The Amulet Trials

by Willa Alders

The bears appeared out of nowhere and started walking toward us. She looked at me and grabbed my hand. Oh shit I thought! Aralynn just smiled at me and I knew right then she had my back and that we would face this together. Still my stomach felt like it jumped to my throat.

  CHAPTER 14 ARALYNN

  I stood there reading his face as he told me who he was. He seemed relieved and worried at the same time. It was as if he was expecting me to slap him or something. I had thought about it but I couldn’t because I too had lied to him so I couldn’t be mad at him for not telling me. What I was upset about was is he hadn’t told me who his sister was but I couldn’t worry about that now. All I could think about was he was mine, and we both could live forever I wasn’t worried about the rest. I knew it would all fall into place.

  I threw my arms around his neck as I kissed him quickly and deeply that I lost myself. I knew he was losing his mind too. I was overwhelmed that we were both Immortal and I wanted him to know that made my day more than anything. His hands wrapped around my back pulling me closer as we kissed. It seemed as quickly as we started we stopped. Archer pulled away a bit. I read his face the worried look was back. I decided to try to ease his mind a bit.

  “Archer, I’m so happy that were both immortal. That means we can have each other forever. I just wish we would have told each other sooner. I still want you and want to be with you of course. Archer, I love you.” I said leaning up and pulling him closer to me again. I kissed his lips once more then stopped.

  Even though I was happy as I was because we were both immortal and that we got to spend eternity together now; there was an unsettling feeling lurking inside of me that I could shake. No matter how hard I tried to push the feeling away it stayed getting stronger by every second. So strong and persistent that I knew I couldn’t ignore the unsettling urge any longer. I knew that I was crazy for ruining the moment we were so consumed in but I needed answers. I had to know if my suspicion about who his sister was correct and I had to know now. I didn’t just need to know if it was Kilyn for me but for everyone I cared about. This would affect my whole family. Plus I knew the battle was coming soon so the more I knew the better off we would be. So I did the only other thing I had been dreading.

  “Who’s your sister?” I asked.

  He pulled away from me. His smile faded as he looked down. “It’s……” He started to say then he stopped and started again “There’s something I have to tell you first though, my sister is trying to send…” He stopped again as his eyes grew wide.

  I turned around instantly seeing why Archer’s eyes had grown full of fear. Walking out of the woods in unison were four massive, furious and terrorizing looking creatures. I knew what was going on then. I had seen it in the movie reel before just not in extreme depth. I had seen enough to have some idea of what was going to happen next. I knew we had no time to waste and we needed to be prepared. Only when the bears fully came out of the woods did I realize exactly how big they were. They each were easily the size of a semi truck and their eyes were piercing crimson. These definitely weren’t any ordinary bears they were created out of pure evil. I stood there waiting for the lunge that I knew was coming as they inched closer to us slowing more and more. I watched a burly black one show its’ teeth as it let out a death growl. I looked at Archer expecting to see horror stretched across his face. Instead all I saw in his eyes was a look that told me he knew this was going to happen.

  “She’s what sending an attack? You knew?” I asked him.

  “Yes, that’s what I was trying to tell you.” He said and I instantly started getting upset. “Ara beautiful I was trying to prevent this from happening.” He started to say.

  He couldn’t finish it though because the bears went from walking slow, to charging toward us. I shook my head and decided to focus the negative energy I felt toward the bears. I looked at Archer and nodded, he did too. I spoke in my mind to Caleb and Carmina and Avery.

  Bluffs now the bears are attacking us.

  I stood there waiting on them to attack –they were about 20 feet from us now. Nothing happened until the leader in the middle stepped out away from the other three growling and then he lunged. I let out a scream as I threw my hands up. I didn’t know what that was going to help but it was my first instinct. Somehow when I did the bears instantly stopped the leader went flying backwards landing on his back. I blinked. I had forgotten about the ability I had when I got scared. I remembered Orion told me about it. If I’m scared or terribly startled I had the ability to jolt someone potentially knocking them down and stunning them. I watched as the other three waited on the leader to get up.

