by Jaymin Eve
“I have to go now.” Klea’s rough tone startled Ria.
She spun around to find the leon in mid transition. The skin was melting away to be replaced by fur and when Klea’s mouth finally lengthened into a muzzle she would no longer be able to speak in human tongue.
Ria nodded. She knew Klea hated leaving her unguarded, but no pack member could ignore the call of the red moon. And she would be safe.
With a roar, Klea dropped to all fours and flung herself out of the doorway. Ria moved back to the edge of the trees, watching as her jungle came to life. The noise below was almost deafening.
Ria never slept the night of the red moon. The energy had her buzzing around her loft until the purple light faded and the large ball disappeared from the sky. The moment that the blue moons filled the sky, the packs quietened and proceeded to sleep off the night. Ria took advantage of this time, descending to the forest floor and moving freely through Artwon. She needed this moment to release her overload of energy. Each time power fizzling from her plants sprouted or burst to life. Large flowers bloomed, fruit blossomed, and she loved feeding her overflow back into nature.
During her run she’d never seen any living creatures, so an unexpected movement between two lanta trees had her grinding to a halt.
Pack members required at least twelve hours’ sleep after the red moon, so it could be none of them. Ria scanned the dense vines and trees as she wandered under the large brown trunks that formed the structure for the tangled venus vines.
There was no more movement, but she knew something had disturbed the land; she could feel the unease from the plants.
Deciding that whatever it was must be long gone, she was turning to continue her journey when he stepped out from between a section of large vines.
Ria gasped.
She knew this man.
Her mother had given her dreams of the father she’d never known. The father who was now standing before her.
She took an involuntary step forward, her eyes cataloguing every detail. He was much taller than she was, his hair the same silky brown color as her own, his skin much darker but still tawny. Ria had always known that her unusual eye color was from him, but his were even more dramatically set off by stunning purple square-shaped marks running along the right side of his face and neck.
Except for these marks, she was the female version of this man. Well, the marks and the ivy print in her hair, which was courtesy of her mother.
They examined each other. Ria could see the vines curling around his arms and legs, the same way they did when greeting her. And then as she continued to stare at him the marks disappeared off his face, as if they’d just melted into his skin. How had he done that?
“You are very impressive.” He finally spoke, his accent heavy and unfamiliar.
“What are you doing here?” Ria asked him.
“I have watched you for a long time. Your mother asked that I leave you alone.” His purple eyes flashed, reflecting off the blue moonlights. “But things are changing in the First World star system. It’s no longer safe, so I’m here to warn you.”
Ria’s unease grew, which had her plants wrapping tightly around her for comfort.
“Warn me about what?” she asked.
He held out a hand to her. “It would be better if I showed you.”
Ria hesitated. She knew nothing of him or his intentions. But despite this she found herself stepping forward and reaching out to place her smaller hand into his.
“Show me the threat to my people.”
Ria stared at the bunkers under the roots of the massive rairing tree, energy roaring inside her. She had the barest sliver of control over her anger.
Her father, whose name she had learnt was Nos, had shown her how the fringe had been evading her detection.
They wore the skins of the dead.
That was why when she scanned the forest for them they went undetected: the skin of all those they had killed surrounded their den like a large camouflage, and they also covered themselves in the skins. The deads’ fur gave off its own aura, hiding the living who wore it. And they had hundreds of furs, many more dead than she’d ever realized.
“As terrible as you may find this, I did not bring you here to mourn your dead.” Nos spoke quietly. “These nuisances are the gateway to something much worse that could spell the end of Artwon and Regali.”
He definitely had Ria’s attention now. She waited for him to continue, but he seemed content to sit beside her in the high branches. Patience was a skill she’d worked hard to develop in her many years, so for now she just continued to observe.
The fringe had numerous members. Hundreds came and went through the veil of dead.
Ria sat upright, her senses firing as a group emerged from the underground burrow. They weren’t pack. They looked like her, but short and sturdy, the dwarvin. She had heard of these creatures. They lived in the lands of the north; the flat plains.
“What are they doing here?” she muttered.
“War is coming to your doorstep, Ria. The fringe are gathering rebel factions from all corners of Regali. They plan on taking Artwon first.”
His words sent shockwaves of panic through her. There had never been war between the countries before. As a rule, everyone stuck to their own area.
“They could not have organized this on their own,” she said, knowing the fringe did not have the manpower or the resources.
The north men disappeared into the trees. She was tempted to send out her vines and steal back her dead brethren they wore, but she knew now wasn’t the time to tip them off.
“That is why I have come,” Nos said. “You have a Walker problem.”
Chapter 2
Abigail
Six days.
We’d been stuck inside the moonstale dome for six days, and in this time it was abundantly clear that while Walkers were powerful they were mostly – what was the right word? – oh yeah, asshats.
