“Have you looked at her?” Jordan said. “She looks murderous. I’ve known her for years and one thing I know for certain is that you don’t want to be on Kali’s bad side. Whoever messed with her is going to have their ass handed to them.”
I laughed, she knew me so well. I was furious and whatever history I’d adopted from the Arelias before me, heightened my normal protectiveness. I liked this new magic. It gave me a confidence I hadn’t had since arriving in Arvata.
As much as I wanted to question what was happening to me, we didn’t have time. The same way the bond drew me closer to Lucas, I now had this severe pull to the forest like in my dreams. It had been gone since arriving here, but now it was back with a vengeance. I’d have to get answers later and I was okay with that for now.
“Yes, I’m ready,” I said. “We’ll find whoever’s hurting our home and we will defeat them.”
“Glad we’re on her good side then,” Kane said. “I really don’t feel like getting my ass kicked today.”
More visions kept going through the back of my head while we walked further into the forest. Thankfully, they weren’t distracting or I might’ve been in trouble. I still wasn’t sure what everything meant, but it was nice to know that when I might need help, the information would be there for me.
We walked for over an hour and didn’t come across anything. We could all feel the heaviness in the forest, but thankfully it wasn’t dragging us down.
“Anyone have any ideas on where we should be headed or what we should look for?” Lela asked.
“We should’ve been halfway to the Falls by now, but I can’t even hear it yet.” Oliver said. “It shouldn’t be taking this long.”
I looked around and realized the spot we were at was familiar. I concentrated like Lucas had taught me during our magic lessons and focused on my surrounding. I breathed in and out, and took my time to study our location. I finally felt it. A barrier and a very strong one with dark magic.
“We’re being blocked from the rest of the forest,” I said. “We’ve been walking in circles for the last hour. Whoever is out there has a barrier over the rest of the forest and we can’t get through unless we break it.”
Everyone turned and looked at me like I had grown two heads. I guessed they didn’t expect me to have the answer. To be honest, I didn’t really know how I knew either. Lorelle said I needed to trust myself and the knowledge I now held within me, so I was trying to do just that.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Tiana said. “Let’s break the barrier down and find the bastard that put it there. Whoever it is can’t be that strong if they felt the need to hide themselves.”
She might be right or it could be the complete opposite. Whoever was on the other side of the barrier was just able to trick us all into walking in circles for over an hour. Either way, we were about to find out.
Chapter Nine
We had practiced breaking barriers when we were training, but nothing compared to the one in front of us. Hopefully we wouldn’t have a problem with it, especially now that I had my full strength.
“You guys remember in practice when you broke through Jordan’s shield?” Lucas asked. “Well, we are going to have to do that again, but this time we need to connect our magic and do it together on this barrier.”
Lucas had told us earlier that shields and barriers were essentially the same thing except shields were more for protecting people or smaller things and barriers were done on a larger scale as a defensive technique.
“Kali will need to be in the middle and funnel most of the magic,” Oliver said. “If one of us tried to take on her power, it would overload us.”
It was weird to think I held more power than all of them combined. Actually, it scared the crap out of me, but I was trying to think positively. This was going to be a good thing.
“Oliver’s correct,” Lucas said. “Based off what we now know, Kali will be the only one able to channel the power. I still want to start off small. Jordan and Kane, be the first to connect to Kali. If it looks like Kali is handling the power okay, we’ll add two more at time and I’ll join last.” Lucas pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jordan, you need to watch Kali after I connect. You’ll be closest to her and I’m counting on you to make sure she doesn’t get overloaded.”
I wrapped my arms around Lucas’s waist and wished I could relieve some of his worry. I didn’t like being the cause of his stress, but I also loved that he cared enough for me already to be concerned for my wellbeing.
“You don’t have to worry about her, Lucas,” Jordan said. “We’ll make sure all of us are okay and nothing bad is going to happen.” She looked at me with a grin. “Let’s see what you’re made of, Kali.”
