Ezra emerged from the shadows with a Thermos between his gloved hands. He handed it to her.
“What’s this?” She took it from him.
“Hot chocolate.” He smiled.
“A hot chocolate party? In the graveyard? Gee, thanks. Could you two get any weirder?”
“The chocolate is to cheer you up.” Ezra’s gaze darted toward the woods and then back to Tage.
“What’s going on?” She eyed them suspiciously.
Tage centered herself in front of Halen. “Take a sip.”
“Seriously?”
Tage nodded. “You love chocolate. I know it makes you happy.”
“Okay, you locos.” Halen unscrewed the lid, and the smell of sugary sweet chocolate filled the air. Taking a sip, she immediately smiled inside and out. Veggie burger—melancholy. Chocolate—happy like a dog getting its belly rubbed.
“How are you feeling?” Tage asked.
“I was feeling fine before you forced me to drink this, but if you must know I feel great. You should know—you’re the Empath.”
“I was just checking.” Tage shifted from side to side as she rubbed her hands together.
“Are you sure you don’t want some hot chocolate?” Halen held out the carafe.
Tage nodded no. “Don’t freak out. Okay?”
Halen shrugged and then Tage stepped away from the gravestone she had been standing in front of. Halen wasn’t sure what Tage wanted her to look at. They had scoped the graveyard out in the day. There was a bunch of girls and boys who had died way too young. Yes, it was disturbing. The hot chocolate wasn’t necessary. Her thoughts were cut off as Tage pointed to the name.
“Is that your name?” Halen asked, reading the words on the gravestone. “Are you named after a relative?”
“Look at the date.” Tage pointed. “That’s the year I was born.”
Halen’s fingertips sparked. She grasped the Thermos tighter and took another sip. “I don’t understand.”
“Have another swig of chocolate,” Ezra said. “Or maybe you would like something stronger.” A silver flask glinted in his hand.
Halen’s nose scrunched with the sharp stench of alcohol. “Are you drinking? Daspar will kill you.”
“He won’t find out.” He shot her a warning glance. “Besides, you may need it.”
“Get that out of her face.” Tage shoved his hand back.
“Whatever. Don’t say I didn’t offer. She may need something a little stronger than hot chocolate once you show her the next one.”
“Next one what?”
Tage placed her hands on Halen’s shoulders. “I want you to think happy thoughts.”
Halen clasped the carafe so tightly she was sure she had cracked the plastic. “Just show me.”
Tage nodded to Ezra and he stepped aside.
Halen bit her lip to stifle a scream. “That can’t be.”
“You want a shot now?” Ezra held the flask out to her.
Her insides vibrated, her nerves bouncing into one another. “Why is my name on there?” Halen did some quick math in her head and she didn’t like how it added up. “This says I died when I was nine.” Her chest constricted and even though they were standing outside, she felt as if the sky were pressing down on her.
“Who put these here?” she asked Tage.
“I don’t know,” Tage said. “It’s so weird.”
“You think?” Halen’s skin crawled with static energy. She placed her hand on the cool marble. “Halen Windspeare,” she whispered and the gravestone cracked under her fingertips.
“Halen!” Tage placed her hand next to hers. “We should go back inside.”
“I’m not going back in there.” Halen took another swig of hot chocolate. “What if Daspar or my mom put this stone here? If they did, then it means they don’t care if I die. They already think of me as dead. They only care if I kill Asair.” She nodded toward Tage’s gravestone. “They don’t care about us, Tage. They already had our funerals. We’re just pawns in the Tari’s game.” She slammed her fist down and the gravestone crumbled like a sandcastle in the wind. “This is sick. I’m getting out of here. I suggest you do the same.” She ran across the pathway and as she shoved the iron gates open, they screamed like a wailing alarm.
“Halen, wait!” Tage yelled behind her.
Halen didn’t look back. Her feet pounded the earth, each stride taking her farther away from the church. She wanted to run to Portland and hide among the tall skyscrapers, away from everyone who knew what she really was. She wanted return to a place with no memory of her being a siren.
