Good as new.”
Aside from the growth, the Ancient Allon leaves seemed to have increased the speed he could run and heal.
They took off through the forest, running faster than any human should, and something occurred to him. He grabbed Elena’s hand and slowed. “Stop for a second.”
“You need a break?” She didn’t seem winded, and he definitely wasn’t. That wasn’t why he wanted her to stop.
“No, I want to try something.” He peered at their entwined fingers and concentrated, allowing the transformation to sweep through him.
The difference between pre-leaf transformations and post was like comparing a dying battery to one fully charged. He’d seen what Niall had done with his soldiers. He wondered…
Derek mentally projected his powers to encompass Elena.
There was no one to tell them what they looked like, so he pulled Elena toward a tree.
She held back. “Wait. What are you doing?”
“Trust me,” he said, and walked through the base, staring as Elena’s hand touched the bark, then dipped into the tree. He pulled her through and out the other side with him.
She glanced back. “I felt it, the transformation, but… how did you do that?”
With her mouth pressed to his during their escape, she couldn’t have seen the king. Wouldn’t have known it was possible, just like he hadn’t.
“While we were running from the castle, Niall Blended an entire regiment through the walls with one touch. As long as his men had one hand on each other with Niall at the center, they Blended.”
A mix of worry and wonder crossed her eyes, then her chin firmed. “Good. I’m glad your powers have grown. That will make travel easier.”
Was she glad? Her expressive eyes appeared frightened.
If he had the same powers as his biological father—plus the speed, strength, size, and build of a Fae—was he still human?
Derek squeezed her hand. “Come on. We’re only about half a mile from the border. The Oldlander guards may cross too, but I’d feel better knowing we’re off Niall’s land. If we’re lucky, we’ll find allies in Sunland.”
They jogged the last stretch, hands clasped, bodies Blended using Derek’s new heightened power, and reached a wide creek.
“This is it,” he said. “The border runs along the creek bed. Staying Blended will keep us dry as we cross.”
Derek stepped into the water a stride ahead of Elena, his hand stretched back and holding hers to maintain the connection. They glided through the water as if it were air.
Midway across the creek, a piercing pain jarred his head, vibrating down his spine and freezing him in place. His muscles spasmed and a groan burst from deep inside his chest. Derek dropped Elena’s hand, tearing apart the Blending and leaving them submerged in the cold creek.
“Derek!” Elena splashed to his side.
He tried to move forward, but the pain intensified and his legs buckled, water lapping his torso. He couldn’t think, couldn’t get his lungs to inhale. Paralysis oozed up his chest like drying cement, closing off his airways.
Small, spindly arms wrapped around his waist from behind.
Elena was dragging him through the water back to the shore they’d come from. Most of his weight floated along the surface, but once they reached solid ground, her breathing increased and she grunted as she heaved him to dry land.
He was twice her size. She shouldn’t have been able to maneuver him at all.
“Derek, your chest isn’t moving. Can you breathe?” She frantically waved her hand over his face and lowered her cheek to within a millimeter of his nose.
Sensation slowly seeped into his limbs and he breathed in deeply. “Yeah,” he said, panting. “I can now.”
She leaned back and exhaled, her eyes wild. “What happened back there? I thought you were dying.”
A memory flashed of Niall leaning over him while a guard beat him senseless. “You cannot leave, Derek,” he had said while another guard pressed electrode-like fingers to Derek’s forehead. “You are mine.”
He’d felt the magic at the time, but hadn’t known what it meant.
What had Niall done to him?
“I don’t think I can leave Old Kingdom. They did something to me. You—you have to go ahead.” The words ripped from Derek’s tongue like tearing flesh from his body.
He rolled his head against the gravel shore, his chest aching. He would rather lose a limb than leave her alone in Tirnan. “You have to go now,” he said. “While you still can.”
“You idiot! I’m not leaving without you.” Her voice shook and tears glistened in her eyes.
He sat up on his forearms then pushed to a sitting position. “Listen to me, Elena. We betrayed Niall. He’ll kill you if you stay here.”
She shook her head, and he moaned. So stubborn.
He liked her stubborn, feisty side. Liked everything about her. But right now her obstinacy would get her killed.
