by Ana Mardoll
There is movement among the trees; shapes the size of the stooped Handlers, but thicker. Their outlines resemble the bear from the arena, the one who mauled Justin and Keoki. The figures are black against the shadows, all but invisible save for the outline of magic rippling over them. We didn't disturb the birds; they did.
My head whips up to face Keoki. The blood drains from my face as new fear floods through me. "We have to run again."
Chapter 32
Keoki
A guttural howl erupts from the forest and more birds explode into the black sky, their indistinct forms blurring in the turbulent darkness. I look down at Aniyah, my heart racing with an animal instinct to flee from the predatory threat.
"Can you run?"
She could stand only with my help, so the desolate shake of her head doesn't surprise me. I close my eyes and waste a precious second wishing there were two of me instead of one. After all my lofty talk about not leaving anyone behind, am I going to be forced to choose between a dying kid and my girl?
"Stop standing around! I'll get your boy," Chloe snaps, pushing past me to reach Justin. "You guys owe me one after." I open my eyes to see her heft Justin in her arms like a stack of clothes and take off running; Christian is hot on her heels, his knife drawn and ready. I need to stop forgetting she can do that.
I blink and scoop Aniyah up in the same manner. She gasps and for a heartbeat I'm pleased to have impressed her—not the most appropriate thought in the face of danger, but I never claimed to have a talent for humility—then I see the pain on her face and I realize I've hurt her just by picking her up.
"Are you okay?" Even as I ask the question, I know there's nothing I can do for her if she's not.
Aniyah wraps her arms around my neck and holds on. "No, but it doesn't matter. Run, Keoki!"
She's right, and not just because of the howls which are increasing in frequency. I hear movement behind us and whip around to see Handlers crawling onto the forbidden soil, their tentative first steps quickly escalating to a loping run. Okay, that's bad, I think, whirling on my heel and taking off at a sprint.
We run. The four of us lag at the back of the group: me with Aniyah in my arms, Tony and Miyuki sprinting next to us. Tony reaches out to take Miyuki's hand, but she waves him away. "I need my hands!" she snaps, the words a breathless bark. "Keep yours on that sword." He shrugs and doesn't press the issue but falls back a step just in case, ready to catch her if she falls.
Chloe and Christian run ahead of us. If she's burdened by carrying Justin she doesn't show it, but she's forced to lag back to keep pace with Christian. He's visibly struggling, and every few steps he pops out of existence to reappear farther ahead; without his talent, I don't think he could keep up. He's not the only one having to dip heavily into his magic; Matías sprints with them, alternating between short bursts of blurring speed and a slower limping pace. His face is contorted with pain, but he's managing.
The other girls and Reese—who I guess is also a girl now, though I'm still kinda confused about that part—quickly out-distance the rest of us. Heather and Sappho are the fastest runners in our group, and it doesn't hurt to have Handler behind them with his magical fear urging them forward. I gulp in a breath to shout a warning not to get too close to the trees, then I hesitate. I'm worried about the girls facing the lurking beasts by themselves, yet dawdling until we catch up with them might not be a better course of action, given the Handlers hot on our heels. I have to trust Hana and Reese can take care of the others.
Then those indistinct shapes stream out of the forest and my heart leaps into my throat. Tony yells a warning, but it would be impossible for the girls to miss the emerging threat: strange creatures with glossy black fur, pointed ears laid flat against the skull, and thin hairless tails as long as my arm. Each of the creatures is bigger than any one of us, and they run on all fours with a gait fast enough to close the distance between the trees and the girls in a matter of heartbeats.
A yelp pierces the air and Imani sprawls onto the ground, her foot caught on a protruding root. Handler throws himself over the fallen girl, shielding her with his body, and Hana skids to a halt in front of them with her fists raised. Ahead, Heather and Sappho keep going, oblivious to the plight of their friend. Reese glances back, her eyes widening when she sees Hana has stopped. She hesitates, then chases after the two unarmed girls, gripping her weapons and calling for them to stop.