Tage and Ezra called after her, their voices reaching through the trees. Clasping her hands over her ears, she ran faster. Her coat snagged on a branch, and she yanked her sleeve away. She could hear Tage’s pounding stride, feel her vibration, in the soil under her feet.
Run run run blue siren
Tripping through the leaves
Stumble your way to me…. The boy with the English accent whispered through her thoughts.
Leave me alone! Halen screamed in her head. She ducked behind the safety of a wide tree trunk, and nestled in close. Her back pressed against the bark as her chest pounded loud in her ears, masking the boy’s whispers.
“Halen, wait up!” Tage called as she ran past her. Ezra ran behind, a waft of whisky trailing behind him.
Halen slumped down to the ground. She leaned her head back against the tree. “Why me?” Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she buried her head against her knees. She fought the heavy sobs, sucking back a whimper. Where would she go?
Come to me darling, the boy’s voice echoed through her thoughts. I will take care of you.
Never! Halen shouted.
Never never never never never never never never. His voice thrummed through her thoughts. Nevernevernevernevernevernevernever….
Halen’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she clutched the ground, digging her nails into the damp soil. Darkness slid over her mind as she drowned in the boy’s sea of never.
Twenty-eight
Rays of sunlight skipped in the puddles at Halen’s feet. The pine needles above dripped with glistening dew from the night’s rain. Birds called to one another in chirps and whistles. Halen scanned the forest. There was no sign of Tage or Ezra, and no peep from the boy who had been torturing her thoughts.
His voice was coming to her more often now. She wondered if it was Asair winding his way into her mind. But how? Dax had said Asair couldn’t reach her. He was locked in another dimension. Yet, why did it feel like he knew where she was? She was losing it. She had to dissolve any thoughts of Asair. She had to focus on…what? She realized she didn’t have a plan. She had no place to go, no money, no phone, not even dry clothes. Magick would only make her weak and possibly draw the hunters to her, so she couldn’t even use her “gift” to help her. This sucks. Halen ran her hand through her hair, tugging the strands in her fists. A little wren hopped on the ground, pecking between the leaves and then dipped its beak in the puddle before her. The bird shook the water off, ruffling its wings.
“What do you think?” she asked the bird. “Should I go back?”
The wren hopped closer to her foot. It pecked the ground, every once in a while peeking up at her.
She thought of the conversation with Dax, how he had said Natalie didn’t have a choice. Halen was starting to feel the same way. Destiny has a way of finding you. Nelia’s words seeped through Halen’s thoughts. She rubbed her arm where her birthmark lay beneath her down coat. Even if she ran, fate would chase her down.
She rose to her feet, when suddenly a whish of air blew past her ear. She ducked, clasping her hand to her ear. Her ear burned, piercing with a fiery pain. When she pulled back her hand, it was slicked in blood. Another whish snapped the bark behind her. Halen fell flat to the ground, and the little wren flew up into the air. Two long arrows stuck fast to the bark just above her head.
Searching the forest, her gaze rested on the tips of
black leather boots poking out from the base of a pine tree. Another arrow shot through the sky. With her heart thumping wildly in her chest, she crawled on her elbows to the safety of the next tree.
One more arrow pierced the trunk. Her ragged breath caught in her throat. Who the heck would use arrows in a park? As soon as her mind asked the question, she already knew the answer—hunters. The wet ground sloshed with each nearing footstep. She peeked around the side of the tree, and another arrow sailed past her.
“I know where you are, siren,” a raspy voice called out to her. “You can run, but I’m faster. So you might as well surrender.”
“No way!” she yelled. “You’ll kill me.”
His laughter pricked her flesh. “That would be fun, but I’ve been instructed to bring you back alive.”
Alive? Where? She certainly wasn’t going anywhere with him. Reaching inside her pocket, her fingertips brushed with the vial of coral and bone which Tage had given her after the flower incident.
“Well, what’s it going to be?” An arrow landed beside her, quivering in the ground. It was nothing like the other arrows. The golden metal shone with the morning light. The rod was etched with a vine of ivy, the end a delicate filigree with a slivered moon and a sideways figure eight—the symbol for infinity—or immortality.
