walker saga 06 - dronish

by Jaymin Eve

I raised my eyebrows. “We’ll see.”

  Lucy snorted, and met my gaze. We cracked up then. It was our job to keep the guys in check.

  Grantham broke the moment by stepping forward. “We need to hurry. Every moment that Josian is stuck with Tenni … well, who knows what’s happening.”

  Those words sobered me immediately. My eyes darted around, and I found Lallielle. She was small, standing back with her arms wrapped around herself.

  I crossed over and pulled her tightly against me. “I will get him back, Mom. We’ll lock away the lalunas.”

  Then all we’d have to worry about was the Seventine and the convergence. No big deal.

  “Please don’t do this, Aribella. Your father wouldn’t want you to risk your life … or your soul.”

  I could see that she knew about the risks. Letting the first possess me gave him another part of me, another part of my soul. I should be creating distance between us. Letting the Seventine closer was definitely not a great thing.

  “We need Dad,” I whispered. “I’ll sacrifice many things for these worlds. But I have to draw the line somewhere. I have to take a stand. I won’t sacrifice Dad.”

  She jerked me in tightly again, her soft hair surrounding us like a cloud of silk. “I love you. Do you hear me?” Her voice went all fierce. “I love you more than anything in every world. Your only job is to survive. I dreamed of all the years I would have with you when I finally got you back.” Her green eyes flashed at me. “You don’t have permission to mess with my dreams.”

  I grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Got to love it when her inner warrior-mama perked up. I turned back to the room. Lucy looked much graver than when she had first entered the cave. I could see Brace talking to her and Colton, most probably filling them in on what was going to happen.

  I raised my voice. “Let’s do this, Grantham.”

  I didn’t want to risk the chance I’d freak out, or that the Seventine would change their minds. They still seemed to be oblivious to the fact that by allowing the lalunas to bond to the walls it would strengthen this prison enough that there was no way for them to destroy it.

  Or maybe they knew and didn’t care. Maybe they weren’t worried about this and felt that freeing their brother was worth the risk. Just as the first couldn’t see into my thoughts, I also had no access to his. Most probably, like us, they’d weighed the pros and cons and decided it was worth it. I just wished our part didn’t involve freeing a Seventine.

  “I’m not cool with this, Abigail Swish.” Lucy full-named me, her hands firmly on her hips. “Surely there’s a better choice.”

  “There is no other choice.”

  She wrinkled her nose, pursing her lips for extra measure. “Remember what happened last time you got into bed with these cretins. Think about what you’re risking. They never tell you the truth. What the hell is the catch this time?”

  I already knew the catch.

  For most decisions I made I used the line I had drawn in the sand. Everything on this side I would do; the other side was where my moral compass would never let me cross. The last time with the Seventine they had manipulated me when I was in an emotional state.

  Did I need to take responsibility for my actions? Most definitely; I should have been stronger. But I knew I’d never have made the decision to free the third had I known everything. That decision was on the other side of my sand line. This time I knew what the catch was: strengthening of ties between me and the Seventine, which was unpleasant but not over my moral line. My hope was that once they were imprisoned any and all ties between me and the first would be severed.

  “Supes is strong enough.” Fury stepped up to my side. We weren’t exactly squared off against Lucy and Brace, but it sort of looked that way. “This entire task fell on her shoulders because she was the one who had the strength for the burden. You all need to have some faith in her.”

  Lucy growled. Crapity crap. Shit was going to get real in five, four, three, two –

  “What the eff, Fury? I have all the faith in the world in Abby. I’ve known her my entire life, but sure, your two and a half seconds of friendship trumps my knowledge.” She sniffled a few times and I could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “It’s not faith I lack, it’s the knowledge that I can’t exist in a world without Abbs. We’re blood-bonded. Best friends. Pixie guide and Walker. Our path has been intrinsically linked since the day we were born.”

  Her words ran out as her chest heaved; she finished by flipping off the Crais half-Walker. I raised a shaking hand and pressed it to my chest, trying to contain the emotions flooding me.

  “I love you too, Lucy. And I promise I have no intention of leaving this world. You and I are together forever, girl.”

  I blew her a kiss. She glared at me for a moment before sighing and returning the gesture. I couldn’t stop from lifting my chin to meet Brace’s gaze. He was still tense, fists still clenched at his sides, but he gave me a single nod of acceptance. I felt better having his blessing … sure, that thought probably just set the feminist movement back a few centuries, but he was my partner. When we disagreed it was as if I fought with myself, the other half of my soul. And it was damn hard to fight with yourself. I let the first back into my head.

  Let’s do this, and if you touch one thing that you aren’t supposed to, I will hurt you.

  The first’s laughter, maniacal and cold, flittered through my head.

  Hold on to your sanity. With me inside, you’ll forget who you are.

  I wasn’t naïve enough to miss the double meaning of his words. I was surprised, though. They seemed sort of sexless, androgynous even, so to have it make a suggestive comment seemed wrong on more levels than just the regular.

  Grantham handed the bundle of stones to me. “You’ll need to hold the lalunas.”