I shook my head and smiled at Jordan. I turned to take a step to move toward the others but before I could, Lucas grabbed my arm and turned me back to him.
“Please be careful,” He said. “I didn’t wait two hundred years to find you only to lose you. I have plans for us that you need to be here for, so if you feel like something isn’t right, you need to break the connection. Promise me, you won’t let the power overload you or drain you. I need you.”
He grabbed my face with both hands and kissed me fervently. My hands squeezed his arms as he caught me off guard. He poured so much love into the kiss that I had chills from my head to my toes. Someone let out a catcall and Lucas reluctantly pulled back and rested his forehead against mine.
“Wow,” I breathed out. “That was some kiss. I promise I can do this and I’ll be safe. We’ll have thousands of tomorrows and we’re going to make it out of this okay. I won’t let this evil take anything away from either of us.”
I was pretty proud of that statement for two reasons. The first, because I was normally the one who needed the pep talk and secondly, I truly believed every word I’d said. I wouldn’t have yesterday, but today was a new day and I was a new me. We were going to be okay.
Lucas nodded and gave me one more squeeze before letting go. I walked over to Jordan with a huge grin on my face despite what we were about to do.
“Get your head out of the clouds,” Jordan teased. “We need your A-game.”
“You’re just jealous,” I laughed.
“I don’t think so,” Jordan said.
I watched as Jordan turned and jumped into Kane’s arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him thoroughly. When she pulled back and hopped down, Kane’s face was beet red. Jordan walked back over to me and stood there with a self-satisfied grin on her face.
“Okay then,” I said. “Let’s get started.”
Everyone else laughed at our banter. I even saw Lucas crack a little smile despite how stressed he was.
I grabbed Jordan’s hand and she grabbed Kane’s. Kane pushed his magic into Jordan first and then Jordan pushed theirs into me. I tensed waiting for the pain like before, but all I felt was pure bliss. This kind of power could be addicting to the wrong person.
Tiana and Oliver joined next with no complications, then Lela and Ryan. I was certain I could handle the amount of power I had flowing through me, but I still tried to keep it contained just in case.
“You alright?” Lucas asked and I nodded. “I’m going to join. Funnel the magic out as soon as you feel me. The barrier is surrounding us so you can aim it anywhere.”
That part was what made me nervous. I knew our magic wasn’t a never ending well and worried I wouldn’t know when to stop. I looked at Jordan and she gave me a reassuring smile.
“You can do this, Kali,” Jordan said. “We’ve got your back.”
I nodded and was about to respond to her but I felt Lucas’s magic merge with the others.
Cheese and rice, this magic needed to be out now.
I immediately pushed the magic from my body and watched as a stream of fog left my body through my stomach area. Though it looked like fog, it moved quickly and was more solid. The fog went out about twenty feet in front of us and hit the barrier. It creeped up the bar
rier and made a five-foot circle. I kept pushing more magic out and watched as it pooled at the center.
I started to feel the others weaken and tried to stop the flow of magic going out, but it wouldn’t stop. In fact, it seemed to be coming out of me faster. I screamed out in frustration. I would not fail when we were just getting started.
Ryan was at the end and I looked down when I heard Lela cry out. He was hunched over on the ground, but still holding Lela’s hand to keep the connection. Damn it! I didn’t understand why I couldn’t cut the magic off.
Jordan’s hand was getting tighter on mine and I could hear her grunts from the toll it was taking on her as well. I tried to focus and center myself so that I could figure out what I was doing wrong, but it was hard with everything going on around me.
“Kali, break the connection.” Lucas called out.
Right as I was about to tell him I couldn’t, Strix landed on my shoulder. He spread his wings out and flapped them furiously. The fog of magic that had been steadily coming from my stomach then slammed into the barrier and finally stopped flowing from me.