You better run, darling. The boy with the English accent echoed in her mind.
“Not now,” she said as she ripped off her coat, which was heavy from the night’s rain. She tucked the vial in the pocket of her pants. She slid up along the bark. If she stayed behind the trunks, she could probably make it back to the church without getting skewered. With a broad fir tree in her sites, she dashed out.
A black knife sailed toward her. Its jagged teeth nicked her arm before striking the ground. Reaching down, she grabbed it in her shaking fist and ran.
A knife, darling? How human of you. The English boy mocked her thoughts.
“Shut up.” She gritted her teeth. He was right, though; she had the power to shake the hunter right out of the forest. She dropped the knife and grabbed the elixir out of her pocket. She reached the tree and slid around it. Her hand trembled as she unscrewed the lid to the vial.
“So you want to play hide and seek?” the hunter asked. “Why don’t you coax her out?”
She could now hear two pairs of feet navigating toward her, squishing through the muddy forest. Then they stopped. Her heart beat so loudly she was sure it would give her away. She downed the elixir and then searched the trees, when her gaze landed on the hunter. Standing in the open was a tall slender boy. “I’m getting bored,” he called out. He held his bow firmly against his shoulder and released an arrow skyward, and Halen followed the graphite rod as it pierced through a crow. Crying out with deafening caws, the crow plunged to the ground in a heap. Through the cawing and crying, Halen could hear its delicate heart racing. She covered her ears.
The hunter stepped from the tree and Halen could see him more clearly. His dirty blond hair was tied back in pony tail. His skin was pale as if he hated the sun. He wore black from head to toe. Already he had retrieved the golden arrow. It shone now in his quiver, ready to be used once more. He stood over the crow, his keen eyes focused on the bleeding animal. He pressed his boot to the flapping wings, and yanked out the arrow. The bird flipped, flopping from side to side, until it just lay still. But Halen could still hear its faint heartbeat.
“You can’t leave the bird like that,” another boy said, and as he stepped from behind the tree, Halen’s breath was choked from her throat. She felt like a hundred hands wrapped around her neck, twisting the air out of her. She clasped her hand to her mouth, to stifle her scream.
Next to the hunter stood Dax.
“Finish it off then,” the hunter said, stepping over the bird.
Dax knelt down, and taking a knife from his pocket, he slit the bird’s throat. While wiping the blood from his hands on the mossy earth, Dax glanced up. His steely eyes met Halen’s. Following Dax’s stare, the hunter raised his bow and aimed.
Twenty-nine
A surge of static sparks ripped along Halen’s spine. With a wave of her hand, she snapped a large branch from the tree blocking the hunter’s arrow. She untangled herself from the branches and ran. What was Dax doing with a hunter? Had he led him right to her? Traitor. The Tari had a traitor amongst them. She thought now of Natalie. Had Dax led the hunters to her as well? A stitch worked up her side but she kept running, dodging from one tree to the next. She could hear Dax and the hunter keeping a steady pace behind her. The church lay just ahead, she was so close she could… Suddenly, she stopped, and slid with her back against a tree. She couldn’t go to the church. What was she thinking? She wasn’t. The hunter would kill Tage and Ezra. Her chest heaved and the sparks swelled under her skin, seeking a release.
“Are you coming out, siren?” the hunter called after her.
“Not a chance!” With a stomp of her foot, she shook the forest ground. The tree branches trembled, releasing a cascade of water. Changing her course, she now ran toward the lake, keeping cover with the trunks of the trees, but when she rounded the next tree, Halen came face to face with the hunter. Her throat cracked with a strangled scream.
His face was sharp as glass, with angled cheekbones high over his long, thin nose. A scar ran from the tip of his temple and hooked at his lip. He appeared no older than Dax, though she knew he was ancient. He kept his bow taut and aimed at her chest. “I told you—you can’t run.”
“Please let me go,” Halen said, raising her hands. She looked past his shoulder for signs of Dax, but he was gone. Coward.
