Endure

by M. R. Merrick

  Our lips parted in unison and my grip tightened on the back of her head. If I could’ve pulled her closer, I would have. Our tongues touched, dancing against one another to an unheard song. Rayna’s hands slid around my neck, pulling me so hard against her I thought it would leave a bruise. I hoped it would.

  More feet clambered down the stairwell and Rayna pulled away. We were both breathless, and we didn’t turn to see who it was. There was an unspoken need for one another, and I knew in that moment forever would never be enough. I needed her more than I’d ever needed anything. She was the only reality I wanted to live in—the calm in the storm of my life. She was all I had left.

  “What’s gotten into you?” Rayna asked. Her eyes lowered and her cheeks became flushed.

  “Nothing—everything—I can’t lose you too. Not like I did them.”

  “You’re not going to lose me. What’s going on?”

  “He’s gone, Rayna. I got him killed and now he’s gone. So is the soul piece and…I lost everything.”

  “Chase, what are you talking about?”

  “The fight!” I yelled. “One hundred meters. That was it. I wasn’t fast enough. Riley was too strong. I told him to run and he did, but he came back. He thought he could save me, but he couldn’t. Nobody can save me.”

  “Chase,” Marcus said. “Help us out here. We’ve only just arrived. What has happened?

  “Willy’s dead.” The words were hardly a whisper, yet felt like daggers tearing through my insides.

  Tears burned my eyes, but I fought them back and turned to Marcus. I couldn’t see Rayna’s sadness too. That would be too much. Marcus looked massive without his shirt. I assumed like mine, it had been lost somewhere in the fight. Welts littered his wide chest and his back was covered in wrinkled, scarred skin—a gift from my father. When I’d successfully beaten back the sadness in my eyes, I looked back and forth between Rayna and Marcus, unable to repeat the words.

  Tiki stood in the corner of the room and Riddley limped noisily down the steps. His forehead gleamed with a gloss of sweat and he winced with each movement. He reached out to Marcus and seemed to use him for balance.

  “You’ve just arrived,” he said. “Come back upstairs and I’ll explain what I can, old friend. Chase needs to rest.” Riddley’s voice trembled and his skin had changed to a sickly grey. Strands of dark hair clung to his face and his eyes looked milky.

  “No,” I said, swallowing the anger and fear that whirled inside. “I should be the one to tell them.”

  I’d already told them he was dead, but they’d want to know what happened. I wasn’t sure I could describe it in detail. My heart hurt at the thought of reliving it. I had seen it happen and I still didn’t believe it, but if anyone was going to tell them, it had to be me.

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Willy’s face drifted in the darkness. His messy brown hair, his sad eyes, and a half-smile. His lips quivered when he spoke, but there was no sound.

  “Willy’s dead,” I whispered. I didn’t open my eyes. I let the words marinate in my mind, in my soul, all around me. “I couldn’t save him…or the soul piece.”

  I could feel Marcus staring at me and I didn’t want to see his face. I didn’t want to see his disappointment.

  “Chase, I—”

  “I watched it happen,” I said, cutting him off. “Riley caught me and took the soul piece. He was too strong, too fast. Willy tried to help, but he couldn’t. Red and orange embers swallowed his body, then his face, and inch by inch I watched him burn until there was nothing but a pile of ash. I had been on the ground; I couldn’t move. I couldn’t stop Riley. I couldn’t do anything.”

  Drops of water hit my hands and I opened my eyes. Rayna’s cheeks were streaked with fallen tears, and one after another they ran down her face and fell into my hands.

  “I’m sorry I let you all down. I’m sorry I let Willy down,” I whispered.

  I closed my eyes and more images of Willy’s ashy corpse stared back at me. The rain pelted the ground and the ash was swept away by the storm, leaving nothing but defeat to linger in the air. That feeling pulsed and swelled and when I felt like I was about to burst, Rayna touched my hand.

  “I’m so sorry,” I whispered again, dropping my eyes to the floor.