Most of them had no clue how the modern world worked and they threw their dominance around like bullying children in the playground. And, speaking of children, I’d finally asked about Walker young.
There were none at this gathering. Brace said their rare offspring were protected and would never be involved in mass Walker events. I had a strange longing to see the power, majesty and beauty of Walker children. Something told me they would be mesmerizing.
The last six days of the gathering had been a power play amongst the clans. It was so frustrating. Everyone knew that the older clan members held more information than could ever be recorded. And if we could get them to stop hoarding their thoughts we might have some clues to defeating the Seventine. Easier said than done. I was starting to worry that the entire gathering was a fruitless endeavor.
Right at that moment I was hiding away in the trees by the lake. Some of the very old Doreen members were scattered close by, but unlike their newer models, they mostly left me alone. I was sitting in the forest worrying about everything. The clans, the Seventine and lastly Lucy.
Something was going on with her; she was keeping a secret from me, which was very unlike her. I was worried that it might have something to do with Colton. He’d been sniffing around my best friend like the wolf he was, and I was contemplating a way to neuter him.
I’ll be finished soon, Red. Then I’m coming for you.
I shivered as the deep tones of my mate brushed across my mind. It had been a long six days for Brace also. His father’s death had left his Walker clan, Abernath, in a state of disarray. Brace was now on the verge of becoming Abernath’s next Princep, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. He wasn’t even the ruler yet and I’d barely seen him over the past week. I missed him.
Promises, promises, I teased him. What if you can’t find me?
He laughed.
You’re in a moonstale dome that you can’t escape. I don’t think that will be a problem.
The Walker gathering was scheduled to last for seven days and in that tim
e no one could leave this area. It had made for some interesting fights and challenges, but so far nothing too major had happened. But that might all change tonight. This was the final meeting and all the Princeps had agreed to reveal their collected information about the Seventine. So far they had been less than forthcoming, no one wanting to just give their knowledge away for free.
I was hoping that we would discover something which could be used to swing the battle-of-the-star-systems in our favor. Right now we had too little time and information and we were running against the clock. I had to finish gathering the seven half-Walker girls before the Seventine were all released. Right now I had Talina from Spurn and Fury from Crais. And tomorrow I was off to Regali, the planet of the beasts. Meanwhile the three freed Seventine were around severing tethers and exploding Walkers. Luckily for us, we hadn’t seen any evidence that the third had stuck around after killing Que.
“Abbs, I need to tell you something.”
I spun around at the sound of my best friend’s somber tone. One look at her face had panic zooming through my veins. I’d known she was keeping something from me but this was bad, really bad.
“Oh, my god, Luce, what the hell happened?”
She opened her mouth but I kind of lost my mind as the worst case scenario I could imagine jumped into my thoughts. Damn Colton.
“You’re pregnant, aren’t you? Shit. I’m going to kill that mangy flea bag.”
I knew what I was saying was crazy, but I couldn’t stop myself turning away and marching into the Doreens’ area. The horror spreading across Lucy’s face only increased my panic.
“Colton,” I bellowed as I strode from the forest and into Doreen. He was somewhere with Brace. “Get your hairy butt out here.”
“Abby!” Lucy was at my side. “What the crap are you doing? I’m not pregn –”
“Are you looking for me?” Colton strolled over, his perfect face relaxed.
“You have some explaining to do, rug man,” I said, my annoyance fueling my words.
I’d warned Lucy to stay away from this Walker, but clearly she hadn’t listened.
“Rug man?” he asked, raising his brows.
“Yeah, because you’re about a minute from becoming a pelt on my floor,” I spat out. “What did you do? Lucy has been keeping a secret from me and there’s only one thing that would freak her out that much.”
His white blue eyes flicked across to lock on Lucy’s face.
“She thinks I’m having a litter,” Lucy said, raising her brows.
I couldn’t even think how this had happened. I mean, I knew how it happened, but it wasn’t that simple with a Walker. Half-Walkers aren’t supposed to exist, except the seven of us who were needed to save the worlds, but I couldn’t think of any other reason why Lucy had been avoiding me for days. And I knew it was early, she wasn’t showing or anything, but I assumed she’d found out in a vision.
Colton’s features hardened. “Why does she think that?” His tone was deadly calm. “Have you been doing something to get pregnant? Who?” He threw his hands in the air. “I’ll kill him.”
Shit, sounds like it’s not Colton’s.
Lucy narrowed her eyes at him. “Listen, pound puppy –” she started but he interrupted her.
“I’m a damn wolf,” he growled before stomping away.
“I’m not pregnant,” Lucy said, her smile tired. “I wish it were something as simple as that.”
Had she just declared pregnancy simple? That was always my worst case scenario when I jumped to a conclusion.
“Then why did you say that to Colt?”
She laughed. “He just rubs me the wrong way, being all gorgeous and demanding and arrogant and freaking sexy.”