“You look delicious.” His lip curled up on one side with a snarl. “I could use a siren boost right now. Forget what Emil wants—I want you for myself.”
Emil was one of the eight hunters. Halen remembered his name from the list of hunters Dax had recited. But why would a hunter trade his strength for her. Considering how young he appeared, he must have killed many.
“No!” She shook her head furiously. “You should listen to Emil—he’s right. You don’t want to kill me. I might be useful.” As she listened to her argument, she knew it wasn’t sound.
His brow rose. “Oh you are useful. I can taste the energy your death will give me. I will be able to climb mountains!” He steadied his finger on the edge of his bow, his cheek pressed against the taut string. With his next breath, he released the golden arrow.
Halen thrust her hand out, summoning the wind around them. She shoved the current toward the arrow, but the arrow kept its course.
Dark magick, darling, the boy from her thoughts whispered. Damn those curses.
The voice was right again. She couldn’t move the arrow out of her path, no matter how hard she concentrated. She closed her eyes, waiting to feel the punch of the arrow when suddenly she was shoved to the ground with great force. Her one cheek felt wet leaves and her other… fur? Opening her eyes, she saw a mass of claws and ruddy fur. Two, soft brown eyes met hers. She had looked into these eyes when she was told she needed something to believe in.
“Tasar?” she whispered.
The great bear growled.
“Back away, shifter.” The hunter drew another arrow. “Unless you want to die, too.”
“Get out of here,” Tasar snarled.
“No, I’m not leaving!” Halen shouted.
The hunter released another arrow. Tasar swatted the arrow away with his enormous padded paw.
“Leave him alone!” she shouted. Branches snapped overhead, and like the scrolls in the records chamber Halen poised the sticks for attack.
Tasar shoved her back. “You cannot hurt him with branches—he’s immortal,” Tasar said. “You have to get away, now!”
“I’m not leaving you.” She wedged her way out into the open and as she did the hunter released another arrow. Tasar growled as the arrow sailed toward him. Halen thrust her hands outward. This was a normal arrow, and she deflected the rod with a sweep of her hand just
before it made contact with Tasar.
“Oh, this really is something.” The hunter laughed. “Shifters and sirens working together. How can you protect a siren, when one destroyed your realm? Pathetic. I don’t know which of you to kill first.”
“Shoot me,” a girl said.
It was Lina. She stood with her legs apart and her fist outstretched. A sparkling silver dust floated from between her clenched fingers. “Leave them alone, or I’ll turn you to stone.”
The hunter’s finger quivered, his eyes widened, as he slowly turned to face Lina. His back was now to Tasar and Halen wondered why he didn’t lunge. When she pulled her hand back, blood coated her palm spreading down her arm. Tasar collapsed to the ground. The golden arrow, she had not been able to deflect, was buried in his chest.
“Lina, he’s been hit!” Halen shouted. She pounded the ground and it shook with a rumble. The hunter lost his footing. Anger now flowed under Halen’s skin like a river of lava. Tasar’s paws shriveled under him transforming to fingers. Halen flinched as his snout and ears became human, though his body remained coated in a thick auburn hair. His stubby fingertips brushed the arrow in his chest, and as he looked up to Halen, his eyes rolled back in his head.
“No!” Halen screamed, and as tears streamed her face, the sky churned with black clouds.
“She’s powerful. She will kill all of you,” the hunter said. “Let me have her.”
“Lower the bow,” Lina’s voice was steady and calm. “I swear I’ll do it.”
The hunter shook his head and pulled back, and as he did, Lina blew the silver dust from her hand. The shimmery powder rushed the hunter, swarming his face. He dropped the bow and arrow and swatted the dust. When his fingers made contact, the tips grew gray as stone. The dust spread like a fire along his arms and across his shoulders. He choked holding his throat, the veins of his skin turning silver. He screamed out, “The others will come for you—they will…” His lips froze to stone before he could finish. His eyes were the last to turn. They remained fixed on Halen as his stare glazed over in a smooth gray polish.
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