The Sweet Series Box Set: Books 1-4

by Bailey Ardisone

  “Thanks. Let’s pack a few things since I doubt she’s eaten.” Rydan made his way over to the food and water we had acquired.

  “Incoming!” a Tavas soldier shouted from the treetops.

  All those of us loitering around the resting place quickly prepared ourselves for an attack by grabbing our weapons and standing guard. Suddenly, Lissë came galloping through the trees as if a whip cracked violently behind her.

  Her white hooves skidded in the dirt as she halted in front of Rydan and nudged him roughly in the chest. She trotted toward the forest and then faced us again, as if signaling for us to follow her. My pulse zoomed in alarm through my veins as Rydan’s face went pale. He said, “Something’s wrong. Nari isn’t hurt, but she needs our help. Something really bad has happened. She sent Lissë to find us all. Hurry! Get everything together that can’t be left behind. We leave immediately.”

  With haste, every soul present gathered up all essentials and weapons. I went to my mother and helped her in any way I could. Ender’s voice traveled to me as he asked Rydan, “What of Remycah? Are they together or apart?”

  “I don’t know. I can only feel animals’ emotions and sometimes see images, but it’s different from words. It’s more like I sense what they’re thinking. I don’t think Mycah is with Nari, as far as Lissë knows.” Rydan assisted in our preparation to leave.

  Ender replied, “Then I must find him. If there truly is trouble, we will most certainly need King Remycah at our side.”

  The moment we were all ready, we took off as fast as we could and followed Lissë into the deep innards of the forest.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  ~Nari~

  “Nikolai!” Mycah roared, just as a heavy rain shower pounded down from the sky, drenching everything in its path. Crackles of lightning and booming thunder echoed through the land. Did he do that? I couldn't tell. The powerful weapons surrounding us were all zeroed in on him, spraying their ammunition like a sprinkler. Not one slug was able to penetrate the forcefield he had emanating from his body. They were fools to underestimate Mycah’s power when connected to his homeland. This might have been different if it had happened in the Earthly realm—they just might’ve been able to gain the upper-hand with those machines. But here? Mycah was stronger than he had ever been anywhere on Earth.

  Mr. Ryan, Zaylie’s dad, protected by a group of bodyguards, came walking toward where Mycah stood with slow, lazy steps and held up his hand to the guys who were firing the anti-aircraft guns. They let go of their triggers, but stayed watching at their post, ready to start again should they be commanded to. Water droplets dripped from his brown hair and fell to his shoulders. He then signaled to his left, a spot I couldn’t see, but then I realized why after a moment. There was Nikolai. Finally. That evil bastard.

  I jumped out and sprinted over to Mycah, Zaylie trailing behind me. With their bodyguards at the ready, the two Black Eagles—Mr. Ryan and Nikolai—moseyed on over to us like we were nothing important, with heavy, human-like footfalls that sloshed in the dampened soil. There was no silent walking where they were concerned. Lachlan joined them on their side.

  Mycah obviously recognized Mr. Ryan immediately. Before they even reached us he snarled, “You! You’re their leader?”

  “Well, one of them, yes.” He called to his daughter, “Zaylie, come over here. Get behind me.”

  She didn’t obey. She stayed tucked behind my arm. Mycah launched right into his scruples with a mighty voice, “A satellite? You’ve been using face detection by satellite to track me?” He must’ve been reading their minds, because no one had said a word about that. “It was the moment I went looking for Nikolai. After I burned the Ëlemmiire. You’ve been able to keep tabs on my every move because of a bloody satellite!”

  “We have people in high places, Mr. Nightly. It’s nothing personal. We just needed what you refused to hand over to us willingly. But luck seemed to be on our side, because then you yourself used it without us having to take it ourselves. Thank you, by the way. You saved us a lot of trouble,” Mr. Ryan said. Nikolai stood just a step in front of him, as if he were protecting him. Was he above Nikolai in rank? Was he really the leader? I felt my jaw drop the same time my heart did.

  “I don’t want to kill you! I am trying my best not to, do you not understand that?” Mycah fumed. He then turned to Nikolai, “I gave you and any of your men that I encountered your lives in exchange for your memories so that you might be free. Is there not a drop of self-worth in you lot?”

