by Amade, Melle
“You’re just going to take me to your uncle,” I say. “So he can kill me.”
“No,” says Callum. “Look, he knows you’re a Passief. Vasquez saw you and Aiden flying last night. I’m only here because I’ve known you my whole life. I don’t want you murdered.”
“So, nice of you,” I say.
“You have to get out of Topanga before he finds you,” he says. “You have to understand, my uncle won’t put you on trial, he’ll just execute you.”
“You were just trying to take me to him!” I exclaim.
“I was trying to get you to listen to me,” he says.
“Liar,” I say.
“Look, if you’re stupid enough to stick around, don’t expect any help from me,” he says.
Zan bounds into the clearing growling. Roman jumps from her shoulder as Aiden descends from the sky. In seconds they all morph into human form. Zan’s curls bounce against her neck as Roman pulls his glasses over his eyes.
“I have to report where she is.” Callum directs his words at them. “You have thirty minutes to get her out of here.”
“You’re just like the rest of your clan,” Zan says.
“They don’t call Ravens sky-rats for nothing,” says Aiden.
Callum is like a rock. He won’t meet my gaze. “Thirty minutes,” he says. “Vasquez is already in the woods. I can distract him, but not much. He can smell her.”
Without waiting for us to respond, Callum shifts into a raven and flies away.
“Are you okay?” Zan rushes to me.
“Great. Let’s go.” I head off through the trees.
Aiden grabs my wrist. “Where are you going?”
“My house,” I say. “My brother.”
“Your house is that way.” Zan points the opposite direction I was headed. Falling completely turned me around.
“You’re not going there,” Aiden says.
“Murtagh will capture my brother!” I shout.
“Roman and Zan will get your brother,” Aiden says.
“But -”
“Promise,” says Roman.
“The Sanctuary is the only safe place,” Zan says. I glower at her. “Vasquez can’t track you if you fly.”
“The blood,” Roman frowns. “We left the blood in the Sanctuary. It’s evidence Shae and Henry are Passiefs.”
“Got it,” Aiden says. “Come on.” He motions me to the sky.
I’m full of doubt, but out of options. I have to trust them. And, why shouldn’t I? My friends have risked their lives to help me and now they’re trying to help my brother, too.
“Okay,” I say. “Let’s go.”
They’re already shifting before I finish speaking. I reach inside myself to find the desire, the anger, the energy to shift. It’s there. Right there, for me to grab.
Hud feroaring ontstaan.
The words silently dance in my head as I open the gates and let the energy flood through me, down from my crown and out through my arms. My body rises as it shrinks, sprouts feathers and wings.
I transform.
I flap my wings and soar into the air.
In seconds I’m just behind Aiden, staying inches above the trees and racing towards the Sanctuary. My heart pounds in my chest, wings aches and lungs burn, but it doesn’t matter. Adrenaline moves me through the pain. Even if I can’t see them, I know the ravens are coming and I’m not good at aerial combat.
I push my wings harder and my heartbeat accelerates as it drives blood and oxygen throughout my body. It seems like an eternity, but I know it’s a matter of minutes. We’re at the canyon and closing in on the Sanctuary.
It’s there, hanging over the cliff, sides open wide to the canyon.
Aiden dives inside. I aim down and fly through one of the wide gaps. But, I don’t know how to stop. I crash head first into the wall at the far end and shift back into my human self as I lie there trying to breathe.
“That may hurt tomorrow,” says Aiden.
“I hurt right now.” I roll over and try to get to my feet. But, I stumble, falling forward. The rapid healing and magic tingling I had after I feel from the sky with Callum doesn’t happen. I lay pressed against the floorboards aching. “What’s wrong with me?”
“The more your body has to repair, the longer it takes.” Aiden digs around Roman’s lab table. “It’s going to hurt.”
I try to get my legs under me, but they lie at awkward angles, unwilling to follow my command. “I can’t move!”
Aiden nods. His hand clutches one microscope slide, but he’s looking around the floor for the other one. “Got them!” Aiden plucks the other slide off the floor and comes to me. “We have to destroy the evidence,” he says.
