Altered

by Shelly Crane

  “Whatever you say. You’re the boss.”

  “That's right. I am,” he growled and slammed him into the side of the building again. “So do as you’re told and stop disrespecting me.”

  When he walked past the guy muttered, “First we have to work with witches and now this.”

  “She got us in here, didn’t she? She tricked them and then used her witchy fog, so just...shut up and do your job. Rendezvous point at the boat in sixteen minutes. Be done planting all the devices by then or get left.”

  The guy grunted, but said nothing. I leaned my head back against the building and cursed under my breath. Sixteen minutes. That’s all the time I had left. The urge to run after Enoch got stronger with that knowledge. The urge to run and find Clara...

  They had to have the detonator with them on the boat. Had to.

  I moved to go and find this boat of theirs, when a hand closed around my throat. “What have we here?”

  I looked at him and did the only thing I could think of in that moment. I threw my arm around his neck and used every bit of my feminine nature.

  “Oh,” I breathed into his neck. “Thank God you’re here.”

  “Whoa,” he said and eased back. “Number one, my name’s Vander, not God.” He grinned like the Devil. I tried not to vomit on him. “Number two, what are you doing over here, darlin’?”

  I noticed how his hand tightened on my arm noticeably. My answer would condemn or save me, given by the way he was looking at me.

  “I’m a witch,” I whispered like it was a secret. “They were keeping me here against my will. Making me do all sorts of things for them.” I showed him my palm. “See. I don’t have a mark. I didn’t want to be here. I’m not one of them.”

  His throat worked through a gulp and I knew I had him. He took my hand and rubbed my palm to see if I had covered the mark somehow. “What did they do to you?”

  “You don’t want to know,” I whispered. “Mostly, they made me do things to other people, force me to make them talk.”

  “Those filthy bastards,” he muttered. “Too cowardly to do it themselves.” He took my arm. “Come on. I’ll take you back to the other side of the river and you can go back to your family.”

  I sighed. “Thanks.”

  “You’re awfully calm,” he remarked and smirked as we walked to the back of the building. “I haven’t picked up hardly any emotion from you.”

  “You learn to control it when you’re around devourers all the time.” I looked at him. “No offense.”

  He laughed. “None taken. You sure are a pretty little witch. Nobody tried to get frisky with you?”

  I gulped and stared straight ahead. “A couple. One in particular. Enoch Thames? Ever heard of him?”

  He scoffed a laugh. “Ever heard of him! Uh, yeah. Everyone’s heard of him. He was here?” He whistled. “Whoo, that would have been a catch, boy! Too bad. I heard he was off the rails. We don’t know which camp Eli is in, but it was rumored he was here. If his brother was here, it’s probably true.”

  I shrugged. “Don’t know him.”

  “They’re twins, witch,” he said with a laugh. “Getting Eli Thames in this deal will be a great prize for us.” He looked at me. “You should join the cause. Especially after what they did to you. We’re adding some witches to our ranks for specials missions. We could use your talents.” He smiled, one side of his lips raising. “And we could get to know each other better.”

  “I thought the Horde was against witches and devourers…dating.”

  He made a pfft sound. “Who said anything about dating? I’m taking about having some fun. And the Horde is against interspecies mating and bonding. A little fun here and there on the down low never hurt anybody as long as you aren’t flaunting it around.”

  I smiled and tried not to feel disgusted so he wouldn’t pick up on it.

  “Maybe,” I muttered coyly and bit my lip for good measure.

  He grinned and put his arm over my shoulder. “Ah, little witch. We’re going to have fun together, aren’t we?”

  “I think so.”

  I breathed, in and out, and thought of Enoch, just like he told me. Not that he was in trouble, but I imagined his lips and his smile and his arms around me. Anything that made me smile. Enoch was right—in no time, I was no longer in the vicinity of angry. I was floating in Enoch and he was keeping me safe, even without being there. Vander grunted a little and leaned closer.