Tony quickens his pace, but I know we'll be too late. Blood is about to be shed in front of us and we're helpless to protect the people we care about. In a matter of heartbeats, the rampaging beasts will slam into Heather and Sappho and then race on to trample Imani. The only hope we have—and it's a slim one, given the size of the pack—is that Hana and Reese can hold the creatures long enough for us to catch up. All I can do is run faster, Aniyah wincing with every bounding step.
Just as the monsters charge into reach of the running girls, the pack parts like a stream around a stone. They race around Heather and Sappho and Reese, then part again to avoid Hana and Imani and Handler. They clearly see our group, and some even snap their teeth menacingly as they run by, but they don't attack the girls. Instead they charge forward without slowing, heading straight for us.
"Taking out the fighters first?" Tony guesses, his hand tightening on his sword. "Plan to pick off the weaker ones after?"
"Your sword," Miyuki pants in short gasps as she gulps for air. "Maybe they only attack what threatens them. Hana's lost her spear and Reese is wearing that fist-weapon. Maybe they didn't see them as a danger."
"Great. If we don't disarm, we're a threat; if we do disarm, we're easy pickings." I'm exaggerating, but only a little; I can fight unarmed and Tony and Christian wouldn't be helpless, but I don't like those odds.
Aniyah's gasp is shot through with pain. "No! Look, don't you see the leader? Follow its eyes. Behind us!"
I can't tell which one is the leader; they're all equally big and ugly. She points unsteadily at a creature running near the front of the pack, its gaze locked on something over my left shoulder. I turn my head to look and immediately snap back around; a Handler gallops close behind, gaining distance with every step we take.
"Faster," I pant, tightening my grip on Aniyah. "Don't attack, just run. Tony, take care of Miyuki!"
"I'm fine," she hisses through closed teeth. "Stop treating me like—"
Anything she says after that is lost in the howl that bubbles up from the leader's throat. The creatures stream around Chloe and the other guys before angling back into line to face us. I hunch my shoulders around Aniyah and duck my head with intent to barrel through, then I feel a powerful rush of wind above my head as the creatures leap over us. I turn just in time to see them pounce onto the pursuing Handlers.
My eyes are wide as serving bowls. "Is this a rescue?" I wonder, gulping air into my burning lungs.
"No. Keep running." Aniyah's fists are clenched so tightly I can smell blood seeping from fresh cuts. "Those Handlers are coated with the Master's energy. I think they're hunting the scent."
Miyuki thins her lips, looking grim. "Don't we have the same smell, just not as strong?"
Aniyah's miserable whimper is answer enough and I shake my head, tossing curls back from my eyes. "Tony was right, then; they're taking out the strong ones first. We gotta be out of here when they're done."
"The trees," Aniyah whispers, her eyes fluttering shut. "We have to get to the trees. We have to want to escape. If we want it badly enough, we will do it."
That shouldn't be a problem. Already Heather has reached the first of the trees, all but slamming into the wood as she wraps her arms around it, bracing against imaginary hands seeking to haul her away. "We're here!" Heather's yell reverberates through the forest, causing another eruption of birds. "We made it; we're here!" Her voice is ragged, cracking under strain. "We're here!"
Her last word is a scream. She pounds her fists into the tree, tearing away strips of bark with her bleeding hands. Sapph
o catches her a moment later, wrapping her arms around the frantic girl and pulling her away before she can harm herself further. "We're here, we're here," she soothes. "As soon as the others come, we can leave."
We're close enough now to hear her words on the breeze. I open my mouth wide as I run, inhaling the cool air of the forest. I don't understand how I recognize what I see and taste and hear and feel. In the Master's domain, I never felt water in the air like this or saw the warm brown bark of a tree or heard the rustle of leaves in a breeze. Yet I know these things, just as I know how to run on sand, the knowledge coming from a past I don't remember. Those memories were stolen away when I was taken.
"Did we come from this place?" Miyuki's murmur floats back to me as we slow to a halt with the rest of the group. Tony pants hard at my side, his head tilted back to look from the tree to the canopy above. Chloe leans against one of the thicker trees, breathing deeply, and Christian flops down onto the ground beside her. Hana circles a tree warily, while Imani pokes gingerly with her burned hands at the area Heather mutilated.