  When he did they growled and started heading toward us again, I had my hands still held up still. They got within ten feet of us and something jolted them back again. I blinked and let my hands down they came charging back at us and then I put them back up. Once my hands were up they jolted backwards again. I looked at Archer in disbelief.

  “It’s a force field, they can’t get past. I know you’re mad at me but I have an idea, can you let it down just enough for me to do something?” Archer asked as he walked up closer to me as I rolled my eyes at him. I wanted him to know that I was upset with him.

  “Aralynn please, I will fix this. Just let’s get rid of them for now.” His eyes said pleadingly.

  “Fine.” I said turning my gaze toward him.

  I let the force field down some as arrows appeared out of his hand. The bears walked closer towards us as he released the arrows from his hand hitting one of the bears instantly. I watched him as I kept one hand up holding the force field up just enough to protect us. He turned his gaze to the other three bears as he released more arrows instantaneously. Each arrow pierced each one of the bears without error. I blinked as a fireball appeared in front of me. With my free hand I threw the fireball. It soared through the air towards the bears. Archer realized that even though I was upset I was helping him defeat them. He reloaded the arrows and continued shooting them one after the other.

  “What the?” I started to say and he cut me off.

  “Now, let it down.” Archer screamed at me and I did.

  I let the guard down a bit and he shot arrows, and one hit one of the bears, then another hit another one. He kept reloading them and shooting them. I let my one hand down still allowing the force field to stay up, partially. I blinked and a fireball appeared, I took my hand and whisked it toward the bears while Archer continued shooting arrows at them.

  I kept releasing fireballs without stopping until one of the bears somehow got around the force field. I tried to stop it dead in its tracks with a jolt but it was too quick. It lunged straight at me knocking me down. I stood stunned gasping for air looking for Archer. He was releasing arrows at the bear that had attacked me. I shook my head at him telling him I was ok. I blinked as two of the biggest fireballs I’d ever conjured appeared. I threw them at the bear that had just knocked me down. Just like that—with the bear being so close to me the fireballs landed precisely in the bears eyes. The bear growled in pain as it staggered backwards. It kept staggering until it fell off the cliff and I saw flames engulf the bear from below. I realized then we had to wound the bears or get enough to get them to fall off the cliff to their demise.

  I looked at Archer as he nodded at me. He had seen what just happened and he agreed with what we needed to do. I closed the distance between us. We were just inches apart now when I looked at him again as he gave me go ahead. He already had the arrows loaded. I used both my hands one controlling the fore field and the other I used to freeze each one of the bears. They froze stiff mid lunge. I started blinking erratically as fast as I could. About 100 more fireballs appeared in a line straight in front of me. I gave Archer one final nod as I dropped the force field completely.

  He started releasing the arrows without thought at the leader. I followed up with twisting my hand as all the fireballs landed on the leaders’ black fur. The impact of the arrows and the fireballs had unfreeze the bear. He was gr
owling in pain just like the other one had. This one was much stronger than the other one though because despite everything we had just hit him with he was still coming toward us. Just like that I blinked again making several more fireballs appear in front of me. Archer and I fired in unison this time. As we stood there waiting for the bear to come forward once again he did the opposite. He howled once falling over. I leaned forward to see if he was breathing. There was no breathing coming from it. I assumed he was dead. I took a step back, bringing the force field back up when something else startled me. The leader blew up in smoke, and then the remaining two did the same. They both were gone in a matter of minutes.

  Once I was sure the attack was over I dropped down to the ground trying to steady my breathing. Everything happened so much faster than what I had expected that I didn’t realize my arm was bleeding until I felt it trickle down my arm. I looked at the cut as I wiped it off with my hand. It was really deep. I knew on a normal human it would have needed stitches. On me it would be healed in an hour so I didn’t worry about it. Archer rushed over to me examining my arm.

  He couldn’t say too much because just like that the bears were gone and the cut on my arm was gone. I mind spoke back to my family “Hello where are you guys?” Nothing happened. Archer looked at me and touched my arm. He knew.