  “Ah, little witch.” His hand closed around my side and ribs. “What naughty things are you thinking?”

  Worked like a charm. I smiled at him and looked around as I leaned against the tree. “I’m sorry. You just saved me and I’m…grateful.”

  He leaned his hand above my head. “You can be grateful all you want to.”

  “And I will be,” I whispered, “as soon as we get back, I’ll be very grateful.”

  I could see the boat behind us. We were almost there. There were about eight men there. Not as many as there could be. I sighed inside and had no idea how I was going to pull this off.

  “I’ll count on it.” He took my arm again and pulled me along. “Come on. We need to hurry.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Don’t worry. They are going to repay them for what they did to you ten times over.” When we reached the water’s edge, he put his hands on my side and put me into the boat in one swoop. I gasped and he smirked as he climbed in. “Go sit,” he ordered and pointed to the back of the boat. “We’ll be leaving in a couple minutes.”

  I did what he said, but looked all around. And I looked for the witch, too. I knew when she showed up, I would be made and it would all be over for me. They would have to detonate it before they left the shore while they were still in range, more than likely. Things like this were something they barely touched the surface of in basic training for us. We learned the bare minimal and then they moved on, so I was going on what little I did know.

  I huddled at the back of the boat and no one noticed me or seemed to care at all. And then there she was. She was coming over the bank with the guy she was with earlier. Probably planting more bombs. I closed my eyes and turned so she wouldn’t see my face. Everything in my gut told me to jump off the boat and run to Enoch, but I let my eyes continue to search for the one thing that could stop this all.

  Some of the men had walkie-talkies, some of them still had backpacks. I looked on the deck and the surfaces for anything that could be a detonator, but came up empty. I hoped it wasn’t in one of the backpacks, but I figured they would want to have it handy.

  And then I felt arms around me. I jolted, unable to contain it, and he chuckled as he pushed my hair to the side. “Is my little witch jumpy?”

  “Yeah. Sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” He licked my neck a little. “Your fright tastes amazing,” he hissed in my ear. “I’m sure we can work something out later on. I’m sure there’s something I have that you want.”

  I tried to remain calm and breathe, just breathe. He was called away to do something and I gripped the side of the boat. I immediately turned my head to look around again. They were about to push the boat off. I had to find this thing. I was out of time.

  I had failed. I had failed them all. I was about to jump off and run to Enoch, at least try to get him out, or die with him if nothing else—I wasn’t going to just sit in this boat and float to safety—when I saw it. It was in the leader guy’s back pocket.

  He was on the other side. There was too many of them between us. And then they pushed off the bank. I breathed and thought of Enoch. Enoch’s hands as they took my face and he looked down at me. I breathed in and out. I thought about Enoch’s smirk, the way he glared at me when we first met, the way he was trying so hard to keep me safe and not let me fall for him. What a chore that had turned out to be. I smiled as I remembered our banter back then.

  I opened my eyes and saw how far away from the shore we were. I was calm. No one was paying any attention to me because Eno
ch had helped me control myself. They all turned toward the shore and the leader reached back in his back pocket.

  Before I could get scared and alert them, before I could think about anything else, I ran forward, snatched it from him, and bounded over the side. I dove down into the water with the detonator in my hand and prayed that I could figure out what to do next before it was too late.

  When I could finally move, I was so angry, all I could do was shake. My body let go slowly in intervals. My arms released, then my legs and the rest of my body. I was still weak, but I bloody well wasn’t going to just lay there when Fay was out there alone trying to save the day.

  I broke the sliding glass door opening it so hard, but trudged on. I didn’t see anyone or hear anything. I didn’t know what that meant. I blurred to the community center, but it was empty. So I blurred to Aries’ and he was barely able to move. He looked surprised that I was.

  “Have you seen anyone?” I asked him.

  “No,” he rasped.

  “Fay didn’t come by here?”

