by Ana Mardoll
"Eight and eleven o'clock, Celia!" A second voice, as foreign as the first but masculine this time.
"Blocked. I'm circling arou—"
"Taking eight."
"Tyr!"
An explosion rings out behind me to the left; I drop into a crouch, clutching Aniyah to my chest. There's a howl of pain and another one of those creatures collapses to the ground in the thick mist; this one had not been charging at all, but attempting to sneak up on Sappho and Imani.
Two strangers now stand in the mist with us. One is a pale man with feathery-soft brown hair, a chin full of scruff and a sleek black-and-gray hunting rifle; the other is a woman with brown skin, hair that hangs down in a thick braid over her shoulder and what appears to be a bow with extra complicated bits tacked on.
"Drop to the ground and hold still!" The woman's order is a little late, but most of us have already taken her advice; only Matías still stands, his knee preventing him from crouching quickly or easily.
"Taking eleven." A jingling popping sound of metal against metal rings out. Silver leaps from the gun, followed by a flat click. The man swears and glares at the rifle in his hands, fussing at a lever that seems to be giving him trouble. Over my shoulder, between myself and Christian, I hear a low animal growl.
"Tyr."
"I hear it. The fucking thing's jammed."
"Goddammit."
She plants her feet and pulls her arm back to draw the bow, her breath slowing as the creature crouches to spring. It leaps as she releases, the arrow striking it in the shoulder and barely checking its step. I watch with my hands full, helpless to intervene, while the creature bounds in a direct line for Matías. Resignation is written on his face; after having drawn heavily on his talent in so short a time, I know he won't be able to dodge. The animal pounces, its teeth bared to tear out his throat.
Tony is there in a single swift movement, his sword flashing bright silver in the mist. The creature's head flies wide, hits the earth hard, and bounces twice before rolling to a halt. The headless body of the animal slumps to the ground and cuts a deep sliding furrow before coming to a stop at Matías' feet. He takes a deep breath and looks up at his savior with a shaky smile.
"Thank you, Anthony."
Chapter 33
Aniyah
"Is that all of them, Tyr?"
I open my eyes to find myself in a world unlike any I've seen before. The silver mist has faded away to reveal a changed landscape similar to the one we've just fled—the soil is dark and loamy and trees grow thick around us—yet their colors are a brand new palette to my eyes.
Everything is dull, but in the best possible way. The blinding brightness assaulting me from every direction since the Shadow Man altered my sight has softened to muted hues which no longer dazzle. The leafy canopy above us is a deep calming green, casting a dappled shade that shields us from the setting sun, itself a warm ochre that soothes my mind after the searing yellow constantly flooding our cavern.
The magic isn't gone. I remember how everything looked when I was first awakened by the Master, the flat emptiness surrounding me before my blossoming talent opened my eyes to what lay beneath. This new world isn't devoid of that vibrant flow, but the magic that courses through the land and trees is vastly different to what we've left behind. If the other world belonged to faeries, I decide, spreading my fingers and reaching out to touch the air, this world must be where humans live.
"Yeah, that's all of them."
I sit up straighter in Keoki's arms to get a better look at our rescuers, but feel a snap in my lower back and my vision blurs with new pain. My mind swirls into a strange blend of dizzy confusion and perfect lucidity; the world around me spins, yet my thoughts are of such sharp clarity they feel like daggers in my head.
The woman who saved us is dusted in a glimmer of faery magic. She's beautifully strong, as lean and muscular as any of our fighters, and she holds her weapon like an extension of her body. At the man's answer, she brings the bow around to a strap harness worn over her shoulder and secures the weapon with short practiced movements. "Only three guardians made it through. Not bad; we got lucky."
"Lucky would be if this expensive rubbish hadn't jammed on me." The man fusses with his gun without bothering to look up, then shoulders the rifle with a sound of disgust. "You were expecting more trouble?"