  “Come on, let's go see why they didn’t come to help beautiful?” Archer said as we walked down the path. Caleb, Carmina, and Avery met us half way down. You could see they were ready to fight but something had them stopped. I looked at them.

  Orion had let us know to let you guys try to handle it on your own. That’s what we waited.” Caleb said to us. “I’m sorry we missed the fight, but there will be another one. I take it you told him?” Caleb asked quietly.

  “Yes I did, he’s not human either.” I said to them.

  Caleb and Carmina both smiled. “We know sweetheart. It looks like you two handled yourself well. “Carmina smiled at me.

  “How’d you know?” I asked them, and I looked as Archer walked up to us.

  “We always knew, we had an idea and the Kintana confirmed it this morning. We will all begin training both of you two tomorrow, you both did very well tonight. We will let you two enjoy your evening, I am glad you two are ok. Come on boys. We will start training tomorrow.” Carmina smiled at us as her and Caleb walked off.

  Avery snorted and punched Archer in the face. Archer let him this time without retaliating. I figured Archer let him because his mind was on me and worried about what was going on with us more. Once they were out of sight he walked up to me and I started to head off. I wasn’t mad that he didn’t tell me who he was. I was mad because he didn’t tell me about the attack before today. That was what I was upset about and I wanted him to know.

  “Aralynn.” He pleaded reaching out and touching my arm.

  “Wait why? I’m glad we’re both immortal and can be together now. That’s great, but it doesn’t change the fact that you lied to me. You knew about the attack and you didn’t say anything about it why?” I asked him.

  “I tried.” He started to say when I cut him off.

  “You tried?” I asked again pressuring him.

  “Yes several times I tried to tell you who I was and was going to happen. I tried to tell you every time we got interrupted, and every time I tried if we didn’t get interrupted I couldn’t.” He said trying to touch my hand.

  I pulled my hand away and looked away. “Tried and why couldn’t you?” I asked again.

  “My sister can get into people’s minds beautiful. I knew if I told you who I was or who my sister was she would be able to tell. Plus she would know if I slipped up about the attacks. I had no idea how to hide my mind from her. I didn’t even know cloaking my mind was possible until just the other day when Lona and my mom came into the picture. They were the ones who gave me the potion and the chant. It only happened just did it a few days ago. If there was any way I could have told you before I would trust me; I tried to tell you the other night. Believe me I wanted you to know and I wanted us to be prepared for the attack tonight except I didn’t know when my sister was going to release the bears exactly. You have to believe me Aralynn; I didn’t know when it was actually going to happen until tonight.” He said his eyes were pleading.

  I looked at him and I could see it in his eyes. He was telling the truth. He honestly didn’t have a clue when the exact attack would happen until it did. I knew he would have told me if he did. So no matter how upset I was I was I couldn’t hate him, because I knew I would have done the same exact thing in his situation. I decided I was going to let him by.

  “I believe you, but you still lied to me.” I said sadly looking down. I would forgive him but I was still hurt.

  “I know beautiful, and I’m sorry. Do you forgive me?” He asked wrapping his arms around me. “Yes I forgive you Archer. But don’t lie or keep things from me again.” I said staring at his eyes because they were melting all my fury.

  “I won’t. Thank you beautiful. I am glad I get to spend forever with you. You have no idea how much that means to mean.” He smiled at me kissing my cheek.

  “I’m glad to. Come on; let’s go back to my place. There’s a cloak on it your sister can’t get to you there. You’ll be safe until we have the final battle.” I said grabbing his hand and heading down the hill.

  “Who is your sister?” I asked again as we headed down the hill towards Sam’s.

  He didn’t say anything he was quiet for a few minutes. “I think you know beautiful.” He said grimly.

  “Yes I think I do too, but I want to be sure so could you just tell me please to confirm my suspicions.” I said quietly as we reached the bottom of the hill.

  “I don’t need to, but since you want to know its Ki... Well it’s Kilyn.” He choked out as he stuttered her name.

