“WHO ARE you?” he screamed.
I groaned and held my head in my hands. “Please shut up,” I mumbled before opening my eyes. We were in some sort of city, only it had been overrun by the forest. It was green on top of gray, vines crawling through windows and trees reclaiming the streets. I slowly stood up and the world spun until I faced Wulf.
His gold eyes glowered down at me, and his dark, scruffy beard stood out against his bronze skin. “Who are you and what are you doing here? Why did you bring me here?”
I ignored him for a moment and looked up at the sky. It was a dark red, and black clouds floated across it. “Where are we?” I asked absently.
“You should know! You brought me here! What are you? Some type of mage?” he shouted.
I smiled weakly. “Wulf, I didn’t bring you here; you brought me. This is your vision. I’m just tagging along. As for being a mage, yes, I am one. It’s how I was able to join you here. I was hoping we could talk.”
“What do you mean I brought you? I don’t know this place! And I have no magic in me, so begone, you beast. I cannot help you!”
“We could argue about the magic in or not in you. You are Touched, Wulf. The Old Ones saved your life as a child, directly affecting you and changing the course of your destiny. In doing so they left something in you. What it is, no one knows. Perhaps magic, perhaps something entirely different. It seems that my friend Ston, the one who interrupted your soon-to-be fling with that man, acted as a catalyst for the awakening of whatever is inside you. I am sorry for that. I know little of the Touched, but I can assure you that what you will go through from now on will not be pleasant. But it also means I have more of a reason to ask for your help.
“We are going to be attacked by things we have never encountered before called the underfae. They are creatures that were sent to live underground with the dark elves long ago, so long ago that there aren’t even records of these creatures going with them. They are attacking a Temple of mages, specifically the Temple I grew up in. We don’t have much time to get back to try and stop them. They plan to start a war with the humans to reclaim the surface as their own. We don’t have any defenses against these things; we have no way to fight them. But perhaps you can help us. Please, just come with us for now. If you decide to leave later, then fine, you can go, but don’t get back on that ship.”
“You’re talking nonsense. I’m not going anywhere with you, even if I had the choice, which I don’t. I am a slave. To pirates. And we are on our way to a small town down in Arcania. Sometimes, if I’m a good boy, they let me have a little fun, but only a little before they find me again.” Arcania, a land to the southeast. Not much was known about it. They tended to keep to themselves, but the mages there were more accepted. I remember when they had come to visit our Temple once for a Grand Council meeting, and they were astonished that we were so despised by the humans. They had talked about how humans came to seek guidance from them and often ask for their help. I wondered what the pirates were seeking there. Nothing good, obviously. Not that they would make it anyway.
“You must come with us. If you leave on that ship you won’t survive,” I blurted out.
“What do you mean?” He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.
“The Old Ones come to me in dreams. The one who saved you as a child, who sent the wolves to take care of you, he asked me to protect you from another disaster coming your way. He can’t stop it this time without being seriously punished for interfering. So he sent me to do it for him. Come with us, help us in this battle, and then you are free to go wherever you please.”
“You want me to fight these deadly creatures that we don’t know how to kill with you because you told me some bullshit story about the “Old Ones.” They don’t exist. We’re out here on our own. Sorry to break it to you, kid, but there aren’t any gods or ghosts or whatever they are protecting us from the danger in this world,” he scoffed.
“You were raised by wolves and are standing here”—I waved a hand, gesturing to the strange world we had found ourselves in—“with a mage who is telling you that they heard from these ‘gods or ghosts or whatever’ that your ship will be going down if you leave, and you’re going to tell me they don’t exist?”
“This world runs on luck, not on invisible men,” he spat.
Without thinking, I pulled my shirt up and over my head, leaving me standing there in my plain black bra. Wulf whistled. “Honey, I don’t know how you go from trying to belittle me to taking your clothes off, but I like it.”