  Rayna’s hands ran through my hair and pulled me tight against her. I didn’t pull away. I needed her close. I couldn’t be strong right now. I had to let it out. And in that moment, her touch was the only thing keeping me from completely losing it.

  “It’s not your fault,” Rayna said.

  I shook my head. “But it is. It’s all my fault. If I’d been just a little bit faster or a little bit stronger I could’ve made it. I could’ve destroyed the soul piece. Willy would be safe and this would all be over.”

  “Chase,” Marcus said quietly, “we all knew going into this that not everyone would make it.”

  I pulled back and glared at him. “But he should have!” My voice rattled against the walls and the house seemed to tremble. Awkward silence followed and I cut it off. I wouldn’t allow it to take over. “He should be here with us, right now. Or better yet, off somewhere else and away from this hell. All of you should be.”

  “Willy would never have left your side. You know that,” Rayna said. “After his shift, he wasn’t around as much as he wanted to be, but there’s nothing you could have said or done to keep him away. And there’s nothing you can do to keep us away.”

  I didn’t really want them away from me, but part me thought it would be safer. The other part knew she was right. I had tried to send Willy away, but I should’ve known he’d come back and fight. As scared as he was of so many things, he was loyal to a fault. A loyalty that got him killed.

  “I don’t mean to tread on the situation or devalue it in any way,” Marcus said, “but how are you holding up otherwise?” He crouched beside Rayna, who had wrapped both her hands around mine. He reached out, lifting one of the bandages on my chest and he cringed.

  “He’s broken,” Riddley said. “The summoner needs—” He leaned against the wall and coughed a few times before he dabbed his handkerchief over his lips. “She needs to complete the next part of the ceremony, or he’s going to be a lot worse.”

  “Next part?” Marcus asked.

  “I need to summon the old gods,” Rayna said, wiping away her tears. She took a shaky breath and recomposed herself.

  Marcus’s face warped in confusion. “I must have missed something.”

  I could hardly talk, so Rayna explained everything. When Krulear had led her out of the maze, she told Rayna what she needed to do. The same things Krulear had told me. That once there were many gods, but as millennia passed some believed their time to rule was done. Sometimes they would merge with other gods, giving them their power. Other times, and in cases of disputes between gods, they would battle. The defeated god would succumb to the higher god and their power would be absorbed—their essence stolen. But this process wasn’t flawless. Each time a merge occurred, a piece of the lost god would fall from the Otherworld and into the Fade.

  My body—even with the added power of a hunter—was not strong enough to contain five elements. Rayna needed to summon the pieces of the fallen gods, and I needed to invoke them. That was the only way I could stay alive with this kind of power inside me. It was a necessary step in becoming the true Protector. But it wasn’t the only step.

  The scroll I’d obtained from Serephina’s spirit, Elyas, contained the final step. On that scroll, buried beneath a language I couldn’t understand, was the location of a book that would complete the ritual in its entirety. However, I’d given that scroll to Vincent and I didn’t know what he’d done with it after that.

  “Where is Vincent? And what about everyone else?” I asked, interrupting whatever Rayna and Marcus had gone on to talk about. I had been lost in my own world and had fallen out of the conversation.

  “I haven’t heard from the other group. I left messages on both their phone
s with our location though. When Riddley contacted me he had told me about the soul piece. Once Grayson heard that Riley had all three, he returned to Silas in hopes of seeking advice. Eric stayed in Stonewall with what’s left of his hunters, and Vincent is at one of his safe houses, wherever that may be.”

  “And Rai?” I asked, my heart rate increased and sweat formed on my palms.

  “She came with us. She’s fine. She’s somewhere in the woods.”

  A sense of relief came and after taking a few breaths to calm myself, I cleared my throat. “We need the scroll. Krulear said after Rayna summons the fallen gods, we need to use the scroll to complete the Protector’s rite.”

  “What happens when you do that?” Marcus asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, we can’t go anywhere until Rayna has done whatever she needs to do.”