Derek grabbed her slender shoulders, his voice softening. “I don’t know how the magic he used works, but Niall made it impossible for me to exit the kingdo
m. You have to go. You have to create the cure.” And then get the hell out while you can. Derek swallowed. “You can do this, Elena.” His fingers dug into her skin and he shook her gently, trying to relay the urgency bucking inside him.
Elena’s liquid hazel eyes softened—so beautiful. She was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. Would ever see.
Her lips quivered. A tear ran down her cheek and she swiped it away. “I can’t—”
He kissed her. Hard. Consuming. She was so soft and warm, and his. Or maybe he was hers; it didn’t matter. He’d do anything for her.
Derek lifted Elena onto his lap and dragged her against his chest. He broke from her mouth to sweep kisses across her cheek, her chin. He pressed his face to her neck and inhaled her scent, memorizing it. He couldn’t let her go…
“You have to leave. Please,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.
The wailing birds roared above.
A small sob escaped her, but he felt her nod.
Derek pulled back to stare one last time at her beautiful face.
She raised her chin ever so slightly. “I’ll find you.”
44
Elena watched as Derek’s mouth tensed, then frowned. “Damn it, Elena! What you have to do is more important than my life. Don’t you dare risk yours for mine.”
“Of course I won’t risk my life.” Of course she would. “I’ll get help and we’ll get you out.” She’d do whatever it took to get him back, she silently vowed.
He continued to frown, as if he could read her thoughts. “Go. Before they get here,” he said. “I’ll find a hiding place in the woods. Head straight.” He pointed across the river to a copse of allons surrounded by tall pines, all bowed in as if guarding the magical trees.
Derek stood and pulled her up with him. His lips pressed together and he stared off into the distance, his throat bobbing.
Elena glanced across the creek, then back at him. “Derek—”
“Leave. Before they get here.” His voice came out grave and commanding, just the way it had the first day they’d met. This moment reminded her so much of that day, with him pushing her away.
But the Derek she knew now held her, guarded her. He would never leave her, unless there was no other way.
She clenched one hand on his shirt and pulled him down, kissing him softly on the mouth. She lingered a moment to savor the feel of him, before she turned and ran through the water to the opposite side of the creek.
When Elena looked back, Derek was gone, with not even a shimmer in the air to trace him.
A hollow feeling settled over her. Her clothes were wet, clinging to her calves and thighs like leafy seaweed pulling her under. But she wouldn’t go down. She had to fight for all of them now.
Elena turned and headed for the Sunland forest, determined to create a cure and return for Derek.
Hours later and deep inside the forest, Elena’s clothes hadn’t dried and she was shivering from cold. With the canopy of leaves blocking most of the sunlight, the moisture and cool air had seeped past her protective Fae clothing and into her bones.
The shadows had turned from gray to nearly black, making it difficult to see. She wrapped her arms around her waist and searched for a place to sleep for a few hours. No matter how good her vision, she couldn’t see without any light.
After walking another mile, she found a place she felt would be safe enough to rest in for a while—a tree like the one Derek had discovered when they’d hidden from the Oldlander guards. The upside-down mushroomed trunk was smaller than the one he’d found, but big enough for a single person.
Elena looked around one last time to make sure no one had followed her then crept into the hole. She copied Derek’s technique and used a bush to smooth out her footprints near the base, then blocked the hole with the shrub.
Inching as far from the opening as she could get, she found it more confined inside than it looked like from the outside. She couldn’t lie flat no matter which way she moved. Instead, she rested her head against the bark and covered her feet and legs with dried needles.
A shiver racked her body—from the cold, from fear. What would happen to Derek if Niall’s men found him?
Elena’s eyes burned. She cleared her throat and shifted her shoulder, searching for comfort.
“Deirdre, please come to me…” she whispered into the dark.
It was daylight and Elena stood inside a small village. If she gazed broadly, the village looked fogged and blurry, but if she focused on details—yellow flowers planted inside a red flowerbed, a cart full of grain—the image sharpened.
A dream?
“Deirdre?” she called out.
Elena walked across the street of the abandoned town to what she thought was the front of a store. When she clasped the doorknob, the metal rippled like water.
Her pulse raced with panic, and she ran to the building next door. But as soon as she approached, the image broke apart like soggy bread in water.
The lines of the town ran together in a messy watercolor. Her legs cramped, and something pinned her arms. “Deirdre! Help!”
“Wake up,” a woman’s gentle voice said.
Elena blinked awake, her heart pounding.