"Considering the size of the portal, yes." She turns to our group and makes eye contact with each of us, her gaze not lingering on any one person for long. Her voice is deep, almost stern; her tone not one you would argue with without a good reason. "My name is Celia. You're on the run from faeries? You're safe now. You've escaped the otherworld; you're earthside again and we're human, just like you."
"Or something very like," her companion mutters. His expression is bored as he looks us over, a low whistle escaping his lips. "Look how many there are. Got to be a baker's dozen, at least."
She ignores him. "We're here to take you to healers, then food and rest. Are any of you too wounded to walk or be carried a short distance?" Her eyes flick to me, though much of her attention seems settled on Tony and the sword he grips in his hands, the blade dripping with dark ichor.
Hesitation ripples through our group. Could safety really be so simple as this, or is it a trap? Keoki is the first to step forward, and I would be proud of him were it not for the fresh pain that tears me apart with his every jarring step. "Nice to meet you, ma'am. Can you help Aniyah? She's hurt bad."
"Hello, Aniyah. May I touch you?" Her hands reach out with exaggerated slowness, careful not to startle me; when I don't pull away, she gingerly feels around my neck. "Where does it hurt, hon? Think you can hang on until we get to our healers?"
There's no magic in her hands like Miyuki's; I try to nod and the world spins again. "I'm... I'm not fine, but I can hang on." My words slur in my ears, the 'm's and 'n's dragging out longer than they should. "Help Justin. He was mauled by a bear."
"We're going to help all of you; the question is where and in what order. Where's Justin?"
"Here." Chloe moves to stand beside us, clutching the unconscious boy in her arms. "He's not too well."
Celia sucks air between her teeth, her fingertips flying over his swollen face and bleeding leg. "Shit, he's in bad condition. Tyr, get down to the road and be ready to flag down Rose. They've gotta be close."
"It's a two-lane street without a single turnoff, Celia. And we'd barely pulled over before you jumped out and tore up here. They can't miss us, they're just running late." Leaves rustle nearby and I hear the snap of dry twigs under a heavy tread. "Speak of the devil. C'mon out, it's safe."
Sappho gasps and draws back as more strangers pour into our midst. Miyuki's hand grips my arm harder and Tony renews his hold on his sword, though none of the newcomers seems to pay him any mind. Two women and a man—at least, I think he's a man—emerge from the trees into the tiny clearing where we stand, each dusted in the same magic radiance as our two rescuers.
The women are a beautiful pair, contrasting and yet strangely similar. One has pale skin and the other is warm and dark, their tumbling locks a deep purple and dark red respectively. Their eyes are as vibrantly green as Heather's, and thick raised veins climb their arms and snake down their calves in a tangle of wild magic. Despite their smiles, there's danger inside them and yet I am not afraid. Drinking in the heady scent wafting across the clearing, I think they could kill me and I'd not begrudge them.
The man accompanying them is an even stranger specimen. He's covered from head to toe in silver, yet his arms and legs move with the fluidity of human skin and his face is detailed to the smallest eyelash. His smile is gentle as he looks over our group, and his eyes are sympathetic when they fall on Justin.
"Celia?" The woman with dark red hair leads the group, stepping forward through the trees. "Sorry, we weren't trying to barge up here. We were careful to watch for flying arrows, I swear."
The purple-headed girl's voice is light and teasing. "Clarent, you just
can't step lightly, can you?"
"You wouldn't either, Lavs, if you were made of metal."
Celia waves them closer, worry creasing her brow. "Rose, we've got wounded. They said this boy was mauled, and he smells of infection. He'll need a shot; I don't want to risk the time it'll take to get him to Joel."
The woman's expression is grave as she rummages through a bag slung across her chest. "My name is Rose," she murmurs to the unconscious boy. "Everything is going to be fine."
Her voice is soothing in spite of the fact that Justin isn't awake to hear it. She produces a vial of glowing white liquid and holds it up in display, light catching the silver tip of a needle. "You're safe and we're going to get you healed. See this? This is something I made myself. It'll fix you up." She angles the needle into the flesh of his hip above the tattered bandages encasing his leg, and liquid magic drains into him.