I joined her laughter. “Welcome to the world of Walkers.”
We continued along the path.
“You look tired, Abbs.” She reached out to capture my arm and hug me close.
I hadn’t been sleeping much, and even though the enlightenment of my Walker powers had given me increased speed, strength and stamina, the dreams were starting to take their toll. I was being tormented by infrequent, but frustrating dreams of the end of First World. Something was trying to give me a message I was yet to figure out.
“Don’t change the subject, Luce. What do you have to tell me?” I shook back my long mane of blood-red curls.
I wasn’t ready to discuss my dreams, not even with Brace. I had the terrible feeling they were linked to Lucas, the First-World Emperor, and my responsibilities to him. And I had too much to deal with already.
“We should sit down,” Lucy said. “And we need total privacy.”
Her words restarted my internal freaking out. I led her across to this small inlet of the pond with its own waterfall. The gushing water was loud enough to hide our words. She sat on the rock next to me, her hands clasped in her lap as she stared down at them. I waited, for once striving for patience. Although I might have been slowly going insane on the inside.
She laughed without looking up. “I can feel your urge to reach out and strangle the information from me.”
I shrugged. “What can I say? I need to know things. Anything really that’s of interest to me. Something tells me your secret is of great interest to me.”
“It’s bad, Abbs, really bad.” She sighed and lifted her eyes to meet my gaze.
My heart was racing.
“Is it Quarn?” I whispered.
My guardian was at the castle with Lucas, helping with the ceremonies for the recently departed Emperor and the crowning of Lucas as the new ruler of First World.
Lucy shook her head. “No, Abbs, stop guessing. You’ll never get it right and you’re going to drive yourself insane.”
I was literally thirty seconds from reaching out and shaking her until she spilled her secret. But just as I lifted my arms she spoke.
“I had a vision about the final battle.”
I stilled, the slightest rise of my chest from my shallow breathing my only movement.
“We lost. The Seventine were all free, and they killed everyone but you.”
I could hear her words but they sounded like they were coming from far away. I had recently freed the third Seventine to save Brace, but in doing so I broke the lock keeping them from destroying all the worlds. A safeguard that had been instilled by the original seven Walkers. And now Lucy was telling me that my choice would cost everyone’s life. She was staring at me, a look of despair etched across her porcelain doll-like features.
“Did …” I had to clear my throat. “Did you learn anything which could help to change this fate? Surely you had this vision for a reason, so we could learn how to win the final battle.”
She laughed out in a hoarse croak. “The first Seventine said that because of your melding with Brace – where you split powers with him – you would never have been strong enough to defeat them.”
When we’d first started to talk I’d shut down the connection between Brace and me. In case it was something bad that Lucy didn’t want public knowledge. Apparently it was even worse than that. I jumped to my feet.
“Are you telling me that my unbreakable bond with Brace is the reason we all die?”
A bond so important that I’d literally made a deal with the devil to reinstate. She nodded, her lips forming a thin line. I just stared at her. The world around me started to spin in a strange dizzying motion. Were the trees closing in?
Lucy opened her mouth again.
“Abby?”
I could see the question on her face as she said my name, but the words were all distorted and echoing. Was I having some type of breakdown? I closed my eyes in an attempt to quell the insanity fluttering around me.
“Abbs!” Her tone was more demanding now.
“I have to tell him,” I whispered, opening my eyes. I needed to know what we should do.
“No!” Her response was strong. She waved her hands at me. “You can’t tell Brace. My visions indicate that if you reveal this nothing c
hanges.”
I shook my head a few times. “I am going to tell him, Luce. I learned something important when I freed the Seventine. Secrets do nothing but cause trouble.” I sighed. “It goes against my instincts but I can’t save the worlds alone.”
And Brace and I were a team. I’d hate for him to keep important information from me.
“Please listen to me,” she implored. “He loves you so much. More than anything else, including the worlds. He’ll destroy them all to keep you. At least don’t tell him straight away.”
My heart warmed and swelled at her words, which was odd because my blood felt as if it had turned to ice.
“Have you told anyone else this?” I asked.
“No, Abbs, I haven’t said a word.”
She was so somber for Lucy. I could see the whirling portal of fear, panic and exhaustion in her blue eyes. And desperation. It was the real emotion blaring at me.
“Okay, Luce, just for now I won’t tell him.”
It was wrong and I wasn’t happy, but I’d give us a little time to try to find a solution.
A few leaves drifted down to rest in our hair. Six months ago we would never have believed it was possible to be sitting in a forest. For almost eighteen years I had been stashed on Earth, in New York, which was urban living at its worst. Derelict buildings, gangs and a compound of abandoned girls. But I was a true First Worlder. And if it was all going to end soon, at least I’d escaped to see my home planet.
“What the hell do I do now?” It wasn’t in my nature to roll over and die. I just needed a new plan.
“I don’t know,” Lucy finally replied.