  “And we’re going to need to act sooner than later,” Riddley said, but he didn’t sound right. The sweat was running in streams now and his eyes started to roll in his head. He slid down the wall until he sat on the floor. “I’m afraid I cannot contain his power much longer.”

  “I’m feeling very confused at the moment,” Marcus said, kneeling down beside Riddley.

  “Riddley’s inside my head. He’s using his magic to control my mind and keep my elements at bay. In my fight with Riley, the fifth element came, or so Riddley has told me. According to him, if he stops holding back my power, it erupts from my body uncontrollably.

  Riddley coughed and tried to stand. When his legs began to wobble, Marcus gripped his arm and helped him to his feet.

  “Thank you, old friend,” Riddley said. “I’m a strong elemental, but Chase’s power is too much. He’s bursting at the seams. I grow weary trying to keep it contained.”

  Tiki stepped out of the corner and walked straight toward me. His caramel-colored skin had been torn apart, and without a word he leaned over me and wrapped his arms around my neck. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t. It should’ve been awkward and strange. Tiki didn’t do things like that, but there was a hole inside right now and I accepted it, hugging him back.

  “This is a difficult time for all of us,” Marcus said. “Willy was an amazing friend. But right now we need to come together and let Rayna do what needs to be done. We don’t want to lose anyone else.”

  Tiki squeezed his arms tighter around me. “It is okay, Chase Williams. I will miss him too, but we must be strong now. Willy will live eternally in our souls, and he will help us as we try and save yours.”

  I nodded as Tiki pulled away. A wet streak glistened from both his eyes and he brushed the hair away from his face.

  “What do we need to do, Rayna?” Tiki asked.

  “I’ll need candles first,” she said.

  “Top drawer in the kitchen,” Riddley said.

  Tiki came back with a handful of black and white candlesticks and a small book of matches. Rayna searched the drawers for a piece of chalk and drew a triangle with a line down the center of it. At the end of each point she wrote a word, but it was in a language I didn’t know. After marking out seven glyphs around it, she dusted off her hands.

  Marcus helped Riddley stay sitting in the chair and each time Riddley coughed, I felt a spark of heat scorch my body. I cringed, clenching my jaw as my elements began to break through.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  “It’s the symbol for the Fade. According to Krulear, it acts as a doorway of sorts. I don’t need this to summon the spirit, but we’re about to do more than summoning right now.”

  Riddley coughed again, and this time the pain overwhelmed me. I gritted my teeth and fell off the couch. Steam began to waft up from my arms and my skin sweltered.

  “Help him up,” Rayna said. “Get him on the symbol.”

  I was too weak to help as Tiki lifted me. His strength alone carried me across the room and he set me down on the chalk emblem. Rayna lined the candles along the triangle’s edges and finished lighting them when the door swung open and the smell of cigarettes drifted into the room.

  Grams stepped into the cabin, a cloud of smoke pooling around her head. “Where the hell is William?”

  Chapter 5

  Yelling and cursing unfolded through the room, but it mixed into a haze of sound and pain. I felt Riddley’s power breaking down and as each crack formed in the barrier he’d created, spurts of fire, splashes of water, rushes of air, scents of earth, and sparks of electricity came through from the other side.

  The water-stained wood planks sagged above me, going in and out of focus. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but a cloud of smoke had fallen over the room. Grams’s voice broke through in angry screams and I saw the bright flash of her orange heals stomping along the floor before she disappeared outside and the door slammed shut. I stared at the doorway and wanted to speak, but the pain had rendered me speechless. I mouthed the words I’m sorry, and the words shattered what was left of my heart.

  Rayna stepped inside the boundary of candles and lowered herself in front of me. Her eyes met mine and as she ran her fingers along my face, a calming energy trickled along my skin.

  “Chase, can you hear me?” Her voice whispered, but it plunged needles into my skull. I squeezed my eyes shut and nodded, but I didn’t attempt a reply. A burning sensation flared in my throat and my tongue felt numb. “I know you’re hurting…in more ways than one, but I need you to be strong. I don’t know what gods I’ll be calling forward. There could be a dozen or it could be hundreds. Because I don’t know who I’m summoning, I’m going to need to take you with me. Nod if you understand.”

