Arise (Awakened Fate Book 4)

by Skye Malone

  “Second they see you, they’ll kill her parents. You–”

  “So what’re you planning to do? Those are greliarans. ‘Created to kill you’, remember? You won’t stand a–”

  “And you will? One against–”

  “Enough!”

  My shout rang through the forest and at it, they both fell silent. I swallowed, glancing around. Anyone could have heard that. Yelling had been stupid.

  I wasn’t sure I cared.

  “You’re not doing this on your own,” I told them, my voice and body trembling. “Either of you.”

  They both hesitated, looking as though they wanted to continue arguing.

  “I mean it!” I snapped.

  Still shaking, I turned away, my gaze skipping across the forest while my heart raced. I wasn’t sure what to do. We had no weapons – nothing but an empty shotgun in the trunk, anyway – and we were up against a bunch of greliarans who knew we were coming and who probably had a strategy for tearing us apart. It didn’t matter, though. I refused to allow Zeke or Noah to get themselves killed.

  There had to be another solution.

  “We’ll think of something on the way,” I said, looking back at them. “Alright? We’ll all work together and we’ll come up with a plan.”

  Without waiting for their response, I turned to Olivia and Dave. “How far is it to the cars?”

  Dave twitched his head toward the path, not taking his eyes from me. “About five miles.”

  “Good,” I continued. “Then come on.”

  Pushing past the others, I strode down the trail. I didn’t care what Noah or Zeke said. How horrible those greliarans were. I wouldn’t lose them. Either of them, or anyone else for that matter.

  Not if there was a thing left on Earth that I could do about it.

  Chapter Nine

  Wyatt

  On the back porch, I listened to the waves as they tumbled toward the shore. The air was cool from the wind coming off the ocean, and the sun was still a couple hours shy of rising. Shadows surrounded me, cast from the forest around our house, though moonlight shone down on the sand and the water, making even the gray grit of the beach seem brilliant in the night.

  We’d gotten home a little while ago and tossed her parents into the basement before Clay and Owen trudged off to bed. Dad had stayed in the front room – listening to her parents or watching for her, I didn’t know.

  But I couldn’t sleep. Anticipation for what would happen when the fish finally arrived would barely let me close my eyes.

  The breeze picked up, strengthening the salt in the air. I drew a deep breath. It felt better, being back on the coast compared to where we’d been. Like I wasn’t stretched between here and someplace else anymore. Like some weird tension inside me was gone.

  Not that I’d ever admit that to my brothers.

  She’d get here soon, though. She’d probably drive like the wind, given how scared she’d seemed on the phone.

  My lip twitched. Damn, I’d loved the sound of that.

  I couldn’t wait to see her face as well.

  My smile grew and I struggled to keep it under control. Arkansas was a long way from here. I had to be a little patient.

  Drawing another breath, I scanned the beach.

  Three guys were walking along the sand.

  My brow furrowed. There wasn’t another house near us for miles. That was part of the deal with the landwalkers. We stayed isolated, got to do what we wanted here, and random people didn’t wander onto our property.

  In swim trunks. And no shirts. With wet hair like they’d just come from the water.

  A shiver crept over my skin like it wanted to change. Dehaians. I would’ve bet money, even if I couldn’t believe it. There was something weird about them too. Something off, just like there’d been with her or that black-haired guy.

  My shivering grew stronger. After all these years, dehaians had just walked onto–

  One of the guys paused, bringing the other two to a stop, and even if I couldn’t see his eyes glowing, he still studied the yard like he’d spotted me in the shadows.

  He jerked his head at the other two and then cautiously walked closer.

  My heart was racing. I had to let them get close. Dehaians were fast. Faster than us, the bastards. And there were three of them. I needed to wait till they didn’t stand a chance of escaping.

  “Hey,” the guy called as he walked up. His tone was guarded, but strangely dismissive too, like he was used to being listened to whether he gave a damn about the conversation or not.