“Shut up,” I snapped. “This is not about sex, you asshole.” I turned around, showing him the scars on my back, the mangled flesh of burns and cuts and other indescribable torments I went through during my punishment. “Believe in the Old Ones or not, but I have no choice, and soon neither will you. Your visions will begin to consume you. Every legend of the Touched speaks of them being swallowed by the visions, driven insane by the future and past.”
“Nice scars.” He read the words that were carved in me quietly. “They do that too?”
I tensed up at the memory. “No. That was something else. Something the Old Ones sent me to stop as well.”
“So talking with them, that’s pretty common for you?” His voice was soft now.
I put my shirt back on and turned back to face him. “It is. Sometimes I wish it weren’t, but there isn’t much of a choice. Someone has to stop the world from ending every fifteen minutes. Apparently they’ve chosen me to do that for them. Last year I stopped a necromancer who planned to bring a demon to this world. This year it’s a dark elf uprising where us surfacers get killed or turned into slaves. Maybe next year I’ll be forced to fight dragons and kill the king of demons himself.” I chuckled quietly at the thought. “I’m building an army. You don’t have to be a part of it, but perhaps I can help you find a way to beat your impending early demise. Pretty soon you’ll be wracked with visions of the war about to happen, the death and destruction and chaos. And then it will be unpleasant visions of the past. And soon you won’t know what you’re looking at, future, past, or present. I think you would prefer not to have that happen.”
He sighed and looked up at the bright sky. “I don’t believe in your ghost gods or your demons or anything else that isn’t of this earth. But I will go with you. At least to become a free man instead of a slave. And I will fight with you in your first battle. But after that I’m leaving. My place is not with mages or dark elves or anything. I belong with humans, and preferably on the sea.”
“Then it’s a deal. You’ll come with me to the Temple?” I asked, sticking my hand out to him.
He looked at my hand with contempt, but gripped it firmly. “Yes, it’s a deal. Now get me the hell out of this place.”
“That’s something you’re going to have to do with me. You see, you are sapping my energy and to counter it, I’m taking yours. That’s how I was able to come here with you. But you are going to have to stop sucking my Life Force up before we can leave together.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?” he asked, throwing his hands up.
“With a lot of focus. Think about it like you’re drinking from a straw. Well, you need to stop drinking and release the straw.”
He raised an eyebrow cockily. “Are you my straw?”
“Shut up and just focus on getting us out of here.”
“Whatever,” he grumbled and closed his eyes. His eyebrows knit together in frustration, and slowly the world began to fade away.
“See you soon, Wulf,” I said as he began to disappear.
MY EYES shot open, and I took a few large gulps of air. I felt like I had been holding my breath for hours.
“Hey! Hey, everyone back up! She’s coming to!” Cam’s face swam in my vision. “Hey, you’re okay, it’s gonna be all right. You’re out now.”
“What happened?” I groaned as I reached up to touch my forehead, which was in an immense amount of pain.
“Ston called us w
hen you came over here. He said he had our guy. And Skye contacted Cinder, who managed to get here without causing too much of an uproar. When we got here, Ston was sitting over you. He said you had gone to wherever that Wulf guy had gone in his head, and when you became connected, you fell and hit your head on the floor. He was healing you when we got back, but you know how long you take to get fixed up.” Cam smiled weakly and brushed a few strands of hair from my face. “We’ve been waiting for you to come to for over an hour now. Your breathing and heart rate slowed down a lot, Casey. We were all getting pretty worried.”
Cinder pushed his way to the front and licked my face, leaving a trail of slobber on my cheek.
I’m so sorry, Casey.
No, Cinder, I shouldn’t have blocked you out, and I guess you’re right about how I should have taken it slower. I was wiped out. I’m sure that didn’t help when I joined Wulf in that vision place. It’s all right, you’re looking out for me. I just didn’t want to be looked after.
He touched his wet nose to my forehead in a comforting gesture and backed away.