  If my mouth could have hit the floor it would have. I stood there kind of shocked, why I wasn’t sure. I kind of figured that’s who is sister was especially after he didn’t want me to go with her, and neither did Avery. I should have known something was off, and who she was when I started getting the weird feeling about her. I should have known. It shouldn’t have surprised me. I wish I wouldn’t have asked him to confirm my suspicions.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked Archer.” I said grimly back as we reached his car.

  “No its ok beautiful at least you know now and you know what we’re up against. HELL!” He smiled sadly.

  “Yes come on, let’s go home. Caleb, Carmina, Avery, Sam, Orion and I guess Lona will help us figure this out.” I said kissing him.

  “Ok.” He said getting in the car after he let me in the car.

  The ride home was quiet. The whole time I was feeling mixed emotions. Part of me was happy that we finally told each other who we were, and we both were Immortal. That was the best part the very best part of this mess. The other part of me was sick to my stomach. Especially after the worst thing was confirmed one of my best friends was out to kill me, for what I didn’t know. What I did know was that she wasn’t my friend and wanted me dead. The other part to make matters worse was that Kilyn was Archer’s sister, the one who terrorized him for who knew what reason and who knew how long she had tortured him. I wanted to puke. We got home and went up to my room and we laid there in each other’s arms the whole night.

  CHAPTER 14 CONTINUED ARCHER

  The next morning I woke up groggily unable to focus. I had been dreaming I knew because I was disoriented and I had no idea where I was at first. It took me a minute for everything that had happened last night to come rushing back to me. When it did I felt both sick and relieved all at once. The good thing was at least for now I was safe and sound. Plus Aralynn knew everything about me now which definitely helped. I rolled over expecting her to still be in bed next to me but the spot next to me was empty. I heard the shower turn off so I knew she was getting ready. She came out a few minutes later. I sighed because she was so beautiful even with no makeup on and eve
n with her hair being in a knotted mess from the water. It was hard to believe that she was mine as she practically glided over to me like an angel. She sat down smiling at me as I sat up kissing her lips gently to say good morning as I ran my hand through my hair.

  “What time is it beautiful?” I asked as she got up getting some clothes.

  “Little after nine I think. Sam was able to find some of your clothes. He said a friend gave them to him. What he means by that I don’t know but here they are. How did you sleep?” She asked me handing me the clothes.

  “Not well, but better now that you know. I still just a lot more I need to tell.” I said heading toward her bathroom.

  “I know and were all having a meeting in a few hours.” She said as I got in the shower.

  I got in the shower closing my eyes allowing the hot steam from the water to fill me as I relived every moment from last night. It was as if it was all happening over again. The bears came out of nowhere –huge, monstrous, evil creatures that definitely should have frightened the daylights out of us. Somehow they didn’t though and we came together united in tune with each other to defeat them. Aralynn was absolutely magnificent. I’d never seen her more in her element than that. I knew that I had never been more in my element before last night either. Us being together was the key I knew that now, and I knew that with training we’d be unstoppable. Especially because we were both pretty bad ass as it was to begin with.

  My mind jumped to my secret that I had been keeping and how I had exposed it all to Aralynn last night. I could see the hurt as well as the mistrust lurking behind her deep gray eyes. I never felt such a sickening pit of loss like I had last night. Just like that I saw her eyes flicker –the mistrust and hurt disappeared replaced with her forgiving and loving smile. I exhaled again knowing that she had forgiven me as I felt her kissing me again.

  The happiness didn’t last long because it was replaced with a gut wrenching feeling as my stomach knotted. I knew now that Aralynn knew everything about me that the battle would come soon. I knew this meant my sister would see what I’ve done as a severe act of disobeying her commands. I knew the consequences of disobeying her were never good. I knew that when Kilyn got her hands on me she would try to kill me. I shook deep in my core because after everything Lona and Orion had told me about the battle I would come within inches of dying. I was going to get hurt and worst of all Aralynn was going to see me get hurt. That I couldn’t deal with. I couldn’t bare the thought any longer so I turned off the water and got out of the shower. I slid my pants on as I opened up the bathroom door.