I sagged in relief and let out a deep breath. That was entirely way too close. I knew we wouldn’t have lasted much longer before our magic was drained and I didn’t want to find out what would happen if it did.
The whole thing probably only took minutes but it felt like hours. I had sweat coming down my face and body was trembling from the effort to stay upright. I saw the fog of magic spread out like a spider web as the barrier broke. As soon as it did, we were doused in magic so black, I could barely breathe at first.
Lucas ran to me and swept me into his arms in a tight hug. I looked over his shoulder to check on Ryan and Lela and they seemed to be recovering well.
“Well, that sure isn’t sunshine and roses that greeted us.” Jordan said. “Anyone know what the hell that is?”
This magic was the work of Damien, someone who was supposed to have been banished from Arvata centuries ago. When I felt the dark magic, a memory surfaced from the ones I’d received from the past Arelias and I knew this was Damien’s doing.
“You should be asking who that is, and that who would be some guy named Damien,” I said. “I’m not sure who he is exactly. Still sorting through that, but I know we’re feeling his dark magic.”
I looked around to make sure everyone else was okay too. I hadn’t thought we’d all survive that until I felt Strix. The barrier would’ve sucked us dry before it broke.
“Damien? Are you sure?” Lucas asked. “There’s only one Damien that I know of and he was destroyed a long time ago.”
“Well, I’m new to this Arelia thing so I guess I could be wrong, but that’s what memory surfaced right after the barrier broke,” I said. “Damien was not destroyed but banished. He was too strong to be destroyed by the Elders so they locked him away in a prison in the Otherworld. He must have found a way out and now he’s back.”
“Will he know that we broke the barrier?” Lela asked.
That was a good question and one I didn’t have an answer to. I glanced to Lucas and Jordan, hoping they knew how to respond and that it was going to be something good for us.
“Damien will know it has been broken,” Lucas sighed. “So we will need to be extra vigilant. Now that we know who we’re dealing with, we can’t let our guard down.”
I glanced around the forest now that the barrier was broken and I could see into the trees. It was devastating, everything was dying. Tree limbs were drooped at awkward angles, the leaves were dry and cracked, and the ground was covered in dead, brown foliage. I couldn’t hear any wildlife either, it was silent all around us. Damien was sucking the life out of everything in his path.
Strix rubbed his head against my cheek and I was grateful for his comfort. I also had Lucas on the other side of me and between the two of them, I knew that I’d be fine.
“So, now what do we do?” Lela asked. “Go looking for this Damien guy?”
We did need to find Damien, but I also wanted to figure out how to sort through these memories and see why the Elders failed to destroy him before. I hoped since we had the extra support of Strix, we’d be able to do what couldn’t be done centuries ago.
“I think we should all take a break for a minute to hydrate and check our books,” I suggested. “We won’t be of any use to each other if we don’t take care of ourselves along the way.”
I was going to take Lorelle’s advice and trust my instincts, and taking this time now seemed important. We had no idea what to expect next.
“Kali has a point,” Lucas said. “Take a minute to eat and see if there’s new information in your books now that we know who we’re dealing with. Damien is likely more powerful than anything we’ve faced before.”
Everyone nodded in agreement and went to find somewhere to sit down with their Meraki. I grabbed Lucas’s hand and sat on a rock behind us. I was glad he agreed with me.
“Are you doing okay?” He asked as we sat. “That was a lot of power that went through you to break the barrier.”
“I feel better now. Strix helped a lot,” I said. “I tried to cut off the flow when you told me to, but it wouldn’t stop. If Strix hadn’t done whatever he did, I don’t know what might’ve happened.”
“He’s very powerful,” Lucas said. “We’re lucky to have his help. Hopefully, we’ll have something helpful from the Fates as well.”
I took my book out of my bag and was just as nervous opening it as I was the first time. We really needed a break here. If we didn’t know more about what we were up against, all of us might not make it out of here. I held my thumbs on the cover and heard the pop of it opening and quickly flipped the pages to a new entry.