  “Yeah?” I managed.

  “We’re looking for some people. Maybe you’ve seen them? A guy. Dark hair, blue eyes, about my height. A girl too; teenager with red hair. Their names are Zeke and Chloe, though they might be going by something else now.”

  Surprise brought everything else to a halt.

  “They’re runaways,” the guy continued. “And criminals. Dangerous ones. There’s evidence they came ashore several miles from here after their boat crashed. Have you seen them?”

  I stared at him. This couldn’t be happening.

  How many people had those fish pissed off?

  I struggled to push the thought aside. I needed to be smart here. This was more complicated than some dumbass dehaians wandering onto our property. These guys were looking for the same scale-skins as us. They might have others looking too, elsewhere, and maybe I could convince him to bring them to the house as well.

  Then we’d have even more of them to kill. More than we ever could have dreamed.

  A smile twitched across my face before I could stop it.

  “Hey? You hear me?” the guy asked.

  “Yeah,” I responded, trying to think fast. “I, uh–”

  The door flew open behind me. I barely stopped my skin from changing in shock.

  “You’re looking for them?” Dad demanded, striding outside.

  The first guy paused, looking more wary than alarmed, though the other two behind him seemed a heartbeat shy of growing spikes in surprise.

  “Yeah,” the guy said.

  “Well, we’ve seen them,” Dad replied. “That son of a bitch killed my son.”

  The scale-skin’s brow rose.

  “You want to find them,” Dad continued. “So do I. Maybe we can help each other.”

  I looked to Dad in confusion. Help? Wait, why did he think we needed this scum-sucker’s help?

  The guy made a noncommittal sound.

  “Anyone else with you?” I asked into the silence, glancing to the beach and struggling to keep the hope from my tone.

  The guy’s gaze flicked from me to Dad. “They’re around.”

  “Good,” Dad replied. “They can meet us here.”

  He jerked his chin to the house.

  The guy didn’t move. “Why’d Zeke kill your son?”

  Dad paused. “The girl. He thought Brock was a threat to her.”

  The scale-skin seemed to consider the words. “And what makes you think they’ll come back here?”

  I looked to Dad. We couldn’t tell him about her parents. Hostages sort of destroyed the whole ‘wounded family’ thing Dad had going.

  “Because we’re close to the girl’s parents,” Dad said. “So she called us yesterday. Told us she’d convinced him to come back so she could see her mom and dad.”

  The guy’s eyes narrowed.

  “We’ve known them for a while,” Dad added darkly. “They want to get her away from him. But that guy is dangerous. They felt safer meeting her here. I want your help making sure he doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

  For a moment, the fish regarded us, and from something in his face, I could tell he didn’t believe a word of what Dad had said.

  But he wasn’t leaving either. He was simply studying us, like he didn’t care that we were lying, that we were half again his weight, or that he was standing on our territory. Instead, he was just fitting us into s
ome kind of plan in his head.

  “The girl’s really coming back here?” he asked.

  “What I said, isn’t it?” Dad drew a breath, clearly trying to calm down. “I guarantee it.”

  The guy’s brow shrugged. “Alright,” he agreed with a brief glance to his companions. “We’d be happy to help.”

  “Great,” Dad retorted. “Then I’m Richard. This is Wyatt. Nice to meet you and all that.”

  The guy’s lip twitched like he found Dad’s anger amusing. “Nice to meet you too,” he replied dryly. “I’m Niall.”

  Chapter Ten

  Zeke

  I hadn’t been on many car rides in my life, but this had to be one of the most uncomfortable and awkward.

  And Ellie wasn’t even here.

  I grimaced. That wasn’t fair. The girl was edgy as hell on a good day, but she’d been getting better. She’d barely hesitated when she’d taken my hand in the cave, and she’d trusted me to guide her through the dark.

  Least I could do was not make a joke of her, even to myself.