  “Foolish, delusional, Mycah Nightly. I warned you this would happen. Perhaps you should not have been so stupid.” Nikolai grinned in a cruel, ugly way. I hated his voice now more than ever. “Should you kill us, we would be replaced in only a matter of hours. So go ahead. It changes nothing.”

  “You deserve to die after what you did to Zaylie!” I shouted at him, my hair now sopping wet and dripping water into my eyes. The rain kept crashing hard without letup. I envisioned it trying to cleanse the land of their defilements. But it wasn’t working.

  Mycah suddenly growled, “You’re bloody sick! How could you do that to your own daughter?”

  Zaylie set him straight, “No, Mycah, my dad had nothing to do with it. It was just Nikolai acting on his own. Right, daddy?”

  Mr. Ryan’s face was a mixture of fear and loathing as he scowled at Mycah. Without removing his death stare from him, he soothed his little girl, “That’s right, honey. Don’t listen to him. He’s just trying to get in your head.”

  “And why would I want to do that?” Mycah scoffed. “Right now you’re trying to cover the truth in your mind with lies and other thoughts, but you can’t. Zaylie, I don’t know what your father has told you, but he was behind your abduction and torment. The order came from him.”

  I felt her sway into me, and I swiveled to catch her and hold her steady in my arms. My heart was doubling in size as it filled with rage. My eyes darted to Lachlan, who looked every bit as shocked and angry as I probably did.

  “Enough,” Mr. Ryan changed the subject. “You immortals are quite selfish. How can you knowingly live out eternity here and not extend the same privilege to us lowly humans, riddled with disease and death, that you have the ability to cure? What kind of monsters are you really?” Nikolai remained silent at his side, watching Mycah with an expression of contempt.

  The more I thought about it, I had a growing feeling Mr. Ryan probably wasn’t the main leader over the whole organization, but still someone pretty important. I knew better than to think the real top dog would risk his life by being here during the “first wave,” as Zaylie called it. That guy probably anticipated most of his men would be killed by coming here first. Which was incredibly scary. If Mr. Ryan and Nikolai were dispensable and easily replaced by someone else, how could we stop them? Burn the portal down with everyone stuck in Luïnil? I didn’t know why, but I didn’t want to say good-bye to the Earthly realm yet. I still had so many places to see.

  I couldn’t help piping in again, “I’m always the first one to admit that there are a lot of monsters here. Way too many, in fact. And a whole lot of evil lurking in every corner. But that doesn’t give you the right to storm in like you own the place and take over a land that isn’t yours! You’re defiling the pureness of Luïnil with your machines and killing its trees like they’re your property. You killed innocent people just to come here…you guys are the monsters! Not us.”

  Mr. Ryan looked around like he had missed something. “I do not believe anyone was talking to you, little girl.”

  Oh, that ticked me off. And he had been so nice before this. I would’ve never believed he could be like this from my previous interactions. He used to be awesome. Funny, charming, and a great father. But not this. Not this lunatic. I took a step closer, but Mycah held his arm out in front of my body, holding me back. I glowered at the two pricks standing before me and bit out, “You better be thankful he’s here to kill you. Because you were just one second away from getting your inside
s ripped out while I made sure you remained conscious to feel every second of it. You would’ve been begging for Mycah’s merciful way of dealing out death by the time I was through with you.”

  Okay, I didn’t really mean that. But I wanted to evoke a little fear in them. Who did they think I was? A helpless nobody? I could command a few nearby trees to snap them in two like twigs without even lifting a finger if I wanted to. Little girl, my ass.

  Nikolai patted the air in front of him, portraying the feeling that he couldn't believe he had to keep dealing with a brat like me. “Calm down, princess. It’d be a shame if you hurt yourself before we were done with you.”

  Mycah surged forward in a split-second and plunged his fist into Nikolai’s chest, robbing him of his heart. He squeezed it to a pulp while he slammed Mr. Ryan’s body into the closest cabin—one that had to have been fifty-feet away, if not more. The outlying Black Eagles started rapid-firing their guns at Mycah’s back, but he sent the ones that had a line on him soaring backward with one swipe of his arm. Any bullets that found their way into his flesh were immediately reversed and healed.