“You knew this would happen,” I say. “You knew I wouldn’t be able to walk if I flew again.”
“That’s why we couldn’t let you go to your house as a bird. We’re not invincible. You can’t just shift back and forth at will,” he explains.
“Why can you walk?” I try to edge myself up against the wall, but my arms feel like jelly, too.
“Been doing it just a tiny bit longer.” He leans over and slips his arms around me.
“Don’t.” It’s the last thing I want to say, but I have to. His touch only melts me further.
“It’s okay,” he says as he gently lifts me until I’m propped against the wall. He lets me go and sits down next to me.
When he lets me go, I hate how much I miss him holding me. The silence presses around us; weight on my lungs like water in the bath.
The choking silence.
All the things I never remembered. The truth about Mom that I never told. It pushes at me, now.
“She tried to kill me,” I murmur.
“What?” Aiden asks. “Who?”
I take a deep breath and exhale slowly. I have to tell someone.
“My mom,” I say.
“She did what?!”
It sounds crazy to me, too.
“She didn’t mean to,” I say and I hate myself for letting her off the hook.
“What are you talking about, Shae?”
“I never remembered,” I say. “When I was five she lost her temper with me and tried to - tried to drown me in the bath.”
“Oh, Shae…” Aiden’s voice trails off as he leans in. The dull ache inside drags me forward as his arms wrap around me. I have no tears.
“I don’t even know if she loves me,” I say.
“Of course she does,” he says, but I don’t believe him. Not really.
“All these years, I’ve just been the child she tried to get rid of,” I murmur. “A child she didn’t want.”
“Stop.” Aiden’s voice is hoarse. “I won’t let you do this to yourself.”
“You can’t stop what happened,” I say. “It’s a fact.”
“When my mother died.” Aiden continues like I haven’t said anything, “Dad became an alcoholic.” My head snaps up. Aiden’s never spoken about his mother or his dad. His face is drawn but he pushes the words out. “Physically he was there, but mentally he was buried with my mom. He couldn’t even look at me - I reminded him of her. For years I thought he didn’t want me. But, that’s not true. The truth is my dad’s an alcoholic.”
“It’s not the same,” I murmur. “He hasn’t tried to kill you.”
“What is the same is they have been controlled by emotion,” Aiden says, “my father by grief; your mother by rage. My dad can’t deal with it so he drowns it in alcohol. Your mom tries to control it with yoga and meditation and solitude.”
I try to hear his words, but bitterness is all around me. “So? I’m supposed to be grateful she hasn’t actually killed me?”
“My point is, she wasn’t mad at you,” Aiden says. “She was just mad and you got in the way. She has since spent your entire life trying to fix it. She loves you, Shae.”
“How could she if she did that?”
He lifts my chin and I can’t breathe. I’m lost in the laced gold of his eyes that
are pouring warmth into me. “How could she not?” he murmurs.
He presses me closer to him as his hand trails along my neck. Our foreheads touch. I think he’s going to kiss me but he doesn’t. His lips come down and rest on mine but he doesn’t move. He doesn’t kiss me. He inhales as if to draw in every ounce of my fear and apprehension. Then he exhales and his warm breath slides over my skin and down my body. My chest rises, pushes against him as we inhale together. I feel his heart beat as our breathing bonds us; in and out.
My palm goes to the smooth plane of his cheek; firm and strong. My fingers slip between us and edge his lips back from mine. He moves my fingers away and brushes my lips with a faint kiss, before he pulls back.
My mouth tingles.
We sit side by side in the comfort.
“So, we just wait until Vasquez and the Ravensgaard find us?” I murmur.
Aiden pulls out his phone, and shakes his head. “No,” he says. “The Calvary’s coming.” He holds it out so I can read it.
It’s like a bucket of ice just got dumped on my head.
“You are seriously showing me a message from Zan after you just kissed me?!” I stand up, grateful my legs seem to be working again.
Confusion recoils across Aiden’s face as he pushes himself to his feet. “It wasn’t a kiss,” he mutters.