You are the Arelia of Arvata. This power was given to you by the Fates and we trust in you to use this power wisely and for the greater good. The Elders have been compromised and one is not fit to govern over Arvata any longer. Not all of them are bad, but that will be up to you to figure out.
Damien has been banished for centuries and he is weak still. If you can get to him before the Falls are depleted, you can defeat him. The eight of you, along with Strix are powerful enough to do this. Have faith that all will be right again.
Some of that we had already figured out, but I was surprised to hear about the Elders. No wonder the Elders hadn’t been forthcoming with information when we met with them. One of them was counting on us to fail.
I looked over at Lucas’s book and he had a new entry too.
“Did yours mention the Elders?” I asked and Lucas nodded his agreement. “Explains a lot about why we felt like we weren’t getting any help from them.”
“It does and I can’t believe this.” Lucas said as he slammed his book shut. “Someone helped Damien escape and it was likely an Elder of all people, but what would they have to gain from that? Our home could be destroyed.”
“I was wondering the same thing,” Jordan said as she and Kane walked over to us. “I want to know which geezer’s ass we’re kicking after we beat Damien.”
“I take it you had similar passages in your books?” I asked. “Well, one problem at a time. The book says we can defeat Damien together and that’s what we’re going to do.”
“Uh guys,” Lela called out with a trembling voice. “Do you see that?”
We all turned in the direction she pointed to see some sort of beast coming toward us and it was not giving off warm and fuzzy feelings.
Chapter Ten
The beast had a massive head shaped like a wolf, along with razor-sharp teeth that dripped with saliva. The body was long and covered in coarse, silver hair. Its feet were shaped like the hooves of a horse and whatever it was, it did not look happy. Please, only be one.
“Any idea what that dog-horse thing is, oh so wise one?” Jordan teased.
“Nope, not a clue, smartass,” I said. “You’re welcome to go figure it out for the rest of us if you’d like.”
The beast started to circle us and pawed at the ground
like it was getting ready to charge. We stood with our backs to each other in case any more of these darling creatures decided to join their friend.
Lucas shot out an orb. I hoped he knew what he was doing because it seemed like he just pissed it off rather than doing any damage.
“What’s the plan, guys?” Tiana asked. “I’d rather not be wolfy’s lunch today.”
“We need to find its weak spot,” Oliver said. “Keep hitting it with orbs until we find where the thing is most vulnerable.”
Oliver sent an orb flying toward the beast and hit the center of its head. The beast let out a ferocious growl, shook its head, and decided it wanted to play. It charged at us with flames coming out of its mouth and nearly fried our heads.
Jordan threw up a shield and stopped the flames from reaching us, but I could still feel the heat of them along my body.
The beast had backed up and was getting ready to charge again. I wasn’t sure how long Jordan could hold the shield, but hopefully long enough.
“Jordan, drop the shield at my signal,” Lucas said. “Everyone, get an orb ready and make sure to aim for different spots. One at a time, we’ll hit the beast with everything we have.”
I hadn’t attempted to make an orb since the block had been lifted from me. I really hoped I’d be better at them now.
“Ready?” Lucas looked to us and we all nodded. “One, two, three!”
Lucas went first and hit the beast’s neck, then Oliver shot at the chest and I aimed for the stomach. The beast started to buck wildly and flames came at us from all directions. Thankfully, my orb seemed to have the same impact as the others.
Before I was able to get a shield of my own up, my arm was burned when the beast whipped its head around eagerly trying to get at us. I let out a hiss of pain and glanced down at Strix to make sure he hadn’t been burned as well. Thankfully, he seemed to be untouched. His eyes were focused on the beast and then he flew up into the sky.
“Lucas, it’s not working,” Ryan yelled. “What else should we do? We won’t last much longer like this if we keep getting burned at the same time.”
To the Falls Page 8