  But it was uncomfortable in here.

  I scrubbed a hand across my tired eyes, trying to stop their burning, and then glanced to the seat beside me. On the other side of the car, Noah was finally asleep. Baylie was the same in the passenger seat ahead of him, while Chloe was driving.

  It’d taken hours, and even now, I couldn’t be sure Noah was unconscious. Or that he’d stay that way.

  Greliaran hearing was infuriating.

  Scowling briefly, I unfastened my seat belt and then scooted forward, watching him from the corner of my eye. He didn’t stir.

  “Chloe,” I whispered.

  She gasped, flinching.

  I winced. “Sorry.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” I replied, the word mostly a lie. A ton of things were wrong, running the gamut from the greliaran who wanted the girl I cared about, to the Sylphaen that might be on the coast, to the other greliarans we knew were there and who had her parents. And that didn’t even get into the past few days and the questions I had about that time.

  Damn near everything was wrong, if I wanted to be honest about it.

  “I just need to talk to you,” I continued.

  She grimaced, her eyes on the road. The eastern sky was finally shifting toward a lighter shade of indigo, but the night hadn’t quite given up its grip on the road. Up ahead, the taillights of Olivia’s car still glowed red, leading the way as they had for the entire night of driving.

  “Not right now, Zeke.”

  “Then when?”

  Chloe gave an awkward shrug, like she was trying to pull away even if there was nowhere to go, and her gaze twitched to Noah before returning quickly to the highway. “I-I can’t. I just… I have to focus.”

  I glanced over. The guy still appeared to be asleep.

  Though of course he could be pretending.

  “I understand that,” I assured her, turning back. “But Chloe, I need to know… did something happen while I was at that lab? Something with you?”

  She hesitated.

  “It’s just,” I continued, “when I was there, the pain of my distance from the ocean came back. Not fully, but pretty strong for a while. And I… I can’t help but think about what Ellie said. How it wouldn’t do that as long as… well, as long as you were alive.”

  She tightened her hands on the steering wheel. I couldn’t tell if she was breathing.

  “Chloe?”

  “Yeah,” she whispered. “Yeah, it was bad.”

  A shiver ran through me, whether of nausea, horror, or the desire to hit something, I couldn’t be sure. My hand slipped from the back of the seat to her shoulder. She tensed.

  “Please,” she said, her voice choked. “I-I need to drive.”

  I grimaced, taking my hand away.

  An exit sign flashed past and ahead of us, Olivia’s car moved to leave the highway. Chloe followed them. At the end of the ramp, the vehicles paused briefly before taking a right toward an enormous gas station situated beside the road. Semi-trucks were arrayed to one side of the concrete sea like a mismatched army, and cars were parked closer to the station or stopped beneath the gas pump shelter fronting it all. Lights glowed over the parking lot like miniature suns while, blinking brightly from the top of a towering pole, a sign flashed various prices for fuel.

  When Olivia pulled up beside a gas pump, Chloe came to a stop behind her. With quick motions, she put the car into park and then took the key from the ignition.

  She fled the car before I could say a word.

  Noah stirred in the other seat.

  Ignoring him, I opened the door and went after Chloe.

  Striding fast, she headed into the gas station, and I sped up, trying to catch her. When I glanced back, I could see Ellie climbing from Olivia’s car and staring after us both, while Dave was focused on filling up the gas tank.

  But Noah hadn’t tried to follow yet.

  Good.

  The sliding door hissed open ahead of me, and a blast of air conditioning made the hairs on my arms stand on end. I scanned the brilliantly lit interior, spotting her several aisles from the entrance.

  Her gaze twitched my way when I came closer, and she grimaced. “Zeke, I can’t–”

  “Chloe, stop. Please. I… Are you okay now? Can you at least tell me that?”

  She hesitated and then nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine.” She paused again. “A-are you?”

  My brow furrowed. She made a halting gesture to my forearms.