“Not that this isn’t horribly touching, but what about me? What’s going on? Where am I?” Wulf’s voice was scratchy, and he sounded exhausted.
“Help him out of the tub and explain everything to him. I think we should sleep here tonight,” I said, struggling to sit up. Cam stood up and held a hand out for me.
When I stood I almost collapsed back to the floor, but Cam’s arm caught me around the waist, and she held me up. “Let’s get you into bed. I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere for a few hours.”
I nodded. “Thanks. Help Wulf too. He’s not going to be in good shape right away either,” I murmured as Cam led me to the bed.
I was still falling into bed when I blacked out.
“TSK TSK tsk, Casey. Something? I thought I meant more to you that that.”
My eyes slowly opened, and I found myself in a familiar white room. The Old Ones.
“No, no, no, not the Old Ones. It’s me, don’t you remember me?”
I followed the sound of the voice and looked up to see bright green eyes and light brown hair. “Jaysun,” I squeaked out.
“Bingo!” he shouted, touching his finger to his nose and pointing at me. Then his face fell, and his voice became serious. “Now that we’ve played that game, we have to talk.”
Chapter 12
A STRANGLED cry ripped itself from my lips, and I threw myself at him, arms outstretched and reaching for his neck. Just as my fingers brushed against him, he vanished and I fell to the ground.
I spun around to see him, hands in his pockets and boredom in his eyes. “Are you done?”
“You’re dead,” I spat.
“Honey, I know I’m dead. I didn’t forget that you killed me, what, a year ago? Is that how long it’s been since we talked?” Excitement flickered across his eyes. “No, I know I’m dead, don’t worry, I won’t be getting in your way this time.”
“How are you here? You can’t dreamscape in the Veil.” Jaysun was supposed to be dead, gone from my life.
“Yet the Old Ones can do it. And Cam came to you, albeit in a different manner, but still…. Then again she was a special case, being in the running to become an Old One and all.” He waved his hand and rolled his eyes.
“What?” Cam? An Old One?
“Yes, with her oh-so-heroic sacrifice for you and Regan, and she’s become quite powerful with all of the practice she had in that year. She was on the top of their list, quite young really, considering the title. All that was thrown out of the window when she came back here to help you.”
“How do you know this?” I stood and took a step closer to him, trying not to lash out again.
“We demons see a lot of things happening above us.”
“We demons?” What did he mean? Was he saying he was a demon now?
“If a soul can be upgraded, so to speak, to an Old One on the higher plane of the Veil, then a soul can be downgraded to the lower one. They’ve never done it before, but apparently they made an exception for me.” His smile reminded me of a schoolboy bragging to his parents about scoring the winning goal. It set my teeth on edge to see him so proud.
“Why are you here? Why are you telling me this?”
“Oh calm down, you party pooper, I’m getting there. Every bone in my body is calling out for blood. I desperately want you to die. And I would love to let you, but I can’t. As much as I crave to see you lying broken and bloody, I can’t exactly let that happen. At least not yet. So, for now, think of me as your guardian demon, yeah?” He cocked his head to the side playfully.
“No. I don’t want anything to do with you. Get out. Get out of here.” I was on the verge of screaming at him, but I couldn’t let myself be caught up in his insanity.
“You don’t have much of a choice. There are things going on here in the Veil, and I can’t have you ruining it for me. If you die, then I’ll have to deal with you interfering in my plans. So listen closely if you want to live, Casey Kelley. I’ve seen a pretty interesting range of futures coming your way, but I think I know what route you’re about to go down. There is someone in your little band of misfits who reminds me of myself, and I know exactly what I would do. I’ve blocked this future from the Old Ones’ eyes. If I’m right, they’ll be caught by surprise. I’m the only one who can help you with this, so you should probably not spit on anything I tell you.”
I gritted my teeth and clenched my hands into fists. “What is it you want to tell me, Jaysun?”