“Poor child. It is only I.” Deirdre was kneeling on the ground with her head inside the hole. “Come. We must get you to the village.”
Elena crawled from her tree cave to find it fully light outside. She had slept too long. Anything could have happened to Derek by now.
“How did you find me?”
Deirdre appeared thinner as she stepped over a log. “Not long after we spoke in Emain, I worried you’d end up in Tirnan. I prepared by coming here.” A vicious cough racked her body. She hunched over, her shoulders and chest convulsing as she gasped for air.
Elena bent to help her aunt, but Deirdre waved her away. “I’m fine, but we must hurry. Sunland has been hit hard by the virus. I was in Emain performing diplomatic work when it first surfaced. I wasn’t there when your uncle…”
Her Uncle Beorhtric had been murdered with the virus, and now Deirdre would succumb too if Elena didn’t do something. “Where do we go?”
“To your uncle’s laboratory, where you will find the tools you need.”
“How did you know—”
“The dream. I read your thoughts. I gathered your location and tried to show you the way to my village, but my powers are weak. I came to you instead. I’ve not been gone from Emain long, but time passes differently here. I’ve been infected almost a week now. We haven’t much time.” She paused, her gaze settling on Elena. “I am sorry about your friend…”
Derek. Elena wrapped her arms around her waist. Please let him be okay.
Deirdre was silent as they made their way out of the woods, but her aunt managed a slow jog once they were out in the open. Soon they came to an agricultural field.
Elena stopped, stunned for a moment. The landscape looked so much like the California Central Valley, minus the highways. “This is Sunland?”
“Yes.” Deirdre pointed to a cluster of low buildings in the distance. “And there lies your uncle’s laboratory.”
45
Elena took in the sophisticated laboratory her uncle had built beside the single-story home he and Deirdre shared. “This place is amazing.”
Deirdre’s thin face widened in a proud smile. “Most Fae rely on magic for their abilities. Your uncle embraced magic and science. He would have found a cure had they not…” Her voice trailed off and a blank look crossed her eyes, as though she still couldn’t believe he was gone.
“I’m sorry, Deirdre—for your loss.”
She blinked and looked over. “He would have liked to have met you, Elena. I’m sorry he didn’t get the chance.”
“Me too.” Elena stared down, wondering if she’d have any family left when this was all over, and praying Deirdre and her mother would survive.
Her aunt drew back her shoulders. “Let us not lose more lives. We must get to work.”
Deirdre paced to the opposite side of the room and pulled down beakers and petri dishes lined in perfect rows in a glass cabinet. “What else do you need?”
Elena took in the six microscopes against the back wall. All modern, all capable of in-depth cellular magnification. “This is more than enough. Oh—well, there is one thing. Can I take a sample from your nose?”
In the end, it took longer for Elena to figure out how to operate her uncle’s fancy microscope than it did to solve the riddle of the virus.
Once Derek had discovered information linking Marlon’s flu research to the Fae, he’d given Elena a quick tutorial on flu strains. Not enough to be an expert—but enough so that she had an understanding of how they worked. Flu viruses contain keys, or knobs, along the surface that connect with locks on healthy cells, and that’s how the virus spreads.
According to the data Derek had pulled from the thumb drive Marlon kept stashed away in the locked cabinet of his lab, Fae cells sealed their locks at the sight of a virus, and that was how the Fae avoided communicable disease. But with the Fae virus Marlon created, the cells didn’t seal their locks. They allowed the virus to enter, killing the cells at a rapid pace.
Derek’s theory was that Marlon’s virus put some sort of glamour over the diseased cells, so that the healthy cells didn’t recognize them as a threat. And F-18, the ingredient Marlon had obtained from her uncle Beorhtric, had been used to achieve it.
Elena looked up. “Deirdre, have you ever heard of something called F-18?”
By the time Elena and Derek returned to Marlon’s lab on campus, the blast had nearly killed them and had taken out all of Marlon’s ingredients. But maybe in her uncle’s laboratory, where F-18 had originated, she’d find it among his possessions.
Deirdre was lying on a chaise her husband kept in a corner of the lab, her face to the wall. She turned and peered over.
Elena gasped. In the two hours since she’d arrived, her aunt’s eyes had sunk more and her checks had hollowed. The skin of her face was thin and gray, and her body trembled lightly beneath several woolen blankets.
Fates Divided Page 30