"No." Handler's voice is as raw as an open wound and he doubles over against his knees, gasping for breath. "I do not know where you are brought from, but it is not from this domain. You were harvested."
"Harvested from where?" Heather rounds on him, her eyes wide with frustration. "You must know something! Where do we come from? How do we get back there?"
"The place where humans come from," he says, his voice desolate. "I know no more. If we cannot find the way, my only hope is for the guardians of this forest to give me a clean death."
"Aniyah will know," Miyuki insists, peering with an anxious expression at the half-conscious girl in my arms. "Sweetie, can you hear me? We need to know what to do next."
I shift my arms until I hope she's in a more comfortable position, but her eyes remain closed to the world. "She's in a lot of pain, Miyuki. I don't think she's awake."
Worry flashes in her hazel eyes as she places hands on Aniyah's neck. "You have to wake up," she whispers. "I don't have much magic left. Please let this be enough! I promise more later."
Aniyah stirs as a low howl sends shivers down my back. The sounds of battle behind us have tailed off; minus a few scattered growls and one last gurgling scream from a Handler, things are now dangerously quiet. "Oh, that's not good," Tony observes, watching the field behind me.
Miyuki ignores him, grasping Aniyah's hands in her own and maintaining eye contact as she rouses. "Aniyah! We've reached the trees, just like you said. What's next? What does the magic tell you to do?"
Aniyah blinks bleary eyes. "We have to want to leave," she says, as though everything were perfectly simple.
A few of the others groan; Christian and Matías ready their weapons, eyes focused on the enemy behind. "Ani, we did that part," Miyuki says, her voice urgent. "What do we do after that? Where do we go?"
"That's all," Aniyah says, shaking her head. There's a faraway quality to her voice. "We just have to want it enough."
We're going to die here. The knowledge squeezes my heart. We'll never get back to where we came from. I don't even have a name for the place: it's just where-we-came-from, the place where words were learned. A lost home the dark area of my mind longs for, even while I have no memory of it.
No memory except the words. My head tilts to the right as a new thought nibbles at me. "Tony, give me your hand."
He blinks but reaches out to tangle his fingers in mine, careful not to disturb my grip on Aniyah. "Okay. Why?"
"Maybe..." The words come slower than I'd like, the thought rolling around my brain as it struggles to pick up speed. "Maybe it's not enough to want to leave. Maybe we have to want to be in a certain place: home."
Tony nods, but I can see he doesn't understand. "Keoki, I couldn't want to be home any harder than I already do."
"No, no, you're not getting it!" I shake my head at him, my adrenaline building. "Tell me a thing you miss about home. Hold my hand and tell me. I'll start." Words spill out of me. "Sand as soft as skin, not this coarse stuff. The roar of the crowd when you're winning, only it's not the crowd—it's water. Music you make with your hands, fingers against strings. You sing to it."
"Beds that don't hurt." Aniyah's mumble floats on the breeze, plaintive and soft. "Pillows as thick as your head, not just flat ones for sitting on the floor. You put them behind your back or under your knees. Pain that wasn't like this. Feeling alive, not just... waiting to die."
Miyuki reaches out to stroke Aniyah's cheek at the hesitation in this last recollection. "Kisses in the darkness," she whispers, her eyes shining with tears. "Laughter in the light. I was about to be free. So many things I wanted to tell you about us. I don't recall them all, but I remember the parts that matter."
There's a change in the air, a flickering spark and an acrid scent that tickles the nose. The howls behind us are fainter than before and seem farther away. Chloe looks up, her arms tight around Justin. "Soft fabric on my skin," she says, sounding dazed by the recollection. "Texture and color, not like these white curtains we're stuck wearing. Flashing lights and a smile each time. The smile was important, but I was good at it because I was happy."