  Their heavy weight dropped into my hands, and despite the masses of power flooding the stones, their energy was contained. The cage around them must be masking their power. As I examined it, I finally realized something: my blue stone formed the barrier. It had melted and shaped itself into a box-like container. A container with translucent sides so I could see through to the other stones resting within.

  As I thought this, something brushed against my body. The Seventine had started to possess me.

  The world stopped spinning for more than one heartbeat. The stones remained clutched tightly in my hands as I dropped to my knees, my body screaming and my brain frozen. It was as if I knew something devastating had just happened, but the rest of me had not caught up yet.

  And then the power flooded, slammed, engulfed, and destroyed. Paving a path through my body and reforming and reshaping my cells. It felt as if I should be able to burst apart and be remade into something else.

  No!

  My scream reverberated through my head. The Seventine was taking me over, squishing its power into all of my nooks and crannies, and I was not okay with that. I would not lose myself.

  With that thought, I fought back. The slimy iciness of its power was easy to recognize and, just like the foreign faerie energy, I aimed to lock it away.

  It took me a long time. The struggle was very real. I had no idea what everyone around us was doing. I couldn’t shift my focus for more than a microsecond.

  After many extended moments, I finally won the battle.

  This achievement filled me with a sense of self, my relief strong. I could beat the Seventine one on one. Sure, I was still possessed by the first, because I needed its help, but I had it contained in a section of my energy well.

  You are strong, ancient warrior. Your energy is from the mother of all. You will be a welcome addition to us when the worlds are reformed.

  I didn’t even bother to answer. Nothing I said could ever change its views. It was like arguing with a stone: pointless and painful. Besides, if they reformed the worlds, I’d be dead, because I would fight right up until that point.

  “Hello, freaky eyes and marks.” Fury’s words
brought my attention back to the room.

  I must be sporting the same swirly globes in my face that possessed Brace had done. And probably had purple coloring my red marks.

  I focused on the room. “What do I do now?” I flinched a little at how strange my voice sounded. Lower than usual, smooth and hypnotic.

  Everything around me was in this amazingly sharp detail. In some ways it was as if I’d never really seen any of my loved ones before, and yet everything was a hundred percent familiar. The lines of stress on Brace’s face; the tension in Lucy’s body. A million tiny telltale signs that I’d have missed without the power of the first riding along in my body. Even the way the fine hairs stood up on the back of Fury’s neck, and the nail marks lining her palms where she’d clenched her fists so tightly.

  Grantham captured my attention again. “You need to join your power with the Seventine. Mingle the two energies together and form an arrow-like projection. You’ll have to create a pathway into the prison.” His deep voice paused for a beat. “And … blood is required. The creatures who dwell in the walls won’t let you pass without an offering of life.”

  Damn, everything required me bleeding to death.

  The Relli Walker produced a sharp knife and took a step toward me. “I’m sorry, Abby, but this must be heart blood, or as close as possible.”

  What the eff did that mean?

  “What the eff does that mean?” Lucy’s snarling words matched my inner dialogue.

  Grantham’s eyes flicked across to Brace. Such a fast, involuntary movement that I wondered if anyone else had noticed. The already tight features of my mate darkened further. I knew Brace had seen that look. He understood what was about to happen.

  “The purest of blood is that which has just left the heart chamber. The most potent would be for me to take from the aorta, but … it’s too dangerous. Instead I’ll puncture your carotid, taking from the blood bound for your brain.”

  “You’ll cut my throat?” The hypnotic voice I was currently rocking echoed through the chamber.

  Grantham nodded.

  Lucy gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. Brace stepped toward me, one of his hands raised. Somehow he managed to pull himself together and halt the movements. Colton was instantly at his side, a flat palm resting against the strong, broad shoulder of my mate. The best friends exchanged a glance and I knew Brace was assuring himself that Colton would stop him if he lost his shit.

  “After you bleed enough to satisfy the prison, the path will open and you can shoot the combined energy in. The first will find its brother, and then you use the words. Excrui changen velliuc mectre. This will join together the energy forces of the lalunas and the Seventine. They will exchange themselves.”

  “How does it work? Will the lalunas be prisoners in there or are they bound to the walls?”

  In essence all of us are bound to the walls. That is where we are imprisoned.

  The first answered my question at the same time Grantham explained this to the room. So that meant on top of the regular security the energy of the prisoners also strengthened the prison. Ingenious.

  Luckily sentient thought is limited in the walls.

  I picked up a stray tidbit of information from the first. I could tell it wasn’t directed at me. He’d gone all inner dialogue. Not surprisingly, he had not appreciated his time in the prison walls. I wanted to kick myself hard. I could not be feeling sorry for their crazy asses, for reals? They were going to destroy everything. Kill billions. I was chalking the emotional breakdown up to the fact we were kind of sharing energy at that moment. Nothing else. I needed to move this exchange up fast. I didn’t want to share a body any longer than was needed.

  “When you have combined energy with the first, tell me, and I will let free the blood,” Grantham said. He stood close to me.