  Zaylie and I took cover from the spraying bullets. And then my jaw dropped as I stared at Nikolai’s lifeless body. I couldn’t believe it…he was actually…dead. Like, for real this time. There was no going back. Mycah finally did what I had kept him from doing for so long. And surprisingly, I didn’t even feel bad for him. Actually, I kind of wished it had been me who got to do it. I wanted to make him regret shooting my best friend in the head. I couldn’t help it.

  Mycah’s voice was filled with white-hot rage, “You’ve been stealing her blood whilst she lay unconscious? I should kill you for this alone.”

  Zaylie broke out into a run and slammed herself into Mycah’s back. “No! Please don’t kill him. Please!”

  Mr. Ryan clawed at Mycah’s hand, but that didn’t seem to deter the smile he had plastered on his face. Was he psychotic? “It is the only way,” he explained, answering Mycah’s question, as if that’d appease him. He didn’t even seem to care that his right-hand man was just slaughtered in front of him. If it had been me, I would’ve been terrified of Mycah. But no, not this guy. Instead, he seemed excited. Intrigued, even.

  “Mycah! Let him go! Please,” Zaylie beseeched, tugging on Mycah’s shirt, despite learning of her father’s heart-wrenching betrayal. “Don’t kill my dad, please. Let him go!”

  “Mycah!” I called, hating to see my best friend in tears and overwhelming pain. I could see he was torn between letting his enemy go and carrying out justice. His apprehension was tangible as he begrudgingly released his hold on Mr. Ryan’s neck.

  “You are mistaken. It was the only way,” Mycah responded to him firmly. With just one glare from his turbulent irises, Mycah had the crops that were growing the special immortality flowers ignited into a ferocious fire. They burned wildly despite the drenching rain that continued on. “You will not live here. You will not gain immortality. And if your men do not leave, they will die, the moment after they watch you take your last breath. By my hand or another’s, none are welcome here. Your intrusion will never be tolerated.”

  “No!” Mr. Ryan bellowed like his newborn baby was burning instead of the plants. He sped after them with fury. He snatched up all he could, coveting the precious cargo in his arms. He started running away with them, but Mycah was there to stop him in an instant. Vines grew up from the ground and wrapped around his legs, locking him in place. “I worked too hard for this! I’ve devoted everything! I will not let you take it away.”

  A nearby bodyguard reacted by confronting Mycah with an attack, but he was quickly disarmed and now pinned at the throat against a wall like Mr. Ryan had been.

  “Remycah!” Ender’s voice startled me. I spun around to find him, Rydan, Naminé, Cathar, Döron, and everyone else in the Lassaira Guard advancing in our direction, along with Lissë and other Fëa. I was relieved, to say the least. Until the guards of Lassaira were quick to get to work. Without any command or order, they ripped out their swords from their belts and their bows from their backs. Not another second’s delay, they took out the Black Eagles manning the machine guns. Arrow after arrow, they were released like rapid fire and not a single bead of sweat was broken on their brows. A mass uproar of terror exploded at the scene.

  Zaylie and I ran over to Rydan and them, and together we moved closer to Mycah. Ender spun in a slow circle as he asked, “What is the meaning of this?”

  “We have ourselves an infestation,” Mycah murmured like he was bored, not easing up on his restraint over the cruel man even a little bit. He kept his eyes burning straight into the intruder’s like he was on a slim line of making him combust into a pile of ash or allowing him to live. “A human infestation.”

  “This is an outrage,” my grandfather hollered, and his wolf growled at the intruders.

  “Stop this!” I demanded of the Tavas guard. And they obeyed. But I could see the confusion in their faces as to why they should have to. And I would explain it to them later. I reached out to my best friend who I could feel trembling at my back where her hands clung to my shirt. “Zaylie, where are Desmond and your mom?”

  “I don’t know,” she cried, traumatized by what she had just witnessed and continued to be subjected to. “In our tent, I think.”