Imani is the first to gasp, setting off a cascade of similar yelps as a dramatic transformation ripples over Justin. Light streams through his body, cleansing where it passes and drawing angry purple bruises from the surface of his skin. Cracking noises fill the clearing, like bones shifting against each other, yet his expression is serene. As we watch, the swelling around his eye deflates like a sigh, leaving his face smooth without a lingering blemish to mark the bear's attack.
His eyes flutter open as the others crowd around. "Huh? What happened?" he asks, mumbling sleepily in Chloe's arms. He watches with bemusement as Imani pulls away bandages and splinting to examine his leg, which appears to be whole and healthy. "I'm so hungry I could eat sand."
They healed him. They saved our lives and they healed him. They really are here to help us. The same thought seems to occur to everyone at once, setting off a babble of voices speaking over each other.
"Are we really out, then? Can he reach us here?
"How safe are we? Like, forever-safe or just-for-now-safe?"
"Is this home? Why don't I remember it?"
"Where is this exactly?" Hana's voice cuts through the others, her eyes on Celia's face.
"Right now?" Celia nods in recognition of Hana's question over the cacophony. "We're at Eagle Mountain Lake just outside Azle, Texas. The lake area is northwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, which is where we'll be taking you all to heal and rest." She shakes her head, sympathy stealing over the worn lines in her strong face. "Most of those words won't make sense to you, but that's normal."
"There are neither eagles nor mountains here, and it's not technically a lake," Tyr adds with a helpful smirk. "Gods, I can't get over how human they look, Celia. Except for that robed one and those chains on the girls, you'd hardly know where they've been. Clarent, are they really altered?"
"They are," the silver man says in response. "It's a rough sort of alteration, not quite finished." His eyes find me and then Justin, his smooth silver brow knitting in confusion. "They aren't all from the same domain, though."
"That happens," Celia says, looking unconcerned. "The important thing is we're all earthside. Earth is where you came from, where you were born human. Later you were taken and altered to live among faeries in the otherworld, but you never stopped being human. Honey, I don't think you should be doing that."
Heather is running her bleeding hands over a nearby tree, scraping her skin against the bark and leaving trails of blood where she touches. At Celia's admonishment she turns towards us, her expression animated with joy for the first time I've seen. "It's back," she breathes. "I can feel things! It's faint, but it's there."
Celia hesitates, choosing her next words with care. "Some of you may have lost some magic in the crossing over. If any of you has harmful or unwanted skills, Clarent here may be able to help. But first we need to get you to our healers. Can everyone walk? My truck is parked down the hill, and we've got Rose's vehicle."
"How we're going to transport them all is the question," Tyr points out, trudging away in the direction from which the newcomers had arrived. "Fourteen escapees? That's got to be a record haul."
The pretty purple-haired woman rolls her eyes. "The wounded girl can lie across the back seat with me." She flashes me a warm smile. "It's a smoother ride than Celia's truck, at least. I'm Lavender, by the way."
"We'll pile everyone else in the back of the pickup," Celia adds with a shrug. "Legal enough, with everyone over eighteen. You boys can ride in the back with them and keep 'em from falling out."
Miyuki frowns at the suggestion that we separate, but when xie speaks it's of a different concern. "Didn't you know how many of us there would be? You knew we were coming, didn't you? That's how you were here to save us and heal Justin."
Celia shakes her head, pushing branches out of the way so we can walk through without being scratched. "Nope, didn't know how many of you to expect," she says, her voice brusque. She shrugs her shoulders. "Got a sense that someone was heading in this direction with intent to escape, and I know roughly where the borders lie. Details like who's coming and how many and whether they'll make it..." Her voice trails away for a moment before she shrugs again and continues walking. "You did good."
Keoki ducks his head under the branch she lifts and ambles down the path towards a strange gray path that I belatedly identify as a road. I'm having trouble concentrating and try not to wince with every step; it's not his fault my body is on fire. "Ma'am?" he asks, glancing back at her as he walks. "The guy who took us: is he gonna want us back?"