  I reached into my energy and started to form a large ball of the golden light. The Seventine’s power responded. The darkness that lurked inside it began to expand from the box I’d contained it in, and then our two energies began to mingle. It was like some sort of weird animal mating ceremony. Like these slugs I’d read about in a book once that had both male and female parts but still needed to exchange … uh, slimy stuff … to have young. The first and I were right in the middle of exchanging slime and it was grossing me out on a level usually reserved for images of slugs exchanging slime, foot fungus, and gangers.

  There was a delicate balance, a dance of sorts that was taking place between us, and by the end our energies were no longer separate. The gold and dark had blended and formed something of a shimmery purple night. It was a complex entity, this new product, something that was a blend of good and evil. Happiness and sadness. But in essence it was all power, and it was strong.

  We work.

  The first continued his crusade to tempt me to the dark side, but it was easy now to ignore the seductiveness of his words.

  I took a deep breath. Time for the pain. Time to bleed.

  “We’re ready.”

  Without even noticing, I’d fallen into referring to us as one.

  At least Grantham looked pale, as if he was not happy to be cutting my throat. Better than him being a little trigger-happy. He reached out and grasped my hand, leading us closer to the opening of the prison. The white light was extra bright there as it reflected around in its usual power show.

  “My apologies for this,” he said. “Please stay very still.”

  I closed my eyes right around the time the growling started behind us. I didn’t need to turn and look. I could sense his anger, feel his fear and panic. Brace was about to lose it.

  I was distracted from the overwhelming emotions of my protective mate by the cold bite of steel touching my throat. I forced myself not to swallow too vigorously. With a knife that sharp, any exaggerated movement could sever my throat entirely. I took faith in the fact I was Walker and should not die from this cut, even if Grantham’s steady hands slipped.

  The sliding of steel continued, and I bit back a whimper. It felt as if he was slicing me so slowly. Why the hell was he going so slowly? The knife glided through my skin like a hot knife through butter. The pressure was immediate, but the pain took ten seconds to register each time he moved it down my throat. Which told me he was cutting deep.

  “Why is it taking so long to heal?” Lucy’s frantic voice reached my ears, despite the buzzing that so much pain had caused to descend over my brain. “She’s bleeding everywhere.”

  Colton didn’t answer. He probably had his hands full right then with a tropical cyclone.

  Grantham was the one to reply. “This blade is infused with ancient Walker energy. It always takes us longer to heal wounds caused by our energy.”

  The growls increased.

  “It’s better this way. Otherwise I’ll have to keep cutting her to produce enough blood.”

  Roars surrounded me. “It is enough now!”

  Winds buffeted us, and the waves of his anger knocked me back a few steps. Luckily the knife had been pulled from my throat seconds before.

  “Give me a minute, Brace.” Grantham’s voice increased in pitch. “Can you hold him another minute, Colton? We’re almost done.”

  “I’m not sure I can hold him another second.” The wolf-Walker’s voice was strained. “And he’s not even fighting me as hard as he could. Let’s all be grateful for the amazing strength of will this Walker possesses, or else we’d all be dead – except for Red.”

  Lucy snorted. “Not the time, babe.”

  I was starting to feel a little light-headed now, nothing too serious, just where you know that you’ve lost a little bit of that red stuff which is essential for life.

  “You’re done.” Grantham’s voice was very close to my ear. “The path is open.”

  I felt a hand come up and wrap around my throat, but I didn’t panic. I knew it was Brace. I could feel his heat and masculine scent enveloping me. He was going to protect me and stop me from bleeding to death while I finished the ritual.
My eyes opened again. I wanted to see what was happening, but I didn’t turn to my mate. Right then I had no time to cry, and I knew the fear on his face would bring me to tears.

  I focused.

  The first and I reached for our energy. We started to shape that sparkling midnight, turn it into a slim-line arrow which could be shot into the prison. The Seventine was much more adept at energy manipulation and soon a gleaming weapon formed between us. It was beautiful and mesmerizing and, judging by the gasps surrounding us, visible to everyone else too.

  Do not let go of the end of the energy, the first warned me. We will need to keep the path open.

  We shot the arrow free. It left in a burst of power, the trails of dark energy following along. I could feel the prison as it descended, the cold power that lined the walls. The many powerful entities which rested within this rock.

  As the arrow descended further I started to notice something else: schisms in the power grid. In the beginning it had felt like a solid wall of energy, but now there were these gaps. If my calculations were correct, I was sensing four very large ones. The release of the Seventine had weakened the walls, and it was time for us to fix that.

  The stones were still in my hands, their power contained by the cage. I had to wait until the first found his brother before I released them. The arrow continued descending. I had the end firmly clutched in my energy well. Finally, though, we hit the target. I felt the thud, the burst of strength and coldness which coated the tip of the arrow.

  Start the exchange.

  The lalunas began to glow and burn then. For the first time I could feel them in my hands, and I knew my blue stone was manipulating all of the energy again.

  They started to bleed into the line of dark power that still connected us to the arrow and, as they attached and descended along the path, the midnight purple lit up. It became a symphony of light and color, bursting free and brightening the already well-lit cavern.

  At the same time the coldness on the end started to rise. It was as if the fifth Seventine and the lalunas were magnets, drawing toward each other.

  I worried what would happen when they collided. It felt as if I were holding a nuclear weapon that was about to explode.