Christian watches her with shining eyes, his own smile widening. "There were high places. Do you remember those? Not cramped down in those caves like we've been, but flying high in the sky, legs out behind you while your arms hold you up. Wings over your head and the whole world under you. Tell me someone else remembers how to fly?"
"I remember the food," Matías says, shaking his head and frowning at the ground. "The heat of fire like the torches in our cavern, but hotter and steadier. Food I made with my bare hands from little bits and pieces: grains smaller than our sand and a bit of water to hold them together. I'd punch everything down and it would rise back up into the softest bread you ever tasted. Like those clouds up there."
The acrid scent in the air is stronger now as words come faster, stories going down the line like a passed torch. "Training," Hana says, clenching her fists and letting a proud smile flicker over her face. "Real training with real teachers; honest sweat and a long bath after. I was going to be the best."
"Washing my hands," Imani muses. She looks down at her burned hands and laughs softly. "I know it sounds weird, but washing them over and over again, more times than you can count. There were rooms to check on, and people in them. They needed food or healing or just someone to talk to. I liked the older people the best. What about you, Reese?"
"The wind in my hair," Reese says immediately, the answer already on her tongue. "I was supposed to wear a— a helmet, I think. I hardly ever did."
Sappho's hand tightens on Reese's arm, her expression wistful. "Pictures," she whispers, "and words. I drew pretty things to put on my body. I miss that most of all."
"Pain." Heather's voice is hollow again and she doesn't look up. "Feeling. Any kind of sensation. I have the most intense dreams, but when I wake up they fade in the sun."
Handler nods at this, his expression matching hers. "Silence. Peace from the voices."
Tony is watching me, his eyes warm under the shock of dark bangs. "You're the last one," I tell him, my voice low in the charged air. "What does home mean to you?"
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Hot tar paving the ground, sticky on my shoes in summer. People everywhere, not just six or a dozen but crushing you on all sides. Food with an actual taste to it, hot enough to burn your tongue. Dancing a routine until you knew it by heart and could perform it in your sleep." He opens his eyes again and they glisten with tears in the dim light. "Being allowed to love."
I'd been holding everything together until his voice cracked on the last word. Tears spring to my eyes and I squeeze his fingers in mine. "Tony—" I start, but Hana hisses a warning shush and drops to a wary crouch.
"They're almost here," she whispers, eyes darting around. "Shit, I can't see them anymore!"
A wall of white mist has sprung up around us, courtesy of the t
hick moisture in the forest air. The fog muffles every sound; though I can still hear the heavy breathing of the approaching creatures, they seem drastically fewer in number, a mere two or three rather than the large pack at the outset. Did the Handlers kill the rest? I wonder if I should put Aniyah down to fight or keep her in my arms in case we need to run.
"Aniyah?" My voice drops to a whisper, though if they're hunting us by smell instead of sound my caution will do little good. "Sweetheart, can you see anything in this mist?" She stirs at the question and opens her eyes, a dreamy expression on her beautiful face; it's as if the pain has taken her so far away that it's not really pain anymore.
She gasps when she registers the mist, her eyes widening as her fingers reach out to the drifting tendrils. "Magic," she breathes. Her gaze drifts to the center of our group and lands on Heather, who has fallen to her knees and is murmuring something over and over into her clasped hands. "That's right, Heather," Aniyah mumbles with a smile. "Send your power around us."
"Ani, we need you to tell us where the creatu—"
"Keoki!"
At Matías' shout I whirl in time to see one of the creatures plunging through the wall of mist, charging straight at me. I stumble back a step, caught in a fatal hesitation: I can't fight with Aniyah in my arms but can't bring myself to drop her to the ground. It's a stupid hang-up—she'll die because I was unwilling to cause her pain—and I have just enough time left in my life to curse my poor decision-making.
"Hold still!"
A woman's voice I've never heard before is accompanied by a soft hiss whizzing by my ears, then I have the immense yet confusing pleasure of watching an arrow bury itself in the creature's chest while it runs. Momentum carries it forward while a red blossom of blood spreads over its skin, then the dying creature plants its face into the dirt and slides to a lifeless halt at our feet.