Rose touches his shoulder and guides him so he doesn't block the path. "We'll talk about everything later," she promises, her gentle voice reassuring. Her fingers brush my skin and I feel a little tremor at her touch as new magic seeps into my skin and whispers comforting words my mind can't disentangle.
What an odd talent, I think, drifting on the waves of those whispered words. It's as if her whole purpose is to be a comfort to others. Was she given to boys, like we were?
"The answer is usually 'no'," she continues, giving Keoki a kind smile. "It depends on what you did over there and how important you were to them. Even if they do come for you, we have ways of protecting you. We help each other."
Heather snorts at her answer; the sound is recognizably Heather's scoff, yet infinitely happier than before. "We weren't important to him in the least," she declares, shaking stray leaves from her blond tresses as we tumble out onto the road. She stares for a moment at the red truck that squats by the side of the road—undeniably a truck and yet the only one we can recall seeing—but takes it in stride and turns back to Rose. "He hardly ever even saw us. Prizes were just for servicing the fighters, that's all."
Rose's face falls slightly; she tries to hide the pain in her eyes, but her smile isn't fast enough. "I see," she says, her smile encompassing a world of sympathy. "And the fighters?" Her gentle gaze moves over the armored members of our group.
Tony swipes a handful of leaves from the nearest tree to swab ineffectively at the blood on his sword. "We were there to put on shows. Fight for their entertainment. When we left, we'd all been scheduled to die in some sort of massacre. Can't think he'd go to all the trouble to get us back if he just plans to kill us right away."
The silver man winces, his metallic face etched with compassion. He offers his hand to Tony and helps him hop into the bed of the truck. "You're safe now," he promises. "You're back home and you don't need to fight again if you don't want to. No one here is going to try to kill you."
Lavender gives him a fond look and opens the door to a nearby vehicle; it is squat and hunched and bulky, and sports a battered spare tire on the back. "Clarent's right. I know it's disorienting the first day out, and you don't really remember anything—"
"Oh, but we have memories!"
All five of our rescuers stop mid-step to stare at Sappho. Rose wears an expression of naked hunger, while Lavender blinks. "You do?"
Sappho shifts on her feet, uncertain under the focus of so much attention. "Well, we saved some."
"We know our names," Imani explains, taking Clarent's ha
nd gingerly with her burned fingers.
"And we know we came from the University; most of us, anyway." Chloe hops into the truck bed without difficulty, flinging a hand out behind her to help Christian up.
Celia stares at her. "How do you know that?"
"Hana woke us up before the Master wiped our memories," I explain. Keoki sets me on my feet as gently as he can, but the world whirls sickeningly and I have to cling to his arms. "She... saved everything she could."
Her eyebrows shoot up. "That is impressive." Three little words, but she packs a lot of meaning into them.
Hana looks down at her feet and shrugs. I suppose it's one thing to know you're impressive and another entirely to hear it from someone who understands more about this world than all of us combined. "We didn't save as much as we wanted, but we know Miyuki has family in the area and Aniyah doesn't."
Miyuki perks up at the subject. "Yes! I have a father willing to pay to get me and Aniyah back. We haven't been gone long. We should be able to find him, right?"
"And Keoki was brought in with us," I add in a weak voice. "He might have family of his own."
Tyr hops into the truck bed and offers a hand to Matías, his attention focused on Miyuki. "If they're recent nabs, they may not have faded yet," he muses.
"That's a myth," Lavender snaps, thinning her lips.
"Not to me, Thornbush." He settles into the truck bed with his back against the cab, not bothering to look her way.
Clarent speaks before Lavender can retort, his peaceful voice floating over the road as he helps Justin into the crowded pickup. "We can check the 'Missing Persons' site; it won't take long and can't hurt. We know their appearances weren't changed, if the girls saw new arrivals before they were altered. We can look through the pictures and see if there are any matches."
Rose nods, hunger still glinting in her eyes. "Elric could do it. It'd be faster than making new identities from scratch, right?"