“Just some advice, like a friend would give.” His twisted smile came across his face again. “Keep an eye on your little friends. Don’t put too much faith in them. Power is like an infection. It spreads throughout the body until it kills you or you kill it. Then again—” He looked up at the white ceiling. “—being dead and powerful does have its advantages.”
“You’re a monster, Jaysun. There’s no reason for me to trust you,” I spat.
“No, dear, I’m a demon. And nothing I can say will change that until you realize I’m right. I have to get going, you know, demon things to do. We’ll talk soon, yes?” He slowly turned around and began walking away, whistling a cheery tune as he went.
“Stay out of my head!”
“I can’t afford to do that at this stage in the game, and honestly neither can you.” He placed a hand on the door and was gone.
I WOKE up screaming in rage, and I could hear Cinder howling.
“Casey, Casey calm down, I’m here, it’s okay. What’s wrong?” Cam was sitting on the bed with me and touched my cheek gently. “Calm down, it’s all right.”
“Jaysun,” I gasped.
Casey, we’re in trouble.
I know, I answered Cinder, who paced back and forth beside the bed. He must have seen what I had.
Anger flashed through Cam’s eyes, but she pushed it down. “It was a dream. He’s not in the Veil. I spent a long time looking for him. He’s gone, Casey. He’s gone.”
I knew it wasn’t true. I knew it was no dream. But telling my friends about him wouldn’t change anything. It was just a cheap tactic to try to get in my head. He was trying to play his little games. He wanted me to drag everyone into it, to make the team focus on him. I wouldn’t do that. So instead of telling Cam the truth, I just nodded and pulled my knees up to my chin.
Cam draped her arm across my shoulders, and I saw her glance at Ston before saying, “You’re just stressed, is all. It was a bad dream, but nothing more. Once you get some real rest, you’ll feel better.”
“What’s going on? Who’s this Jaysun asshole? Someone explain what’s going on.” Wulf’s voice was rough, something I had expected from a pirate.
“Yeah, I’m confused too. Jaysun?” Skye was leaning against the doorway to the bathroom.
“Jaysun was the necromancer we faced last year. He had planned to bring a demon through the Veil to bring chaos on the world. He was horrible. He killed Regan before Casey could stop him,” Cam said
as she rubbed my shoulder.
“And then Cam brought Regan back to life at the cost of her own,” I whispered. “I buried her in the tree that she grew to save us during a fight with Jaysun in the city.”
Cam smiled at me. “It was beautiful. I watched you guys that day. Well, I’ve watched you every day, but I thought it was wonderful what you guys did for me. The perfect place to rest. Well, until I came back that is.”
“The Old Ones sent her back to me to help us stop the dark elves.”
“Which is now the problem we’re facing and has nothing to do with Jaysun. We have to focus on the underfae and the dark elves right now,” Ston said firmly. I knew he was just trying to help, especially since he thought Jaysun had just been a dream, but I knew differently so his words didn’t help at all.
“I know,” I lied. I looked at Ston and thought back to the two men I saw in the city. “We need to get back to the Temple. I overheard two dark elves talking yesterday. They said they were planning to push the attack back two days, but I think we should still be there as soon as possible to prepare.”
Ston nodded. “We should leave now then.”
“It should be faster if we stay above ground,” I said, thinking about the way back to Lino, the city just outside the Temple. It was the city where my Proving Journey had started a year ago. It was where Regan and I lived now. So much had happened since then. I’d even had the chance to learn the names of the other cities I had done so much in a year ago. And even though it hadn’t been a tremendous amount of time, I felt like I had been away from home for far too long.
“Really? We’re going to travel on the surface?” Skye’s face broke out into one of the largest smiles I’d seen in a long time. “How wonderful!”
I stifled a laugh and continued my train of thought. “It should only take a couple days if we only stop when we have to.”
“You don’t want to get a car for this trip either?”
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