  My cheek slid against the rough wood floor as my head moved up and down.

  “When I call a spirit, my subconscious enters the Fade and the spirit appears. When I return, the spirit follows me back to our world. From the knowledge Krulear shared with me, that won’t work here. This symbol is going to help me take you to the Fade. We need to call the gods together, okay? Don’t think about anything but the gods and being the Protector. Understood?”

  My eyes roamed Rayna’s face. An overwhelming surge burst inside me when I tried to nod and I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the impact. Fire and water slammed against my insides and scorched my mind. They swelled against the barrier of my skin and tore open my wounds. A migraine-inducing spike pounded against my skull and as it faded, I opened my eyes in hopes of seeing Rayna’s face, but she was gone.

  The candles were alight with fire, each flame a different color. They stretched toward the stained ceiling, flickering on their waxy stems. Rayna’s magic prickled against my skin and the hair on my necked stood up. Goosebumps danced along my arm, weaving left and right around the wounds that dripped clear liquid and blood. Between spikes of pain, magic pressed against my body. With each passing moment it grew heavier and the flames extended higher off their wicks. Unlike her earth magic that soothed me, when Rayna opened up the channels to the Fade and began the summoning, my adrenaline peaked.

  The world shimmered through a draft of heat that rose from my body. Black dots fluttered in and out of sight and the light from the candles merged together. A red whirlpool of power formed above me. The magic pinned me to the floor, growing heavier each time I blinked. Above me, the stained wood planks were gone and the magic funneled toward my body. As it swirled over my chest, it twisted my soul and the room exploded into streaks of white light, followed by darkness.

  The pain was gone and I stood on something solid. Shadows surrounded me and I seemed to be standing on the darkness. I could feel Rayna’s essence revolving around me, and although I couldn’t hear her voice, I felt her thoughts. She reached out into the blackness, calling forth a power unlike any other. She channeled my energy and summoned forth those awaiting the Protector. We moved forward in the shadows and a light grew in the distance. With each step we took, a new world unfolded.

  Blue skies and white clouds moved swiftly through the air. The smell of freshly cut grass lingered, and a
river ran alongside me. Water rippled tranquilly over heavy stones and the sound soothed my soul.

  Rayna stood beside me, a white glow emanating off her skin. She reached toward me but as her hand touched mine, it passed right through. “Come,” she thought, her lips weren’t moving and the sound was only in my mind. “We are not souls within the Fade, so you can only hear my thoughts. Follow me, the entrance to the Fade is this way.”

  The end of the river opened up into a large pool surrounded by moss-covered cliffs that reached into the sky. On top of the cliff stood a forest of untouched trees and shrubs, and a small waterfall drifted over the edge, splashing into the pool. Rayna stopped at the edge of the pool and in the center of the clear water, beneath the surface, churned an abyss of liquid shadows. Her power pulsed toward the circle of darkness in branches of red.

  “Call your elements all at once and focus only on the gods. You cannot enter the Fade so together we must guide them to us.”

  I stared at the water and tried to do what she said. I called my elements forward, but as I did, there was only one thing on my mind, and as much as I tried to focus on being the Protector, I couldn’t.

  “No, we don’t have time for this,” Rayna warned, but I couldn’t stop.

  A white light began to blink deep within the pool, growing larger as it neared the surface. Before long, the entire dark mass beneath the water was gone, consumed by the light. But as quickly as it came, the light blinked away and the blackness took over.

  The sound of the water and forest vanished, and silence plugged my ears. I looked around and his face made my heart stop. It was him. On the other side stood my friend Willy. His hair was messy and his shirt had a sauce stain on it. His eyes stared into mine. The discomfort and fear I’d seen in his face so many times were gone. His hands were deep in his jean pockets and he looked serene.