  “Yes, she’s gone—”

  “I’ve gotta go, Aries. Sorry, mate. I’ve got to find her.”

  “Wait, I’ll come!”

  “I can’t wait on you to get moving. Sorry.”

  “Enoch!” he called as I bolted and looked before blurring to Franz’s.

  Soria was up and trying to cast some spell over Franz. She lifted her hands up at me when I entered.

  “It’s me!”

  She grimaced. “You almost got it, Thames.”

  “Got what, exactly?” I muttered. “Did Fay come by here?”

  “Yes,” Franz answered and looked up from the floor where he was sitting. “She wasn’t under the spell?”

  I shook my head. “No,” I growled. “And I couldn’t stop her.” They both looked as I tightened my fists. “I’ve got to find her.”

  “She said she was going to the community center.”

  “I know. I went there. It’s empty.”

  He frowned. “Soria, hurry, baby.”

  “I’m trying.”

  I asked, “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to reverse her spell,” she whispered with her eyes closed. Then she gasped and held her hands out to Franz. Her palms were bleeding. “It’s done.”

  “I’m sorry,” he told her and kissed her. He took her hands and wiped the blood on his shirt. “I’m sorry you had to do that.”

  She smiled. “It’s the burden of being the camp’s witch.” She looked at her palms. “She knew I might try to take off the spell. She did that on purpose.”

  “I know.” He helped her up. “Let’s go make that witch pay for what she did. You helped her, fed her, and gave her your clothes and this is how she repays you?”

  “I’ve got to go,” I said and took off.

  “We’re with you,” Franz told me and they followed me out the tent flap.

  “Where’s Eli?”

  “Last I saw he and Clara were still at the fire. I don’t know where they went after that.”

  I cursed and went faster, but not so fast that they couldn’t keep up. We saw people coming out of their cabins and tents slowly since Soria took the spell off. They didn’t know how it was over, they just knew they could move again. And then I saw Eli.

  They were still at the cabin near the bonfire. He and Clara blurred to me and she was hysterical. “Where’s Fay!”

  “She…She wasn’t affected by the fog.”

  “What?” She looked at Eli and back to me. “What do you mean she wasn’t affected by it?”

  “She held her breath. We overheard them talking about a plan… Whatever!” I boomed. “We don’t have time for this. We need to find her.”

  “You mean you let her go!” she yelled.

  “Clara, how the hell was I going to stop her when I couldn’t move?” We heard a boat crank by the river and I knew then where she was. I turned to go in that direction.

  “Enoch, wait,” Franz said. “Let’s think of a plan here.”

  “A plan?” Clara whispered. “What if they’ve got my sister?”

  For once Clara and I agreed. I started to take off again and heard her gasp.

  “Where are you going? You picked a great time to finally bail, Enoch!” I looked back to see her crying into Eli’s neck. I didn’t have time to reassure Clara. She was going to hate me forever. I was just going to have to accept that.

  I heard them following through the woods behind me, but I was way ahead of them. When I reached the bank I saw the boat out in the river in the moonlight. They were talking and moving about. I couldn’t understand a bloody word they were saying. I didn’t see Fay. I saw the witch, but not Fay. I started to turn when a flash from the back of the boat moved and jumped, diving into the water.

  Fay!

  I didn’t realize I had yelled it until everyone on the boat looked up at me. I looked at the rebels and saw they had already sent the cavalry. They must have heard me or seen Fay, too, but I didn’t wait. I dove in and swam as hard as I could.

  But I wasn’t the only one.

  A devourer, armed with a goblin’s tooth in his hand, dove from the boat and he was going to get there first. I swam harder and couldn’t see a thing in the dirty water. I used every sense I had, opened them up and let them guide me. I looked up and saw the faint shadow from the boat so I knew she would have dove and went to the west. So I moved that way and was rammed right in the ribs by the other devourer. Before he could leave, I grabbed a handful of his stupid, hippie hair and wrenched it to the side snapping his neck. I couldn’t see the goblin’s tooth anywhere, so I left it behind.