  “Good. Go get them. Bring them here. Quickly!” I watched her run toward the home her family currently lived in. My gaze swept over the elves standing around the chaos and met each one of their faces. I announced firmly, “We should at least give those willing to leave a chance to do so. Not everyone has to die without us trying to reason with them.”

  Not to mention Zaylie’s family, who were my first priority. I couldn’t have the wood elves killing them before I even knew where they were. I promised her I would protect them, and I would keep that promise.

  Ender clutched my bicep. “You do not have the right to make this decision.”

  “Ender, are you serious? It’s the humane thing to do.” I looked at Rydan, wanting back-up. He was too distracted by the commotion going on.

  “We are not humane, Nariella,” Ender clarified.

  And I guess he was right. “Humane” was something humans referred to when bestowing compassion. But elves rarely showed mercy when they felt the punishment was deserving of the crime.

  “Please,” I begged him. “Please give them the opportunity to do the right thing. And then you all can do whatever it is you have to do.”

  You’d think I would’ve learned my lesson by now when it came to letting these guys live, but Lachlan taught me something today—that not every one of the Black Eagles had to be evil. Like him, Desmond, and Mrs. Ryan. I didn’t believe Lachlan was anything like Nikolai. It was possible that there were a lot of humans here who were innocent and only along for the ride to receive immortality. There were families here. And I was willing to bet that there were a lot more innocents present who had never murdered anyone or even hurt anyone than there were actual men like Nikolai. I had a feeling he was the worst. Well, except for Mr. Ryan, who Mycah still had entangled in a net of vines.

  Zaylie came rushing back with Desmond, Lachlan, and her mom in tow. Thank goodness. She brought them over to me, and Mr. Ryan had one of his hands up in the air, as if surrendering, while his other clutched the miraculous flowers.

  “What is this?” Mrs. Ryan panicked when she saw him. “How dare you! Let my husband go this second!”

  “Mum, dad’s in serious trouble,” Zaylie cried into her mom’s arm. I rubbed her back, truly feeling her pain. I didn’t know what was going to happen to her dad, but she was right. He was in some serious doo-doo.

  “And you,” Mycah pointed to Lachlan, “you were their dirty spy? Oh, and that ‘Good-bye Party’ at the Ryans’ was the perfect way for you to get intel on when we were leaving, wasn’t it, mate?”

  “That wasn’t the reason for the party, Mycah!” Zaylie defended with a weak, fearful voice, probably not wanting to see her cousin ti
ed up like her father. “That was my doing, and I did it for my best friend.” I took her hand and squeezed it.

  Lachlan stepped up, looking Mycah straight in the eye. “Alright, I used the opportunity presented to me, and yes, from what I learnt there that night it aided my organization in coming here. Happy? If you can read my thoughts, then you should already know that it’s only my uncle and myself who are a part of this, so you can let Zaylie, Desmond, and my aunt go. I never intended for anyone to get hurt. We only want what everyone else wants.”

  “Ah, right, no one gets hurt. Only stolen immortality at the cost of Nariella’s blood. How noble of you,” Mycah spat.

  Mr. Ryan jumped in, “It wasn’t supposed to be that way. That was a last minute change due to unforeseen circumstances. We tried countless of other ways, but she is the only one with Healer blood.”

  Lachlan added, “We have nothing to do with the brawn of this organization, only the brain. As do most of the families that are here right now. We’re part of the research, intel, technology, and science. I can’t speak for my uncle, but I have no ties in the things men like Nikolai do.”

  “And that makes it alright?” Rydan asked.

  Mr. Ryan’s tone had changed since he gathered up his prized possessions. “No, of course not, but why can't we stay here? Do you have any idea how much time and research has gone in to figuring out how to open a door into this realm? How much frustration we’ve endured over just trying to get here, but couldn’t?”

  “I think I have a pretty good idea,” Mycah mumbled.

  Mr. Ryan kept talking, “Listen, it’s a legend that has been passed down generation after generation. People from all over the world are a part of this organization. The faction based out of Austria that you’ve encountered has only been the muscle. Not where the true heart of our beliefs lie. All we want is to live peacefully in paradise like the rest of you. Please, let us stay.”