“Quit lying to yourself,” I say. “And, to me; and, to Zan.”
“I’m not lying to anyone!” His face burns red.
“You can’t kiss me when you have a girlfriend,” I say.
“I know,” he insists. “That’s why I didn’t.”
“Last time I checked two mouths touching is considered a kiss,” I say. Ice is cracking over my face.
“Two being the operative word, Shae,” Aiden says. “If that was a kiss you were just as much a part of it.”
Ice shoots down my hand and in seconds I have Roman’s microscope in my hand, hurling it at Aiden. He ducks and it crashes against the wall. I’m about to spring at him, but a massive roar shakes the air. My blood races; all my senses tuned to the mountain lion that is closing in on us.
“We have to get out of here!” Aiden rips down the red curtains from the walls.
“What are you doing?!” I tug on him. We have to get out of the Sanctuary.
“We have to destroy it, first.” Aiden motions at the Sanctuary. “It’s all evidence.”
I want to argue, but I know he’s right. There’s DNA everywhere and clear evidence my friends have been consorting with a Passief, or a human, or whatever the other shifters think I am.
I grab Roman’s Bunsen burner as Vasquez scrambles through the tunnel. Aiden throws the fabric on the floor as I light up the burner and aim it at the blood-colored cloth. It bursts into a fireball, setting the Sanctuary alight as Vasquez erupts through the tunnel.
“Run!” Aiden yells as one side of the Sanctuary falls away. We jump the flames and make it up the embankment on the other side. Vasquez is held at bay by the flames. We make it to the top of the embankment as the fire catches onto neighboring trees.
Aiden grabs my hand and pulls me through the trees. “The fire won’t hold him long,” he says. Even as he speaks, the flames spread and Vasquez looks for a way around.
I press every ounce of energy I have into getting away.
“There!” Aiden points to the road where an old, green pickup truck is just rounding the bend.
“Dad!” I cry. Vasquez leaps the flames and scrambles up the embankment. Dad comes to a screeching halt near us. Henry throws open the door and drags me up into the cab. Dad jumps out, giving Aiden the driver’s seat.
“Get in!” I motion to Dad, but Aiden pulls the door shut and throws the truck into gear. “You can’t leave him!” I scream. But, Dad grins at me and gives me the thumbs up. Aiden throws the truck into gear and tears down the road.
“Stop!” I pummel Aiden’s arm and try to get him off the wheel. He pushes me away.
“Let me drive!” he says. “We have to get you out and not endanger more people.”
I glance back at the remains of the Sanctuary and see Vasquez shift into his human form scowling at us. Dad is nowhere to be seen.
“Buckle up,” Aiden says
“How could you just leave him?” I ask.
“Dad will be okay,” Henry says. I frown at him. He probably still thinks Dad’s a superhero. But, right now, I don’t want to frighten him more.
I stare back at the canyon.
We may have burnt evidence of the Sanctuary, but we have also set the Topanga forest on fire and Dad is somewhere in the middle of it.
26
We careen on the canyon’s dirt roads with Aiden’s foot as far down on the accelerator as he dares go. We’re angling down the canyon away from Topanga and towards the ocean. The fire is out of control, racing down the mountain towards the houses.
“What were we thinking?” I mutter.
“It’ll be fine,” Aiden says, but his fingers have a death grip on the steering wheel.
“Where’s Mom?” I ask my little brother.
Henry shrugs. “I - I’m not sure. Zan and Roman came and told him he needed to get up here with me. Aiden needed the truck. Ravens were swarming. Mom told us to go, but insisted Dad go back. She made him promise.”
“Does my Dad know?” I ask Aiden. He presses his lips together and navigates a sharp curve. The truck skids dangerously close to the cliff. “Does he know?” I ask again.
“No,” Aiden says. “I don’t think so.”
“Where are we going?” Henry grips the back of the seat to steady himself.
“Away,” I say. “We have to leave Topanga.”
“What about Mom and Dad?” Henry asks.
“I don’t know.” My gaze burns back up the canyon.