  I looked around for Fay and saw a faint shadow of her. I turned her around and felt her fear hit me like a punch. She kicked at me as she tried to get away. I took her face in my hands, smoothing her cheeks to show her it was me. When she finally could see it was me in the murky water, her chest shook. I leaned in and once again opened her mouth with mine, pushing my breath into her mouth and lungs. I smoothed the back of her thigh, her side, and kissed her neck, just because I had to.

  She was okay, she was alive…and she lifted a small metallic box in front of my face that I could only assume was whatever they needed to cause the damage they wanted to do.

  I took it from her, put it in my front pocket, and kissed her forehead to tell her she did good. I turned to rise and check the surface to make sure it was safe, but was slammed again.

  He took me down to the bottom and pounded my head into the rock before I could get a grip on him. He kept getting away from me every time I tried to grab him. I grabbed his neck and chin, but he was too far away from me to get a good hold.

  I looked over at Fay and her eyes were barely open. She looked like she was floating. I roared and pulled the devourer to me, spinning us in the water so he was under me. He tried to grab me, clawing at my neck and face, but I plunged my fist into his throat, feeling his windpipe crush, and knew if he were human, he’d never recover. I saw a flash of dark next to us—the other devourer. I reached under his hand and didn’t find it, so I tugged him closer. In his other hand I found the goblin’s tooth.

  He saw it coming when I raised it over him, but there was no escape.

  I plunged in through his stomach and didn’t stay.

  I pushed off him and swam to Fay, scooping her up. I no longer cared if it was safe up top or not, she needed air and she was going to get it. I no longer had any. My lungs only held one breath and once I expelled it, it was gone.

  We breached the surface and what I saw would have given me the warm and fuzzies had my heart not been dying in my arms. Franz, Aries, and the rest of the rebels had completely demolished the boat and everyone aboard it.

  I swam and kicked until I got to shore. I yelled to Franz, “There’s one more alive in the water!”

  Clara saw me coming and was crying and saying things, but I was trying not to listen. All I cared about was getting this girl to breathe. I laid Fay out in the sand. Then I
realized I was being pushed.

  “Give her to me,” Clara said. “Does someone know CPR?”

  I pushed her away and put my mouth on Fay, just like I’d done in the water, and pushed my air into her lungs.

  “Come on, baby,” I begged. “Breathe.” I breathed again into her mouth and again. I smoothed her cheeks with my thumbs. I realized we had an audience now, but I couldn’t think about them. I had to think about Fay. Only her. “Baby, come on. Just like we did in the water.” I did it again and again and again. She wasn’t responding and her lips started to turn blue. I was getting angry. “Dammit, Fay. You just had to go, didn’t you? I begged you not to. But you had to be the hero. Well, you did it. You saved everyone. And now you better come back to me. Do you hear me?” I slammed my fist in the dirt by her head. “Fay!” I breathed into her mouth once more, a long breath that turned into a kiss more than anything else.

  I heard Clara start to sob behind me and then Fay coughed against my lips. I pulled back and cupped her cheek. “Fay?”

  “Enoch?” she croaked and her eyes weren’t even open yet. That fed a guy’s ego, if I was admitting it.

  “Right here, baby.”

  She smiled, coughed some more as she reached for me. I took her hand. “I love it when you call me baby,” she rasped.

  I laughed and sighed angrily, so relieved. I sat on the sand and pulled her gently into my lap. “You’ll be hearing it a lot from now on,” I whispered to her.

  I could feel their fear and anger around me, but it didn’t hit me. I wasn’t absorbing it. It was as if this moment was the only thing that mattered. I didn’t know why, but I was grateful.

  “Did we get it?” she asked in a barely there whisper.

  I assumed she meant that metal box.

  “You mean this?” I pulled it from my pocket.

  She took it with shaking fingers and looked at it. “This is a detonator. They put a bomb in everyone’s house.”