  The confusion cleared and my mouth tightened. I hated the fact she’d seen that.

  “Yeah.” I took a breath, pushing the frustration away. “Listen, I know you’re worried about your parents. We’ll help them. But you don’t need to–”

  “It’s not just that.”

  I paused.

  She cast a quick look around. No one was in the station, except for a bored-looking cashier by the register and a pair of truckers sitting in a booth against the far wall, neither of whom glanced away from their pizza.

  But Noah was climbing from the car. I fought back a scowl.

  Chloe saw him too. “I just don’t want to talk right now,” she finished, her voice dropping to a whisper.

  “Did you kiss him?”

  She blinked. “What?”

  My heart was pounding, the words having taken me as much by surprise as they did her. And I was being stupid. I shouldn’t have said anything, not when she was already so upset. But with the guy right outside and with me never having a chance to talk to Chloe where he wouldn’t hear…

  I couldn’t have stopped myself if I tried.

  “Did you?” I pressed. “On the porch the other–”

  “You were watching us?”

  “I was watching the street. I was trying to keep you safe.”

  A breath left her and she turned away.

  “Chloe…”

  “No,” she snapped. “No, I didn’t. And I–”

  She cut off with an exasperated noise and took off deeper into the store.

  I grimaced. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  And more relieved than I wanted to admit.

  Still cursing myself for being an idiot, I followed her.

  “Zeke,” she warned, her eyes on the racks of snack foods in front of her. “I don’t–”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She paused.

  “I’m sorry,” I repeated.

  A heartbeat passed. “Thank you for watching the street,” she acknowledged without looking at me.

  “Of course.”

  “You should’ve gotten sleep.”

  I hesitated, unsure how to take that. I wasn’t going to leave her up by herself, no matter what the others had decided to do.

  At my silence, she glanced toward me, though she wouldn’t meet my eyes. “It’s just… you have to take care of yourself too. I don’t–” She s
eemed to struggle with the words. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  I paused, knowing I couldn’t agree to that. Not if it left her at risk. I reached out, taking her hand.

  Air left her. For a moment, she closed her eyes, the tension seeming to leak from her.

  And then she drew a breath, pulling her fingers from mine. “Please,” she said.

  Without another word, she snagged a bag of pretzels from the shelf and headed for the register. The cashier rang up her order, regarding us both with a trace of humor the entire time, as though our quiet argument through the aisles had been the most entertainment he’d had all night. Ignoring him completely, Chloe grabbed her change and the pretzels, and strode out of the store.

  Noah was waiting by the car. “Everything alright?” he asked neutrally, his gaze flicking between the two of us.

  “Fine,” Chloe replied. “How much longer till we reach the house?”

  He glanced over as Baylie climbed from the passenger seat. “A few hours.”

  An annoyed breath escaped Chloe, but she just nodded. She looked to Olivia, Ellie, and Dave. “You guys still doing okay?”

  The landwalkers hesitated, and for the first time I registered how tense they all appeared. Olivia and Dave had been trading off driving throughout the past day and night, but the strain on their faces looked more pronounced than that effort would have caused.

  Chloe seemed to notice it too.

  “I-it kind of hurts,” Ellie allowed.

  “We should probably attempt your… solution now,” Olivia added, careful control in her voice. She glanced to Ellie. “Or else return. I think we’ve come as far as we can.”

  Protests surfaced past the pain on Ellie’s face. Olivia quelled them with a look.

  Chloe’s brow rose. “Why didn’t you all say something?”

  She hurried over to them and then hesitated, as though uncertain what to do. Reaching out, she took Ellie’s hand.

  A heartbeat passed. The pain on the girl’s face cleared. She looked up at Chloe. “What did you do?”

  Chloe shook her head, seeming unnerved. “Just… wanted it to stop.”

  She hesitated, not quite looking back toward me, and then she headed for Olivia and Dave on the other side of the car.