“But… but…” Fear is creeping into Henry’s voice.
“It’ll be okay.” I say it as if I’m sure.
“They’re coming,” warns Aiden.
I spin around and look up the canyon walls. Smoke billows down the mountains. And out of the clouds, their wings beating vortexes of smoke, come the Ravensgaard. Jet black ravens descend on us like the plague. It’s not just a few.
There must be hundreds of them.
“Where did they come from?” I ask.
“All over the state.” Aiden mutters as the truck swerves to make a turn.
“Are they chasing us?” asks Henry. I grab his hand and pull him to my side of the cab. I need him close.
“They’re flying away from the fire,” I whisper.
A topless, black jeep races up behind us. Callum is driving and Murtagh is in the passenger seat waving his ebony cane like some crazed general of a dark army. My arms tighten around Henry. I have to protect him.
“Pull over.” My fingers grip into Aiden’s arm. “We won’t make it. You have to get out of here.”
“I won’t leave you,” says Aiden.
“Don’t be an idiot,” I say. “You’ll risk your seat.”
“No.”
I’m pained and grateful at the same time. Because, the truth is, I’m terrified.
The jeep slams up against our back bumper, metal scrapes metal.
Henry screams.
“It’s going to be okay,” I lie.
He whimpers against me as the jeep hits us again.
“Pull over before they run us off the ravine!” I yell at Aiden,
Callum accelerates the jeep on the inside and crashes against the side of our truck, it fishtails. Aiden’s face pales as he struggles for control. I clutch Henry.
“Stop!” I yell at Aiden. “Please,” my voice pleads with him to listen to reason.
His eyes close for the briefest of seconds. He sucks air through his nose and slams on the breaks. We come to a skidding halt. Henry cries, but I hold him tight. The jeep pulls past us on the road and slides to the side blocking any chance of escape.
Ravens descend like a black cloud upon us. They cover every surface of the truck, cawing
and pecking a steady, metallic rhythm that rips into my senses. I cover Henry’s ears. The ravens stare into the truck, their faces full of irritation. None shift back to human form.
Callum and Murtagh walk towards us as a large, black SUV pulls up. Murtagh arcs his ebony cane and the Ravensgaard swarm off our truck, but hover in the air above us.
“Get out,” Callum says.
Aiden grips my shoulder for a moment and nods towards my door. He’s on the edge of the canyon. He has to get out of my side of the truck, which means I have to get out first.
“Whatever happens from here on out,” Aiden whispers, “don’t shift in front of them.”
“What are they doing?” Henry stares at the cloud of ravens hovering over us, his chest heaving.
“Don’t worry.” I try to keep my voice bright and courageous.
Callum’s hand is on the door handle, but it won’t open. “Unlock the door,” he says. I look into his eyes, but there’s no trace of friendliness there. How is it I ever kissed him?
I glower, snap the latch, and push the door open.
Henry is out and behind me before I can even help him. I slide him under my arm, his nose wrinkles at the smell of old feathers wafting from Murtagh. Aiden steps out of the truck and moves in front of us, but I don’t know how helpful that really is. I’m most worried about the black horde cawing above us, just waiting for the command to attack.
“Have you met my clan, Aiden?” Murtagh raises his raven-headed cane to the swarm of ravens. “I don’t think you know them all. Some just flew in.”
Aiden stares him down.
“Can’t you do something?” I don’t even bother to whisper. They’re shifters, they’d be able to hear me anyway.
“No,” smiles Murtagh. “No, he can’t. I’m in charge now, Miss Bradfield.”
“His dad holds the Kortsrijk,” I say.
“Don’t pretend you know the law, fledgling,” Murtagh says. “Thanks to you, I was able to declare martial law.”
“Martial law?!” Aiden exclaims.
“Indeed,” Murtagh says. “Sanction 268c outlines that when an incident of unusual significance occurs that could immediately threaten the safety of the shifters in the region, the Ridder is allowed, in fact expected, without wasting time consulting with the Edelman, to declare martial law. This is done to protect the lives of innocent shifters.”